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<strong>What’s the problem?</strong> Use this story template to make your next case study, testimonial or narrative more dramatic and powerful. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/investor-lawyer-executive-speed-urgency-delay-1050029477" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image from Roman Samborskyi</em></a>

How to write a case study [example]

Zimmer Inc. uses the P-S-R format Roz Chast's "Story Template"...
Arousing fear can backfire if you don’t offer a simple way to reduce risk. This four-part model overcomes that obstacle to move readers to act. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/young-man-painted-skull-on-his-2094013162" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by pixel-shot</em></a>

How to develop fear appeals in persuasion

Avoid losing readers with these 4 steps Fear appeals persuade....
<strong>Better sorry than safe? </strong>Arousing fear can be more effective than promising rewards at moving people to act. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/closeup-man-mexican-calaveras-makeup-wearing-497335528" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Image by nito</em></a>

What’s the effectiveness of fear appeals?

Why accentuate the negative? Fear appeals work. Better sorry than...
<strong>Easy as 1-2-3</strong> Here’s how to write a how-to story — aka a tipsheet or service story. <a href="https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/make-the-first-step-gm504908890-83414357" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by IvelinRadkov</em></a>

Try this how-to story template

Tips for writing a tipsheet Service stories aren’t news articles....
<strong>Top tips</strong> How-to stories — aka tipsheets and service stories — move people to act.

Why write how-to stories?

Tipsheets get read, shared, used and acted upon What makes...
Just adding an anecdotal lead increased readers and reading in an A/B test by Groove HQ. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/pl/image-photo/man-hand-holding-three-sizes-brown-1821549473" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Image by Boonlert Saikrajang</em></a>

Why is structure important in writing?

Groove HQ: Features increase reading by 520%, readers by 300%...
Today, more than 25 years of research tells us that the inverted pyramid does not work well with humans. <a href="https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/human-crowd-forming-a-pyramid-symbol-hierarchy-concept-gm1138151668-303746654" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Image by MicroStockHub</em></a>

Think Outside the Pyramid for good writing structure

Master a writing structure that outperforms the traditional news format...
examples-of-puns-in-headlines

Examples of puns in headlines

4 ways to write plays-on-words headlines When edible marijuana consumption...
Try these techniques — from alliteration to single-syllable words — for creating catchy headlines. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/row-newspapers-179149739" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by qvist</em></a>

Catchy headlines for feature articles

Coin a word, go graphic and more Stuck for a...
<strong>Warning label</strong> Label headlines communicate the topic — but nothing else — about the story. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/newspaper-cutout-headlines-reporting-on-trade-1445832230" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Image by sweeann</em></a>

Avoid writing label headlines (Examples!)

Don’t just slap the topic on top of the story...
<strong>A picture is worth a thousand words — but not without a caption</strong>. Captions can be workhorses of communications — but only if you use them and use them well.

How to write a good photo caption

Cutlines get 16% more readership than text Too often, communicators...
Call out to readers using callouts, aka pullout quotes or pull quotes.

How to use pull quotes and why

They attract attention, make messages memorable Pull quotes — aka...

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