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PUBLIC RELATIONS
The importance of positioning your brand through PR storytelling
By our News Team | 2021
Telling the story of your brand to reflect its value in a fascinating manner. That’s PR storytelling.
The payoffs in PR storytelling are numerous when done properly. Agencies will continually enjoy earned media, perpetuate their (or their clients’) brand voices and create brand love.
“Investment in PR storytelling is highly advised,” writes Stanley Olisa, a strategic communications consultant from Lagos, Nigeria. He says that, according to a Global Communications Report published by the University of South California’s Centre for Public Relations, storytelling tops the list of communication tactics in modern public relations.
The reason for this is simple: People are becoming more aware of direct and conventional marketing strategies, making them impervious to these strategies – to the point that they avoid them.
Olisa offers some tips for the ideal story:
Photo by Rain Bennet @ Unsplash
Emotions: “When creating a PR story, think about how it will evoke emotions. Your storytelling should stimulate the desired emotion. People [seldom] forget how you made them feel.”
Be genuine: “Use real characters for credibility purposes. Do not fake or exaggerate the brand story – tell it as it is. People are quick to tell when a brand isn’t authentic.”
Be factual: “Back up your product claims with facts and statistics in your storytelling. This reinforces your narrative and can capture the interest of your target audience.”
Multiplicity of channels: “It’s always more effective to employ a variety of platforms and a mix of different content formats to tell your brand story. Use traditional media, blogs, social media and websites.”
Emphasises Olisa: “The point is that, with storytelling, you can activate more areas of the brain than [with] statistical information or basic factual content. Your audience will immerse themselves in the subject of your story, if engaging and relatable. That becomes the starting point of attitudinal/perception/behavioural influence.”
Source: Marketing Edge, Nigeria
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