Writing narratives in Public Relations (PR) is a solid strategy to win audiences to your side. It makes your work way more memorable than simple knowledge-dumping. Hence, your words can resonate with the public, enabling you to establish an emotional connection.
By making compelling stories, you can differentiate yourself from others in a sea of content creators and consumers. This brand differentiation can make people your fans and shift their support toward your offerings.
Plus, inspiring stories can engage people, making it easier for you to actualize a CTA (Call to Action.) So, writing compelling narratives is truly the heart of effective Public relations.
In this post, we’ll discuss the power of narratives in PR, and how you can write them for gaining the maximum benefit.
"If I were down to the last dollar of my marketing budget I'd spend it on PR!" - Bill Gates
This quote is not from me and you, but from someone who has built and run a tech giant for decades. These words show the power of PR that we often underestimate in our day-to-day lives. But, powerful narratives are even a step forward in public relations.
You can lead the audience towards an action wherever you want, however you want. This support can build your brand, restore your image in the public, or safeguard you from other narratives. Such is the strength of writing and maintaining compelling narratives in PR.
Anyhow, below are some ways to write effective stories for PR. We have covered each aspect in detail so that it’s easy for you to follow along.
If you’re writing for the people, you need to understand how they think and perceive you as an individual or organization. Then, look for a message that acts as a base for your story.
Barack Obama’s2008 presidential campaign is a case in point. He came up with the“Yes we can” slogan to rally all minorities with him. Resultantly, he defied all odds to become the first black president in the history of the United States.
Hence, strengthen your core message according to your audience and pool ideas to control the narrative. Prioritize points for your story according to the context of the situation. Then, eliminate the ones that don’t fit the scenario.
Remember, a successful audience study is the cornerstone for an impactful PR narrative. So, always spend time observing people to understand their psyche and behavior, then act accordingly.
After you’re done learning about your audience, try to come up with your stance on the story. This means to justify your positioning on the core message and how you think a solution is possible.
Remember, you cannot satisfy every person on this planet; someone’s going to be angry with your position. However, this doesn’t mean that you stay silent and don’t say a word.
Instead, speak freely and clearly, but be considerate when finalizing your stance. Once determined, don’t shift sides and stay true to your word. Communicate to the people what you’ve chosen to stick with, and why.
An active channel of communication with the audience is surely going to make your story compelling. It will motivate people to take your side and listen to what you have to offer.
For a narrative to work, we need to create a strong build-up. The hype is necessary so that your story reaches more people and they jump on the bandwagon to your merry way.
As an example, the ‘Yes We Can’ campaign saw a major uprising when Obama defined his stance on the slogan. He stood firmly against racial injustice, gender inequality, and more, quite similar to what Martin Luther King Jr. had said before.
People instantly recognized the similarities between the former American activist and Obama. The public had already lost Martin in an accident and was not ready to lose another influential black person. Thus, they poured their heart and soul into making Obama the next president and were surely successful.
This is the hype we’re talking about. Play the cards right and gain overwhelming support and attention from the public.
To make your PR narrative compelling, you need to show your audience as the protagonist of the story. Make them believe that they’re the ones controlling the ship and that you’re their guide who can steer them to victory.
For this to work, you’ll need to sell yourself correctly. Use shout-outs from celebrities, show testimonials, etc., anything that convinces people to consider you their “avatar.”Afterward, tell them the ways you’ll resolve their issues so that they can trust you, too.
Furthermore, you should depict a subtle comparison between ‘life with me vs life without me.’This will increase your value in the eyes of the people. Then, approach a pain point and utilize it to convey your words. This way, people will surely listen to you, making your delivery effective to the listeners.
While managing relations with the public, you’re targeting a mass audience and
not individuals. So, highlight universal themes in your story that pull
people from every direction.
Example:
“Education should be cheap for everyone”
This theme attracts people from all age groups, demographics, and ethnicities, and pools them to your school of thought. The high-relatability factor of this theme will increase your popularity as the story will hit home for many.
However, be careful when you appeal to emotion; they can quickly backfire on you. Human emotions are volatile and take very little time to explode. So, be careful in this matter as you’ll be, quite literally, playing with fire.
An outdated narrative will be inefficient in capturing a maximum audience. Thus, align your stories with current events so that you can leave a more prominent mark on the people.
Continuing our example from above, Mr. Obama included events like the Iraqi war, Climate change, etc., in his presidential campaign. These were the hot topics of the time that needed to be addressed in some form or manner. The ex-president leveraged these accounts to present a powerful narrative to the public, which resulted in success.
Similarly, Nordstrom cut ties with Ivanka Trump’s clothing line during the 2016 presidential campaign. At the time, businesses that cut ties with Donald Trump’s businesses saw an immense PR boost because this is what the people wanted.
So, adjust your story according to what people want to see or hear at the time. Maximize the impact of your PR by aligning your narrative with what’s going on in the world.
Your work should be authentic. Every story must come from a true challenge that you faced, or an anecdote that taught you a shareable lesson. Never try to plagiarize a narrative or you’ll lose the public’s vote of confidence.
Also, verify all the facts and figures added to your PR story-telling so that your work becomes pristinely authentic and accurate.
However, there are moments when your words can unintentionally match with someone else’s. This is called unintentional plagiarism which can happen to the best of us.
To avoid this problem, we recommend using an online paraphraser that can restructure your work to make it unique. This way, you’ll ensure that your ideas, as well as your words, are original and authentic.
Proofread your narrative before publication. This is necessary to polish your work and make it presentable to the audience.
Many unnoticeable errors like punctuation, wrong use of words, etc., may cause a lot of embarrassment for you. So, avoid these errors by keeping a vigilant eye on your content.
Or, use automated checkers like Grammarly, Grammarcheck.ai, or any others that you find online.
Also, a PR narrative should be fluent to read and understand for the laymen. So, read your story out loud to check for its word flow and rhythm.
If you feel something’s wrong, immediately highlight the problematic portion and try to rephrase a sentence or two. This way, you’ll fine-tune your work for an effective delivery, compelling the audiences towards your preferred CTA.
In this post, we saw how you can craft compelling narratives for your PR. We learned that surveying the audience, defining a firm stance, and building the hype for the story are all necessary steps.
Plus, you need to align your story-telling according to the current events and make it relatable for everyone. Otherwise, your work won’t be universal and you’ll lose your audience. Finally, ensure the authenticity of the work and proofread it for further refinement.
That’s it for the post! We hope you enjoyed reading through our work!
Blog Admin:
Ravinder Bharti
CEO & Founder - Public Media Solution
About: Ravinder Bharti is the Founder and CEO of Public Media Solution,
a leading
marketing, PR, and branding company based in India.