The first thing you should know is that radio and TV stations are obligated to run PSAs (public service announcements). The Federal Communications Commission renews their broadcast licenses only if they have demonstrated a fine record of public service. Broadcasters therefore need a thick file with thank-you letters praising the fine work they're doing on the community's behalf.
Yes, they are obligated to run PSAs. But they are not obligated to run YOURS.
Let's just talk about radio, if only because TV PSAs present a whole new set of problems to overcome (it's not unlike producing a Clio award-winning commercial) and quite frankly, although I've produced a few, I'm far from being an expert on TV PSAs.
So, what's the secret of writing effective PSAs? I have six rules: (1) Compel the audience to listen. (2) Empower the listener to take responsibility. (3) Make every word count. (4) Play with the listener's emotions. (5) Register the name of your organization. (6) Call for action.
Unless they listen, they ain't a-gonna hear your message and plea. That's why you have to make them listen. Think of your own radio-listening habits. Exactly what is it that compels you to listen to a commercial, or a talk show, or an announcement, or anything for that matter?
Does it entertain? Probably. Does it give you information that you need? Possibly. Does it make you recall your own experiences? Maybe. Does it make you want to do something? Very likely. Every good radio experience does one or more of these things.
But there's one thing great radio experiences have in common -- they involve you to the very fiber of your soul. They get you talking back to the radio. They get you pounding your steering wheel in laughter while you're stuck in rush-hour traffic. They bring tears to your eyes with their heart-felt messages. They compel you to listen. You simply cannot turn away.
And that's what you need to do. Relate to their own lives. Show them why they need your organization or service. Compel them to listen.
Hard to do? Of course it is. Nobody said writing PSAs was easy. If you're going to be satisfied with simple meeting announcements and innocuous messages, then go ahead and take the easy route. But if you want your PSAs to work, you need to work at it until you sweat blood.
Now, I'll let you in on a big secret. The effective, successful PSAs are the ones that empower the listener. They give the listener the right to take responsibility. They validate the listener's decision to take action. In other words, they send a message to the listener that says "You have the right, the duty, and the responsibility to take charge of the situation and do something about it."
One of the best examples of empowerment is the anti-drunk driving campaign. The original campaign focused on why people shouldn't drink and drive. It showed twisted automobiles at accident scenes, ambulances, police, dark rain-slicked streets, flashing light and sirens. The campaign didn't work. DUI arrests continued to rise.
They revamped the campaign strategy by taking responsibility away from the driver and giving it to the passengers. The result was the "Good Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk" campaign. It worked. What the PSAs did was empower us. It gave us the right to take the keys away from friends who've had too much to drink. And, it not only gave us the right to save their lives, it also made us responsible for our friends' actions. It did this -- not by preaching to us, but by showing us the painful process people go through when deciding whether or not to intervene in their friends' lives.
What the campaign showed was that we should not focus on the negative, but on the positive. Empower your listener. Give the listener the right, the duty, and the responsibility to help your cause.
Thirty seconds can be a long time (like when you're late and stuck at a traffic light, or when the dentist has a drill inserted in your mouth, or when you're about to give a speech), but not when you're trying to persuade someone to do something for you. There aren't a helluva lot of words you can fit into a 30-second PSA, so it behooves you to make every word count. Every word has a purpose. Every word must be focused on one thing and one thing only -- to sell your idea or suggestion.
I can't help you become a great writer with this missive. But I can give you some hints on how to tighten up your writing. First, get rid of certain words. Whenever possible, eliminate the word "that." Go through your copy and you'll find most of your "thats" are unnecessary. Second, change the word "get" into an action verb that paints pictures, words such as "earn," or "secure," or "acquire."
Third, eliminate as many prepositional phrases as possible. That will tighten up your writing considerably. Instead of saying "Pat Jones, president of the Humane Society of Clarksville," say "Clarksville Humane Society President Pat Jones" and you've eliminated (whoops, I almost said "gotten rid of") three words. Consider the word "of" to be an enemy of mankind.
Fourth, try to find the "perfect word," but don't become obsessed with it.
Be careful. The perfect word must be understandable by the vast majority of listeners. There is a local radio commercial by a law firm that uses the word "egregious." Now, let me ask you, what does egregious mean? Unless you use the word a lot, you probably don't know that it means "deplorable," "flagrant," "glaring," "infamous," "notorious," or "outrageous." But chances are you have heard of those other synomyms, those other words that are just as colorful but that make a lot more sense to you.
My sense is that the person who wrote the ad copy recently learned the word and needed to use it in a sentence. My sense is that the person who reviewed the ad copy didn't want to appear ignorant, and so approved the ad. My sense is that more than one person now looks "high-faluting," "arrogant" and "snobbish" -- truly an egregious situation, don't you think? Use unfamiliar words at your own peril.
Talk TO your audience, not AT them.
Fifth, if at all possible, stick to one idea. Concentrate on one main persuasive thrust. Otherwise, you'll confuse the listener.
Sixth, use humor sparingly in PSAs. You won't often find the perfect humor that will influence opinion and spark behavior favorable to your organization or cause. Improperly used, humor can appear cruel and insensitive. Improperly used, it can ruin your campaign.
Finally, don't be afraid to break all the grammar rules you learned in school. This is radio, this is excitement, this is short attention span, this is 30-seconds. If it takes broken sentences, then so-be-it. If it takes mispronunciations, then so-be-it. If it means you talk in sentence fragments, then so-be-it. Break the rules if you have to, but ONLY if you HAVE to.
Grab 'em by the head, and they'll follow you; but, their eyes and heart will be focusing elsewhere. Grab 'em by the heart, and you've got them forever in your clutches.
Make them feel the pain. Make them wipe away the tears. Make their hearts glow with pride. Make them remember good times. Make them think about their loved ones. Make them taste the homey goodness of the beef stew that's been sitting on the back burner for hours while freshly baked bread spreads its aroma around the house. Make them . . . oh, excuse me, I was getting carried away.
You get the idea. Grab their hearts and excite them.
So, how do you do this? Simple. You can either appeal to the listener's five basic needs (shelter, food, clothing, appreciation or love, and vanity) to evoke a gut-wrenching reaction, or you can appeal to their wants, which are unlimited. Generally speaking, if you want something, chances are others will want it too. Use your intuition; you may be surprised at how universal your wants are.
Select a persuasive appeal. Here are 11 basic psychological appeals: sensory, appetite, security, acquisition, well-being, attractiveness, threat, humor, convenience, curiosity and ego. Just make sure your appeals are honestly based. Don't overpromise. It may increase the response, but disappointment will result in a devastating loss of credibility.
Short section. Simple message: Do it early, and do it often as possible. Establish the name and repeat it. The general rule of thumb is once for a 10- or 15-second PSA, at least twice for a 30-second spot, and at least three times for a 60-second PSA.
Finally, don't forget the call to action. It's a sales technique. If you don't ask for help -- specific help -- people won't be obliged, they won't feel empowered, to do something for you. Remember, the whole purpose of the PSA is to elicit a specific behavioral action. In other words, there is something -- a precise action -- that you want the listener to do.
Too often, an organization's strategy is to educate people about the mission, objectives and activities of the organization. This is not only useless, it is a stupid waste of time. At the risk of sounding cynical, I believe that most people don't care what an organization believes in. And generally speaking, if it doesn't affect them directly, they also don't care what an organization does.
What they do care about is how the action you're asking them to take will help make society better, and especially how it will help them personally. You need to have provided those reasons earlier. If you've done that, then now is the time to ask for a specific action on their part.
This is the payoff. If they don't do what you want them to do, if they don't do it in the numbers you need to make your campaign succeed, then something went wrong.
This is the payoff, so don't forget to ask them: Send in your donation, contact your congressman, join us in our walk for the homeless, come to the town hall meeting, vote for Proposition 3 on the November ballot, get your free blood-pressure check, buy a ticket to the fish fry.
Repeat after me: "This is the payoff, so don't forget to ask them!"
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