Despite the huge shift in technology, giving us instant news, reactions, trending, posts, tweets, notifications and all the rest, the basic art of storytelling hasn’t changed.
Yes, we do see a lot of rubbish on social media and in the media but a good story still has the same elements it always did.
Free puffs never made it into the news (i.e. there’s a new shop opening in town) but free puffs with a great story behind them do! If the shop is niche, unique, or the new owner has a fab story behind them, survived something fantastic, overcame adversity, crowdfunded to get the shop there, is running it from a lottery win etc – all these make great editorial.
You need a good story to get editorial coverage.
In PR, the elements also haven’t changed that much – you need to know what your key messages are, who your target market is, and what you want them to know and do. You need them to have a desire for your product or service and then let them know the ‘call to action’ – what you want them to do now. Sign up, buy, order, share, reply, vote, comment – you see?
PR is like building a house – you need the key elements in the right order at the right time, or the whole thing will fail.
It’s not an overnight success – it’s a slow, controlled, planned burn!
I’ve been storytelling all my life – writing, talking, I’m always telling a story. My husband frequently says ‘get to the point’ and I do sometimes notice a slight glaze in people’s eyes but I love the detail of a story! When I’m being told a story I ask so many questions – to the point of interrogation sometimes but I just love fine detail! I need to know it all – a proper nosy parker, nose ointment, whatever you want to call it. But for you PR, it’s a very useful skill!
If you want to tell your story, just let me know and we’ll find a way to do it!
