For more successful writing, answer these discovery questions before you begin!
This is based on a heuristic by Michele Matthews
- What’s newsworthy about this information?
- What’s your target audience(s)?
- How is this of specific interest to the audience?
- What are the key pieces of information to be presented? Prioritize them.
- Is there a general theme? Can you use any words appropriate to the topic to add interest?
- Is the information new? If so, what’s new about it?
- Could this information be presented in a different point of view? Whose?
- Would the reader have any preconceptions?
- Is this press release being written specifically to offset readers’ preconceptions?
- Which stakeholders require consultation or approval before this is released?
- Can I sum up the information in a 4– to 5–word headline? Or a 10– to 12–word subhead?
