Writing Email, Memos,
and Proposals
Chapter 14
The Challenge of Managing
Communication Overload
• The PR writer doesn’t always communicate
with a large, impersonal audience
• In fact, PR people spend a large part of
the working day engaging in interpersonal
communications
• He or she also communicates on a more
personal level through email, memos,
letters, phone calls, and face-to-face
communications
Typical Day
• Email– sending,
receiving, reading
and replying
• Leaving and
answering voice
mail messages
• Sending memos to
colleagues
• Writing proposals
• Attending
meetings and later
summarizing
meetings
• Preparing position
papers (aka “white”
papers or
briefings)
Clutter Contributor?
• In many cases, PR people add to the
information clutter and overload
• Solution is to “write smart, simple,
and short”
• Follow basic guidelines of clarity,
completeness, conciseness, courtesy,
and responsibility in all your writing
5 Points of Smart,
Simple, Short Writing
• Completeness- Why are you writing and what do readers
want/need to know? Don’t use irrelevant material
• Conciseness- Less is better. Respect that people are
busy
• Correctness- Be accurate in everything you write. Errors
in personalized communication reflect solely on you and
your abilities
• Courtesy- Use personal names and be polite but not
effusive/gushy; personal but not overly familiar
• Responsibility- Think how your communication will be
perceived by the recipient. Be careful to set the right
tone. You don’t want to come across as flippant,
arrogant, or defensive. Better to come across as
helpful, sympathetic, and concerned
The Email Monster
• Inboxes today-backed up at an astounding rate
• 2007 research- the average number of
corporate emails sent and received per person
on a daily basis was 142. Expected-228 by
2012
• Workers in 2006 spent 26 percent of their
time on email, and that was expected to grow
to 41 percent by 2009
• Typical information worker (or communicator)
turns to email more than 50 times and a day
and uses instant messaging 77 times
• Constant interruptions fracture the workday
• Loss of productivity-est. $650 million annually
“Colleague Spam”
• Traditional email spam-tamed (somewhat) by
filtering software
• Bulging inboxes today caused more by
“colleague spam”- friends sending you latest
jokes, viral YouTube videos, Facebook
messages, etc. (Cargill fired 90 workers for
inappropriate use of company computers/time)
• Professional communicators need to recognize
limitations of email and figure ways to use it
efficiently to get through the forest of
information clutter
• Maybe better way to go- voice and text
messaging, Twitter, wikis, and RSS feeds
Email Advantages
• Reduces cost of employee communications
• Increases the distribution of messages to
more employees
• Flattens the corporate hierarchy
• Speeds decision making
• But there are often situations when faceto-face communication is better and when
formal letters on nice stationary are
better than informal, less permanent email
Mind Your Email
Manners- p. 391
• Avoid the “Reply to
All” button
• Skip the ALL
CAPITAL lettersdon’t shout!
• Save the fancy
stationery
• Give your reply first
when responding to a
question
• Keep forwards to a
minimum
• Don’t be a cybercoward- say
something critical,
angry, sad in person
• Keep the large image
file to yourself
• Fill out the subject
line
• Count to 10 before
hitting the Send
button- a “flaming”
email often starts
more fires than you
can put out
Voice Mail Pros/Cons
• A phone call is still quicker than a memo
delivered by interoffice mail and it avoids
the problem of unopened email in a
crowded inbox
• It can eliminate “phone tag” if you leave a
detailed message in someone’s voice
mailbox, and that person leaves a response
in yours
• Group conference calls can eliminate the
need for meetings
Voice Mail Negatives
• “Telephone Tree Hell”- frustrates
people outside an organization who
may call a general number trying to
reach a specific person and then have
to go through a series of promptsbetter systems have “O out” options
to reach a live person
Business Letters, Memos,
Proposals and Position Papers
• Business letters are personalized
communication that should be well
organized, concise. They can prevent
misunderstandings and provide a record of
an agreement or transaction
• Memos should be one page or less and
state key message immediately
• Memos five components: Date, To, From,
Subject, Message (use in email and hard
copy memos)
XYZ Widget Company
Memo
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
To: Public Relations Committee
From: Patrick Harwood
Subject: Meeting on Friday, April 8
We will meet in the conference room from 3-4 p.m. to
discuss how to publicize and promote the company’s annual
employee picnic. The president wants to encourage the
families of all employees to attend, so please come prepared
to offer your ideas and suggestions on activities and
organization.
Proposals
• PR firms usually get new business through the
preparation of a proposal offering services to an
organization
• In many cases, a potential client will issue a
Request for Proposal (RFP) and circulate it to
various public relations firms to recommend a
course of action
• In most situations, the PR firm will prepare a
written proposal that will be part of a
presentation to the prospective client
• Proposals must follow a logical, well-organized
format
Typical PR Proposal Sections
• Background and
capabilities of the firm
• The client’s situation
• Goals and objectives of
the proposed program
• Key messages
• Basic strategies and
tactics
• General timeline of
activities
• Proposed budget
• How success will be
measured
• Description of the team
that will handle the
account
• Summary of the why the
firm should be selected to
implement the program
###