Don’t bury the lede: Put crucial information first
Savvy PR pros and corporate communicators take note from reporters who ensure that the biggest news is front and center. Here’s how you can do it in your next piece of copy.
“Burying the lede” is the failure to mention the most important, interesting or attention-grabbing elements of a story in the first few paragraphs.
In corporate communications, “burying the lede” means you’ve failed to highlight the most important or actionable items at the beginning of your message.
Let’s say you are writing an email to all employees about a change to your organization’s health care plan. You wouldn’t begin the email with facts and statistics about the rising costs of health care or about the current turmoil in the health care industry. Instead, you would start the email by stating how your organization’s changes will affect employees:
We have chosen a new health care plan through ABC Health effective June 1. There will not be a premium increase associated with this change, but co-pay and deductible amounts have increased. There has also been a change to our provider list. Here are the details.
The following paragraphs should spell out the details, explain the reasons for the change and include facts about the rising costs of health care.
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