Monday, November 10, 2008

Why Collaboration Works

Sometimes sitting down to write a press release or a pitch letter is the toughest part of the process.

Last week, I needed to write a pitch letter for our client Dutch Umbrella, and was having trouble getting started. Another account member, Olivia happened to be present, and we decided to write the pitch together.

I've never physically sat down with another person to write something, and found that this was actually a really great experience. I thought that it might be difficult, but found that it made the entire process much simpler.

Olivia and I were able to bounce ideas off of each other, and just get something on the page, and then edit based off of what we had written. Some of the things we thought of were silly, but in the beginning of the writing process, ideas are more important than perfect wording and grammar. In the end, we came out with a fun and creative pitch that we both really liked.

I would definitely suggest this to anyone having trouble writing...sometimes another person's opinions or style can really help to get the ball rolling.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is very true. I am in a PR class currently, and we are working on a campaign for a campus organization. When we get together to talk about it, our ideas flow together really well even though most of us don't even know each other. Also, I work for the Kansan (our student newspaper) selling advertising to local businesses. Writing proposals for clients can be difficult because sometimes I don't know much about the client. I have found that asking coworkers about how they view the business and asking what would make them want to go to that business helps a lot. When I find out how they view the business, I can come up with a campaign for my clients more easily than if I were just sitting there by myself trying to come up with ideas off the top of my head. Also, talking to other co-workers about what they pitch to clients helps me to think of ideas for my own.