Is Your Good Story, Good Enough? – These 3 Steps Can Help

Ok I admit it, I’m so guilty of scrolling through my news feed and clicking the story about the pregnant man or the smoking toddler, but let’s face it we don’t all get to pitch such compelling news stories (insert sarcastic *wink-wink)! With the overwhelming way to receive news these days,  public relations professionals are having to get creative when delivering key messages. I mean, something as simple as what will we put in the subject line of a mass email messages, can cause angst, anxiety…grey hairs. It is the job of the PR pro to get messages out to our stakeholders and target audiences regarding our organizations. Depending on what industry you are in, sharing the data and facts can be dry, boring or just plain uninteresting to the common person, that is if we aren’t mixing facts with stories. Think financial institutions, logistics, and such. On the other hand many times PR does too much of the anecdotal stories with not enough data to deliver stronger messaging.

I recently participated in a webinar entitled, The Art and Science of Storytelling and Messaging Across Media Platforms. I will say, ironically the headline was more interesting than the hour session, but it wasn’t a total waist of time. Andrew Gilman, president and CEO, CommCore, was one of the guest speakers and he shared a 3-step formula for developing a good story: 1) Compelling headlines 2) Scalable Facts and 3) Emotional appeal.

Gilman borrowed and example brilliantly executed by UPS, the world’s largest package delivery company, to help illustrate how this formula works.

1. Compelling Headline

Whether we are pitching a story for earned media, writing a blog, delivering a speech, or sending a tweet, there is something challenging about the headline or the 140 characters that drive followers to the rest of the message. Here’s an example:

Good: UPS Is Committed To Saving Energy And Fuel Cost

Way Better: UPS Drivers Don’t Make Left Turns

Now, I don’t now about you, but I’m not seeking the latest in UPS news. In fact I’m mainly only interested when the brown truck is in front of my house dropping off, my latest online purchase. With that said, I would skip right over the first headline, but the much better version not only catches my attention but makes me want to learn more.

2. Scalable Facts

Let’s face it we can’t get away with much if we are not backing it up with data. In fact data driven context is still a relevant buzz phrase in communications and I don’t see it going away. Providing these facts strengthen the story by giving it strong credibility and hopefully offering new insights to how the reader interprets the message.

UPS scalable facts: Decrease in CO2 emissions, saved 3 million gallons in gas and cut 28.5 million miles from delivery using this  

3. Emotional Appeal

Of course, drawing on the readers’ emotions allows stories to resonate and makes them memorable. Her is where the creativity of story telling, the use of visuals or a quote from a supporter or third party representative is used.

UPS emotional appeal: Pitch the story to media about Bob, the local UPS delivery guy who only turns left 5% of his route.

The visual is there. Picture this…the reporter covering the story is on location as the passenger in the brown truck turning right all over the city…any city. This story can literally work in any city across the globe where UPS delivers. But what about the international cities where UPS operates that drive on the opposite side does the same logic work? I don’t know but what I do know is that this story continues to live because of inquiries such as this.

This strong message has so many media channels to fall into. Financial publication like, CNN Money(2010), Yahoo Finance (2014), Business Insider (2011) ran the story with similar headline over several years. Not only did the story resonate with the business world but, there is also and appeal for environmentalist reporting on organizations who are socially responsible, saving the planet, one right turn at a time.

Check out this Myth Busters clip. Though the well-known delivery service is not mentioned by name, the concept developed by them gets some mainstream media attention. This Myth Busters clip could have easily been shared on the UPS Facebook page for additional media impressions. Speaking of Facebook, the story was even posted to a competitors page from a user complaint about services. Hows that for the unforeseen impressions.

What started as a business idea for cost efficiency from the engineering and logistics team at UPS, turned into a PR success generating 4.2mm media impressions. Ok, so we may not be the next Dr. Sues but practice this 3 step formula if your are having a hard time with making a good story, great!

I’ll go work harder on my headline now.

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