Designing a leaflet, news release or letter to the paper
You must be positive
People like positive messages - negative messages make them miserable and turn them off. Never try to sell a negative message - it doesn't work!
The positive message is that we are for freedom and choice.
Do not emphasise the negative
Try to avoid simply stating that we are against:
- god;
- religion;
- faith schools.
Our argument should always be a positive one.
Initial questions to ask yourself
- What is the purpose of the document?
- What is the target audience?
- What action do you want the reader to take?
- What are the key issues?
Purpose
A document may be original, to initiate some action or discussion, or it may be a response to another action or document - a Council policy or a letter in the local paper for example.
Be clear about what you want the document to achieve - if you don't know what it is for, don't write it!
Audience
This is vital.
Aiming your document at those with a profound knowledge of religion and education might be all right for a small targeted audience but it would be useless as a letter to the paper.
This is not to say that you should ever talk down to your audience - simple adjust the argument and language so that it will be understood by those most likely to read it.
Nobody likes a smart-arse. Don't try to be clever. There are no Brownie points for your in-depth knowledge of your specialist subject.
Don't quote from a book or from a historical figure. Keep it current, relevant, and, if appropriate, personal. People relate to people - so the personal sometimes helps.
Action
We are a campaigning organisation - we want things to change.
Every document you produce should contain a clear indication of what the reader could do - if he agrees with you and wants to do something.
"You can write to Councillor Bloggins at the Town Hall to ask him to vote against the proposal for a statue of Jesus to be placed in Main Square."
Issues
Don't try to cover every possible issue in an original document like a leaflet.
If you are responding to another document, a letter perhaps, then the main issues will already be defined for you.
Pick the one or two key issues and stick to them - wandering off will only dilute your argument.
Getting started
Different people have different ways of starting.
Having dealt with the initial questions I find sleeping on it a huge help - the thing emerges after breakfast as if by magic!
Knock up an Aunt Sally
Something, no matter how rough, is better than nothing. Get the structure sorted out and the main ideas down.
Read it through, tighten it up, cut out the verbosity, make sure everything is simple and clear.
Precis and hone
This is vital.
Do it over and over again. Take out redundant words. Keep sentences and paragraphs short. Cut, cut and cut again. Get it down to the bare essentials - and then do it again.
Designing a leaflet
The first decision you have to make is whether you are producing the leaflet yourself or having it printed.
If you are having it printed it is worth the extra cost of getting it laid out professionally. You can provide your text via email or on disk and any typesetting company can do it for you.
Warnings:
- Printing tends to be done in fairly large quantities and can be quite costly.
However, you can search the web for companies offering very cost-effective "specials" as long as you stick to the format they offer. For example: www.solopress.com.
- Don't go overboard with quantity - there are millions of unused leaflets, brochures and newsletters hidden away in store-rooms and attics throughout the country!
Getting rid of 5,000 leaflets is a mammoth task and even 500 is very difficult - so don't attempt it!
If you are doing it yourself, and you want colour and graphics, then you will probably need to use a desktop publishing package.
If it if fairly straightforward, the sort of thing that could be done in Word for example, then you can do it yourself and either print off copies as you need them or have them copied at a local copy shop.
All the rules defined above apply to a leaflet but in addition you need to lay it out in a visually attractive manner. To be honest, the easiest way to do this is to find something you like and copy it!
You will need:
- a short catchy heading;
- content broken down into sections each with a sub heading;
- some graphics or a photo if you can find them - they add to the visual appeal;
- a call to action: attend a meeting, sign a petition, write a letter - something to keep a campaign rolling;
- contact details: a web site address or email address will do.
Designing a news release
Give them a hook!
- No hook:
"Derbyshire Secularists want less RE".
Well, they would, wouldn't they. Besides which, no-one knows what a "secularist" is!
- Hook:
"Derbyshire atheists demand more RE in schools"
That will make them sit up and take notice. You can now develop the argument that by demanding the enforcement of the law, we hope to expose just how big an ass it is.
A news release should have all the vital information in the first paragraph, if not the first sentence. Who, what, where and when should all be there up-front. The rest is elaboration. If readers don't know what the story is about after the first couple of sentences they simply won't read any further.
A common format - make it look good
The key is: "professional without being slick".
Speak to your local papers and ask them what format they prefer. Making their life easy will increase your chances of being published.
A common format helps both you and the press. It tells them who it is from and it enables them to reproduce it, in whole or in part, as they wish.
Traditionally, news releases were sent by mail. These days they are done by fax or by email.
Email allows you to include captioned photos where appropriate - the press likes photos because readers like photos. Don't make them too large.
As an alternative to sending photos you can have a Press page on your web site. This will contain an archive of your news releases along with a Gallery of photos that they can download.
Provide contact details and links to web site
Make sure the name of the organisation is very visible on every page of a news release.
Provide a contact name, phone number and email address. Protect your privacy by not including an individual's physical address.
Make yourself available for interviews
Make it clear that you, or someone else, is available to give an interview at any time, by phone or in person. The media does not work 9-5 so someone must be willing to take a call at any time.
Send material regularly to your local radio station so that they recognise you as "rent a mouth" when it comes to any local religious issues.
Warning: you must be 100% on top of your subject if you offer to do radio interviews. You may end up facing the Bishop of Derby across the radio desk - and he has 2000 years of Christian history behind him and he will know his stuff!
Don't even think about offering to talk about something you are not totally clued up on - you will be caught out and you will feel a fool.
Many people find the first time in front of a microphone a terrifying experience. The answer is simple - practice. Plug a microphone into your PC and get a friend to play the devil's advocate when interviewing you. Sit back from the microphone and don't touch anything - nothing is worse than an interviewee pounding his fist on the table as he gets involved with his argument!
Play the interview back and be ruthlessly critical. Could you be heard clearly. Did you muffle the argument? Did you go on to long or stop too short? Did you have any nervous ticks - little laughs, too many "oh ers", "ummms", "likes", "maybes", "you knows", "sort ofs"?
"I'm like really into this sort of anti-god stuff, you know what I mean?" We can do better than that!
Radio stations always have a glass of water available for interviewees - they know the stress involved. If you don't see one, ask for one. Take a drink before starting and, if your mouth dries up (the most common problem in early interviews), pause and take another - they can edit it out if it is a recording.
Writing a letter to the local paper
Local newspapers have a huge influence on the way people think and behave.
The National Farmers Union (NFU) feels that it lost the "environment/organic" debate because it only dealt with issues at the national level and was taken apart by local activists largely using local papers, where the letters pages are amongst the most read.
Editors will cut letters - so the longer you make it, the more likely it is to be ignored or cut down beyond recognition. In some cases, your key argument will vanish in the editing.
Identify one key point, make it in the fewest possible sentences and do your own editing. Editors love that because they have no editing to do and it can be fitted into the space available.
Spread the load
The same names appear time and time again in the letters page of local papers.
Readers quickly catch on. "Oh, it's old Fred Roberts rabbiting on about God again!"
This is a big turn off.
You should, where possible, spread the load when writing letters. The text can be written by one person, or by a group, but it can be submitted under anyone's name just to ring the changes and to make it appear that this is an issue shared by many people - not just by "old Fred Roberts".
Get comments before release
When you cannot hone it any more, give it to someone else to read.
© 2006 UK Secularists
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