The Secret to High Impact Public Relations

Many people believe that public relations is a combination of writing press releases and putting out fires. While those components are vital, they are not the most important, or the most impactful part of the role.

The most important secret weapon of public relations is the “relations” portion. As PR professionals, it is our responsibility to relate to our constituents in a real and impactful way. By effectively telling your organization’s story, you are able to bring your good work into the homes of those people who are reading.

When talking about storytelling, we are most often transported back to our childhood where fables and nursery rimes fill our heads. Or, maybe even worse, you hear the word storytelling and assume it is some embellished account of the facts, or even a flat out lie.

But that isn’t it at all. Storytelling and the importance of it in your organization, ministry or non-profit is the basic explanation – it is telling your own personal story. And, no one is able to tell your story in quite the same way, or with quite the same authenticity as you.

“Storytelling is about connecting to other people and helping people to see what you see.”

– Michael Margolis, Founder & CEO of GetStoried.com

It sounds simple. No one knows us the way we know ourselves, right? But, there are a lot of practical and strategic steps that need to be taken for effective storytelling that both honors your mission and furthers your organizational goals.

Let’s look at a few tips to get you started in crafting and distributing an impactful and effective story for your organization.

Discover Who You Are
There is nothing worse than not having a good grasp of who you are – except if you also have no idea of where you want to go. You might be wondering what the importance of a brand, or identity have to do with storytelling, but it has everything to do with storytelling.

Stories need to be honest and engaging. And, if you don’t have a good grasp of who you are and where you are going, your readers/consumers will see right through it.

In your writing, specifically, there are a few exercises you can conduct internally to determine how your organization will speak through writing, moving forward.

Ask yourself who you are and who you want to be portrayed as by using the following exercise. Take the four points listed below and list multiple terms that best describe your organization when it comes to:

• Tone: Are you excitable, stoic, hip, or traditional? What is the vibe you want to put out?
• Character: Does integrity, giving, selfless, or confident define you?
• Language: Do you sound scholarly and proper? Are you conversational and use contractions?
• Purpose: What do you want to do through this visibility? Educate? Sell? Engage?

Brainstorm as many words as you feel appropriate and narrow them down to the ones that most aptly describe you. Once you have your terms, develop a persona, or an actual person that best embodies all of these things. It can be the president of your organization, a celebrity, or even a character in a movie. Just be sure that everyone who writes content for you is comfortable enough in writing in that voice. This will go a long way in keeping your voice consistent through all platforms.

Crafting Your Story
Now that you have a clear understanding of who you are, it is time to start developing your story. And, having a full understanding of your purpose will help in guiding the direction.

Remember that transparency is vital in your writing. People are smart and will be able to see through embellishments or hiding truths. Before you put yourself out there, be sure you’re prepared to truly expose yourself.

Next, identify something compelling about your organization, or that distinguishes you. The story does not have to be a tear-jerker to be compelling.

According to an article earlier this year on CNN.com, UPS has hit on just such a story.

UPS “saves millions of gallons of fuel each year, and avoids emissions equivalent to over 20,000 passenger cars.” All of this for one small, simple change in a directive to their drivers – don’t make a left turn unless absolutely necessary.

It may sound like a trivial point, but the company has done this for decades and the original story from 2014 has again resurfaced years later because of its simple ingenuity. Left turns don’t exactly pull at the heart strings, but this story qualifies as attention-grabbing. So, the pressure is off to make your organization carry emotional weight.

Before getting started, draft out a few points.

• Does your story have a beginning, a middle and an end?
• What is your conflict that needs to be solved?
• Possibly the most important factor, however, is answering the question “who is your hero?” Every good story has someone that saves the day.
• Do you have anything to supplement your story? Photos and videos are the most impactful, but personal testimonies are also effective.

What Now?
Now that you have written your story, the work is not over. A great story means nothing if no one hears it.

Identify the audience you want to reach. This may be a story only meant for your devoted supporters, but it could be a story with potential to bring in an entirely new faction of backers. If you aren’t specific in who you want to reach, you may miss hitting anyone of significant meaning.

What channels are most appropriate for this audience? If you are hoping to reach a millennial audience then, direct mail is probably not the answer. So, you will need to ask yourself what channels are available to you, and what best fits the audience you intend to reach.

The right timing is imperative. The perfect, engaging story, sent directly to all of the right people is still ineffective if no one is paying attention, or is focused elsewhere. During the 2016 presidential election, it seemed as if no one was paying attention to anything other than the election. A great story would still have to work hard to break through the noise, so do not handicap yourself before you begin.

Finally, what is your takeaway? What is it that you hope to accomplish through your storytelling? If the only goal is to increase your bottom line, the topic of the story is probably misguided. Of course, increased revenue is always an ultimate goal, but it should not be the driving force behind your story.

Great stories create interest, affection, and intrigue to your organization. From there, it is up to you to build trust that eventually brings in financial support.

The specific goal for storytelling through public relations is different for each organization. Raising awareness within your constituents, and those likely to start supporting your organization is imperative. The greatest chance to make a large impact, however, is earning the third party validation that the media affords you.

If a media outlet picks up the story you have told, they are doing so because they trust in your transparency and in your careful intent in telling it. When the media is running your own story, not only is the reach much greater, but the trust in your organization or product is infinitely greater.

“In order to win a man to your cause, you must first reach his heart, the great high road to his reason.” ­

– Abraham Lincoln

Stories have been around since time began. If you tell your story in the right way, you have the power to bridge cultural, socioeconomic, and age divides. That is quite the secret weapon.

 

This article first ran in Outcomes Magazine.