Three words every PR pro should ban
Three words every PR pro should ban
Drew Kerr says that writers in Public Relations should throw out the words “excited,” “thrilled” and “honored” in all press releases. He compares using those words to “buying Aramis cologne for your dad’s birthday 30 years in a row.”
But I have to ask myself the question: is it just because they are such conveniently good words that they are overused? I believe that if there is no other word that is usable without being forced, that you should stick to them.
At the beginning of reading this article I was skeptical. Now, however, I realize that there is an abundance of other words in our English language that are usable. The convenience of those three words are taken advantage of and it needs to stop!
This my new Public Relation Resolution.
I am glad I stumbled upon this! Now hopefully I will not fall into the trap of overused grammar. It seems like there are so many unforeseen rules to writing a good press release- it kind of makes me nervous! I suppose, though, that these are all personal preferences and while Mr. Kerr thinks these words are overused, many other people looking for press releases may not even notice. I will still try to keep them to a minimum, though-just in case! I looked up some replacement words on thesaurus.com in case you really need to convey that excitement. The best ones I found were: enthusiastic, delighted, inspired, moved, touched, elated and privileged. Now maybe out of those, there are a couple that would not be as overused.
Yeah, hopefully those replaceable words won’t be overused as well!
I normally don’t use those particular words, but I do know I can over use certain words too. I think especially in news releases some people may try to use big words and really accentuate whatever they’re talking about which can lead to over used words. The words “excited,” “thrilled” and “honored” I do agree are over used but I can almost see how they would be since they are “safe” words that everyone can interpret in the correct way. I’m going to try to make sure I don’t use those words or over use any other words.
what are other words you think are overused nowadays?
my name’s Daniella…just a little note haha
thansk for commenting!