For Harmonious Press Releases, Make Word Music

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We all know that factual information and news are the mainstays of press releases.  The ‘who, what, how, when, why’ are essential elements of any news release.  Putting your words together so that they are pleasant sounding and pleasing to the eye is an important byproduct of effective press release writing.  A melodic press release packs a powerful punch, the least important of which is that it will get read sooner.

Words can be musical without being sung.  In fact, good writing matches the rhythm and cadence of good music.  The pitch, the variation, the highs and lows of words blend together to make word music.  Music has the advantage of almost universal appeal.  Why not make your words more appealing by giving more thought to pacing, tempo and beat?

Pacing has to do with speed and velocity, how your words move in thought and sound.  You speed up the pace with action verbs; you slow it down with ‘ing’ words.  An example is the following sentence:  The ball shattered the glass.  (fast) The ball was hitting the glass.  (slow)

Tempo is the rhythm that is created with word pacing.  An example is the following:

As the ball hit, the glass shattered.  (’As’ slows it down; ’shattered’ (action verb) speeds it up thus the tempo is balanced.

Beat is created by inflection.  An example is the following:  Baseball bats shatter windows.  (Each of the two syllable words emphasizes the first syllable as in base, shatter and windows.)  The result is a rhythmic sentence with a definite beat.

Become your own word maestro by paying close attention to these three elements, pace, tempo and beat.  Soon you’ll be leading your own verbal orchestra to the tune of sweeter press releases.