“A good PR story hits the head and a great one hits the heart" - Amanda Coleman, Crisis Comms Expert.
Covid or no-Covid, PR industry seems to be working consistently towards creating stories that hit the news on a regular basis. When we flip through a newspaper or scroll through an online news platform, we see myriad of stories trying to make their way through the community's attention. Unfortunately, some make it and some don’t.
Given the omniscient presence of the PR industry, it is evident that a lot of opinions revolve around the effectiveness of a PR story. Due to the significance of digitalisation, emails are preferred over phone calls and in-person meetings. Therefore, every journalist’s inbox is flooded with hundreds of PR stories everyday, fighting for a place.
How does the journalist decide if the story is worth it? Is it a good story or is it a great story?
Other things aside, one thing that can be written in stone is that a great PR story will never be overlooked.
Lubna Hamdan, a well known business journalist from the Middle East says, “A great PR story gets your attention in the first 60 seconds. It’s that simple really.”
Now in order to get the media’s attention, the 60 seconds opinion is quite a catch. A good PR story will usually answer what, how, when and where, but a great PR story will answer these and also throw light on the impact it will be making for the readers, all within 60 seconds.
PR professionals sometimes complain that journalists are least interested in printing their story and journalists do not like to be chased either. There could be multiple reasons behind this. But if a story talks about how the brand will impact the community, what betterment it brings to the stakeholders, and your headline pretty much screams about it, you got yourself a deal.
John Sternal, Director of PR and Social media at Merit Mile, Florida, has over 25 years of experience as a PR professional. His rule is simple and straightforward. He puts it as, “A good PR story focuses too much on a company’s achievement. A great PR story tells this achievement through how it impacts the customer.”
In his book, The PR Tool Kit, John also explains that the best PR angle which works is the one that has a strong connection to something currently taking place. For instance, given the current situation of a global pandemic and environment emergency, if your story is not talking about how it plans to change the situation or extend help in the situation, you may not have a chance. Thus, a great PR story has to get people talking.
It resonates well with what Amanda Coleman said that a great PR story hits the heart. Your client can be a huge corporation or a mid-sized NGO, the rule stays the same. Words, pictures, videos or even graphical presentations imbibed in your story, need to depict community significance and the impact it will leave on people’s hearts, for it to become a great PR story.
There is no public relations without community. You cannot sustain for long in the media or in the business if you are not addressing the current situation which highly involves your community.
For example: There are two PR stories from rival soft-drink companies in the newspaper today. Let's call them A and B. Company A’s headline says “Company A introduces the first ever zero sugar drink.”. On the other hand company B’s headline says, “Adhering to the increase in diabetes and obesity in the region, Company B introduces a low calorie drink for its customers.”
Which one do you think left a deeper impact on the readers? Company B.
Thomas Ordahl, Ceo at Landor Global, New York, highlighted this opinion several times in his brand resilience webinar hosted by The Marketing Society. He said, “Community cultivation is very important. Your brand should share values with your community. It should say how it will improve the lives of those involved with the brand.”
If your PR story talks about impactful changes, promises a new advantageous dynamic for the readers, keeps the brand reputation intact, then there is a great chance that it will end up in the news. News about CSR initiatives will always surpass news about the company’s achievements in revenues. And that is exactly what the readers need to know.
The whole dialectics boils down to this: A great PR story will catch your attention in 60 seconds, hits your heart, impacts the community and gets people talking.