Storytelling matters. Stories increase audience engagement and message retention. In this presentation, we discuss why stories matter, how to incorporate story elements into PR content, and finally, how to measure the results.
6. Overview: why stories matter
• Context
– Attention market & audience preferences
– What makes messages stick?
• Narrative power
• Emotional connections
• Why story “stickiness” is important for
brands
– The social – search connection
– Earned media – importance & evolution of
• The tactics
– Determining outcome
– Divining story themes
– Measurement
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7. @sarahskerik @prnewswire
Stories rely on the intended audience to
develop their own imagery and detail to
complete and, most importantly, to co-
create, whereas content does not. link
8. @sarahskerik @prnewswire
Not only are the language processing parts in our brain
activated, but any other area in our brain, that we
would use when experiencing the events of the story
are too.
9. Narratives inspire action and can galvanize people to
act, even in times of strife.
“Narratives are open-ended.
They don't have resolution
…and there's an invitation to
all of us to participate in
that narrative, to help
determine what the
outcome is going to be.”
- John Hagel, Deloitte Center for the
Edge
Link
@sarahskerik @prnewswire
10. Audience behavior can make or break a campaign.
Our messages are competing
for attention with people’s
friends, spouses, children …
and kittens.
Content that isn’t read drops
out of sight quickly.
Social media popularity
dictates a lot of what we see
across the web.
They’re a communicator’s
nightmare.
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11. People are looking for ever more specific information.
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12. Intel today speaks in specifics, rendered in stories about people
“like me”
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13. Your audience has already busted your silos - even if your
organization doesn’t know it yet.
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14. Everything you publish is a digital ambassador for your brand.
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http://inkhouse.com/downloads/watch_read_tweet.pdf
25. +80%+38%
+80%
Earned media is more effective than branded content
Source: In-lab study by Nielsen, commissioned by inPowered, March 2014
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28. Google is publicly acknowledging that every
time your brand gets a mention in a story, that
counts as an implied link that affects your SEO,
that affects how many links there are to your
website, which in turn affects how well your
site shows up when someone is searching for
your brand. In short, PR is SEO.
- Christopher Penn, Shift Communications.
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31. Align campaigns to specific business outcomes.
Decide how success will
be measured.
Focus on generating the
outcomes that will
contribute to success
Understand & develop
messages for each
element.
@sarahskerik @prnewswire
32. Atomize your content & surface all of the story angles.
Movies
Music
Mom
Travel
Power suckers
Enthusiasts
38. Provocative headline
draws readers in.
Subhead adds more detail
Lead paragraph starts with
an interesting statement,
not boilerplate.
Bold font and provocative
section heads draw
readers’ eyes in, and build
more attention.
Restrained use of links
directs readers to a
specific call to action.
39. All boilerplate material,
event information and
branding (except the
mention in the subhead)
are moved to the
bottom of the release.
The higher-value real-
estate at the top of the
message is solely
devoted to gaining
and keeping reader
interest.
45. PR measurement has to measure more than PR output.
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• Rethink earned media. A tweet
from the right person can be as
valuable as media pick up.
• Measure results over time.
• Assess results holistically,
assessing individual tactic
success and as well as the
whole.
• Strive to quantify PR outcomes
in the context of business
results.
46. Tie outcomes to your organization’s marketing funnel.
(Yes. Your organization has one of these.)
Reads
Clicks
Amplification
(rinse & repeat)
Other actions, leads,
downloads, etc.
47. Measuring PR’s impact on search & the top line
• Is your company web site appearing
higher in search results for specific
keywords?
Search rank:
• Are more people searching specific
keywords finding your company web site?
Search query volume:
• Are PR messages driving visitors to
specific pages on the company web site?
Increased inbound
traffic to specific web
pages:
• Is PR attracting more people with high
potential to become customers? Are they
spending more money?
Increase in lead score
or improvement in
conversion rate:
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<Slide Build>60 years in businessDistribution statsCountries/LanguagesTo distro network (media, online, mobile partners)Including prn.com (site & mobile #’s)Social & organic search amplificationMedia relationship // PRNJ
<Slide Build>60 years in businessDistribution statsCountries/LanguagesTo distro network (media, online, mobile partners)Including prn.com (site & mobile #’s)Social & organic search amplificationMedia relationship // PRNJ
<Slide Build>60 years in businessDistribution statsCountries/LanguagesTo distro network (media, online, mobile partners)Including prn.com (site & mobile #’s)Social & organic search amplificationMedia relationship // PRNJ
Narratives, at least in the way I will be using them, are stories that do not end – they persist indefinitely.They invite, even demand, action by participants and they reach out to embrace as many participants as possible. They are continuously unfolding, being shaped and filled in by the participants. In this way, they amplify the dynamic component of stories, both in terms of time and scope of participation. Stories are about plots and action while narratives are about people and potential.
Searchers are asking specific questions and looking for answers, not generalizations.
Audiences experience our brands through all the communications we issue. Every piece of content is a digital ambassador for the brand. Content needs to be cohesive and consistent. Quarterly reports, press releases and marketing info all need to be pages from the same book.
To generate the emotional connection, stories must be focused on creating a specific response.
According to a January 2014 Harris Interactive Poll, 68% of 18-to-34 yr old media users surveyed were at least somewhat likely to make a purchase after seeing a friend’s post to social.Source:eMarketerhttp://www.emarketer.com/Article/Millennials-Social-Media-Posts-Influence-Peers-Buy-New-Products/1010576
In a brand new in-lab study conducted by Nielsen, commissioned by inPowered, their results showed that consumers hold significantly more trust in expert content (ie. earned media) over branded content and even user reviews. <slide build>Expert content was 38% more effective than branded content in creating awareness, mapping to the discover part of the purchasing processMapping to the explore phase, expert content was 80% more effective than branded content in creating favorable impression.And in the all-important purchase consideration stage, it’s 80% more effective. Main graphicSources: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140325101743-36910198-content-marketing-is-88-percent-less-effective-than-public-relationshttp://www.inpwrd.com/nielsen
You have to know what you’re gunning for, and how to get there. How do “likes” effect outcomes.
More than three-fourths of the communicators we recently surveyed about multimedia told us that they plan to increase their visual storytelling this year. Source: 2013 PR Newswire & PR News Multimedia Surveyhttp://blog.prnewswire.com/2013/08/27/79-of-pr-pros-believe-video-is-underutilized-infographic/
<Slide builds>1. But when it comes to multimedia distribution, the numbers are still weak. This circle represents our clients using multimedia in their releases.2. In the last 3 years, we’ve seen multimedia usage double. (7-14%)3. But as impressive as that sounds, only 14% of all releases distributed in 2013 included any multimedia asset (and that includes a simple logo).
If you can’t quantify it, don’t set department goals against it. A “like” is not an outcome. (Nor is a tweet.)