AP Style: Your Agency’s Communication Cornerstone
When creating public sector communications, precision and clarity are paramount. When faced with a barrage of grammatical choices across different platforms, achieving that accuracy can be a daunting task. Sticking to a specific style guide is an essential step towards creating consistent communications assets across an agency, and in journalistic and media writing, the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook sets the standard. AP Style isn’t just a set of writing rules — it’s a strategic tool that can elevate your agency’s communication effectiveness, credibility and professionalism.
For local governments, nonprofits and other public sector organizations, AP Style offers more than grammatical consistency. It creates a unified voice throughout your agency’s written materials, whether you’re drafting a press release, social media post or web content. It enhances readability, breaking down complex information into digestible content accessible to diverse audiences. Its clear, professional style builds consistency, credibility and trust with your audience.
Additionally, AP Style can help your agency maximize media pickups for your content. Journalists are inundated with press releases, statements and pitches daily. It can be your secret weapon in cutting through the noise and increasing your media coverage chances. Media professionals prefer AP Style due to its immediate readability and reduced editing time. News organizations also typically use this style; content that matches their guidelines stands out from the crowd.
Key public sector AP Style considerations span proper title capitalization, numbers, dates, times and more. Remember to capitalize titles when they precede a name, but lowercase them when used after a name — for example, Governor Gavin Newsom and Gavin Newsom, the governor of California are both correct. Spell out numbers zero through nine, and use numerals for numbers 10 and above, as well as ages, percentages, measurements and statistics. When writing dates, don’t use superscripts like “st,” “nd,” “rd,” and “th.” And, use numerals to denote all times except for noon and midnight.
Promoting AP Style at your agency entails some upfront investment, but once you get the ball rolling, grammatical consistency can become second nature across your team. We recommend conducting AP Style workshops for all communication team members and subscribing to the online AP Stylebook (or keeping updated stylebook editions on hand) to build style literacy among your agency. It is also likely that your team will express additional grammar preferences that complement AP Style. Create an internal style guide to track these preferences and ensure clarity.
Mastering AP Style is an ongoing journey of dedication, refinement and consistency. By embracing it, your agency can transform archaic topics into pieces of clear, compelling communication that effectively reach community members. In communications, style is substance — AP helps you make every word count.