Every milestone must be celebrated in life and today’s milestone is my 25th article in my column ‘Destination mindset’ in this esteemed publication. At the outset I would like to thank Amith Prabhu and Anubhuti Mathur for giving me this valued opportunity to express myself with lessons from the university of life. When I complete my 50th article, I plan to compile them into a book and donate these to budding communication practitioners and educational institutes. I would like to thank my mentors who have always encouraged and motivated me. I have learnt so much from them, relearned and reinvented. The list is long of my mentors spread all over the world. All of you remain, my guiding light. My readers, grateful to you for liking this column and sending me suggestions. I remain committed to write to delight!
Luckily in my own journey of life, expressing myself came spontaneously. Speaking, acting, writing plays, poems, writing and composing music were natural talents. Singing, speaking at debates and forums was easy and enjoyable. Communications has been in the centre of my being and then continued into my profession. I formed my own play group in school called ‘The Seekers’ to showcase talent. I used to write and direct plays which were staged successfully. The purpose was to generate funds for charity and for the needy. I used to be the Editor of SMB Newstalk, the newspaper of Seychelles Marketing Board and Inside SMB its monthly magazine for ten long years before I returned to India. The fulfilling journey of writing still continues….
The ‘write’ mindset
Being able to communicate effectively is a key pre-requisite for communication practitioners. Knowing how to write the right way actually determines success or failure in this business of building desired perceptions. Actually, it is a combination of expressing yourself well, being creative and of course putting it all together in a winning communications salvo. Writing can be of diverse types. There are e mails to clients, reports to generate and presentations to create. While writing is a key skill needed for this hustling bustling industry the ability to put thoughts into effective writing needs you to be more than a wordsmith. Its really how you can have an interesting structure and storyline to convey your thoughts and findings in a compelling manner. While you can learn writing skills for PR the essential pivot is your command over the English language and your ability to write well.
How do you create a ‘write’ mindset?
Writing is an art which comes naturally. If you are a naturally gifted writer, you need to just polish your writing skills. In the PR profession when you belong to a domain/ sector you need to observe how other professional writers create domain specialist content. Re-learn, adapt, and do not stop observing others and learning. There are also writers who learn from scratch. As long as you know English proficiently it is a right start. Thereafter its like a mind gym practice. Write the drop of a hat, get a buddy amongst your friends or colleagues who is a professional writer and learn from him/her. Show your test writings and become adept at writing skills. Your understanding of the purpose of your writing should be at the forefront. Are you writing a draft press release or press note? Each writing effort has its purpose and method. Understand the client you are writing for. What are their communication goals? What are their key messages? What do you want to achieve? How can the written communication impact your target audience favourably? How do you write a headline?
Whether you are in the PR profession or any profession, writing is a major leverage to communicate effectively and be understood!
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” ~ Stephen King
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