A new survey by a group of business communicators shows that if you aren’t referring to an Associated Press stylebook when writing press releases, letters to the editor or anything else for the media, it shows you really don’t know how to play the publicity game.
The AP stylebook is the journalist’s bible. It includes all the rules dictating things such as the proper names of government agencies all over the world, whether certain words should be capitalized or abbreviated, and the formal names for businesses.
The latest online poll by the Dallas chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators shows that business executives and corporate communicators overwhelming agree that AP style remains very important.
Survey results show:
• Almost 43 percent of responding communicators said AP Style is extremely important.
• 88 percent of responding communicators said AP Style is important, very important or extremely important.
• 12.2 percent of responding communicators said AP Style is not important or somewhat important
• Only 4.7 percent of responding communicators said AP Style is not important. (Off to the doghouse you Media Mutts—without your dinner!)
The spiral-bound stylebook, at $13.75 a copy, is one of the best investments you’ll make if you’re working with the media.