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Storytelling
Do you remember being read stories when you were a child or more recently, perhaps, reading to your own children? It always amazed me that my children wanted to listen to the same stories over and over again. With children the appeal often comes from the rhyming words, short sentences and colorful pictures. They ultimately learn how to read by memorizing their favorite stories.
Similarly, in public relations we look to tell client stories that will resonate with the clients’ customers and the media. Maybe these stories are not written in rhyming words, but short sentences and colorful pictures certainly can help.
Crafting Your Story
As PR professionals, it’s our job to help organizations like yours discover and communicate your stories. We’re not talking about a simple chronology of events (when your company was founded, when a product or service was introduced, who was president, etc.). That kind of tale would be, well, pretty boring.
Our job is to find those little nuggets and anecdotes within your organization that make your company unique. Then we tell that narrative in a way that will interest or engage your audience (or the media), bring value or inspire them in some way. Crafting the story is often the challenge.
Most organizations are full of great stories, especially here in Vermont. For example, we have all heard the tale about the two college kids that started an ice cream shop in an old gas station and what became of their now quite successful business. Not all agencies are fortunate enough to have ice cream companies as PR clients. However, it doesn’t take mountains of cookie dough to discover and communicate a compelling story. There are ways to tell a story even when the topic isn’t so sweet and delicious.
So how do you find that story? We start by asking questions of your company leaders: What are you passionate about? Why do you do what you do? What challenges have you overcome? What got you started in your work? What do you hope to accomplish? What has surprised you along the way?
The answers to these types of questions will tell us more than when your company was founded and what products or services it makes. The facts are just data—important data, certainly, but not so important when you’re trying to engage an audience. We’re looking for the answers that give us greater insight as to what your company is all about, what makes it tick. This gives us (and your target audience) a more meaningful connection to your company.
Everyone Has a Story
I came across a story about my mother’s father while working recently on my family’s genealogy. I could tell you that my grandfather’s name was John, he was born in Kentucky in 1903, he was poor and he worked in the coal mines, but that wouldn’t be too interesting. Here’s the real story I found behind the facts:
During the Great Depression, my grandfather’s family was too poor to buy gloves or mittens for their four children. Living in upstate New York, the winters were very cold. Homes did not have central heating. One day, my grandfather laid his wool coat on the floor and had each child put their hands on it so my grandmother could cut around their hands and make each one of pair of mittens.
Now that story not only creates a vivid picture in my mind as to how tough times were back then, it also gives me insight as to who that quiet old man was that I called “grandpa.” That’s one worth sharing and passing down to my children. I’ll always remember it and so will they.
So the next time you’re asked what your company does, try telling a story rather than giving the boring chronology. It’s not always easy to get that story just right, but it’s there. It only takes a little digging and asking the right questions to find it.
Everyone has a story: What’s yours?
Additional Reading:
What not to do when telling your company story
