Need of the Hour – Narrative Driven P R

Friends, Thank you for reading my earlier blogs and sharing your views. I really feel encouraged after reading your feedback in the comments column. 

Presenting 44th blog titled “Need of the Hour – Narrative Driven P R” to you.

Does narrative-driven approach in P R communication strategy is important today?

Public Relations look to build the relationships between organizations and stakeholders. For this, PR pros will have to use a variety of communication channels right from traditional media to social media to communicate directly with those targeted individuals. While Media deals with Social Engineering, PR is into Human Engineering said Sh. Babji Yana, P R Expert.

And, for human engineering we need stories……. not just simple stories, but the stories that can influence their minds, modify their thinking process and make them to act according to the wishes of the story teller. Hence, Storytelling is now a main narrative that drives the key messages in all PR campaigns. 

Narrative-driven PR places an industry narrative at the heart of an integrated communications program that is PR-centric. It includes content marketing, use of social media, digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) to help an organization say something meaningful and useful, highlight a company’s vision, shift messaging above what the company offers, and provide a single cause all team members can rally around. 

As the role and value of public relations evolve among increasingly noisy and crowded markets, it has the opportunity to communicate a company’s narrative across a broad range of channels.

As per Mr. Guy Murrel of Forbes Communications Council, Elements of Narrative-Driven P R are………..

1. Narrative: The narrative is the singular message that encompasses what a company stands for and why it is in business. Rather than focusing on products and services, the narrative speaks to the industry. It addresses the perceptions, clarifies the misperceptions and brings awareness and ingenuity to the trends. It creates alignment among teams and provides an internal vision that is strategic and high level. This is the foundation upon which narrative-driven PR rests, and it gives a singular, solid direction for all activities. The narrative becomes the driving force for all teams in an organization, and the foundation for all external communications.

2. Media & Analyst Relations: This element includes all communications with reporters and analysts. Each conversation, social interaction or email with key influencers opens an opportunity to share and evangelize the narrative while building advocates. It is a unique opportunity to influence the influencers. In most cases, you are sharing something that is different than the typical inward, company-focused news or update.

3. Content Marketing: Our content marketing strategy is how we take ownership of our narrative. It should become the key message woven into each piece of external collateral, which is then distributed online through our blog, news, website and syndication channels. This becomes the most effective way to own a “space” online.

4. Social Media: Through organic and paid social campaigns, the narrative is reinforced and elevated. This is an opportunity to share the narrative consistently on a daily basis through a number of creative ways.

5. Digital Marketing: Sometimes this becomes a combined effort between the PR and marketing teams. The most important characteristic of this element is that the narrative is delivered consistently and cohesively through industry-focused papers and articles across all channels, strengthening alignment internally and externally.

6. Search Engine Optimization: Ranking high (or at the top) of search engine results with keywords related to the narrative is an essential component of narrative-driven PR. Not only does this help boost the inbound traffic, but it establishes the company as the owner of the narrative-related keywords.

7. Press Release: Press releases contain a lot of storytelling characteristics. For instance, a good press release should have a plot build around 5 Ws and 1 H with a great headline and supportive sub-headline, outlining the company as an introduction, what it achieved as the middle and what it plans to do next as the end. The end should also have an announcement, in particular, needs to really apply to an appeal to the target audience to make the content memorable.

Narrative-driven P R creates alignment and cohesive messaging for a P R program. It also serves to help a company become an industry driver by talking about the things that really matter to the industry using the authentic voice. Now the question is….how to build a strategic narrative?

A strategic narrative is a story weaved around 5Ws and 1 H which tells….

a. Why you exist?

b. What you stand for, what you’re seeking to achieve and what makes you unique?

c. When you started?

d. Where you’ve been, where you are, and where you are going, in a nutshell what your journey is all about?

e. Who you are as a company?

f. How you value relationships, how you made people to believe in the values you created and how you propose to achieve your objectives?

Therefore, have an impressive story to tell that can attract, excite, inspire, engage and persuade the respective target audience - internally as well as externally.  A story that is based on facts, concise but comprehensive and defines the company’s vision, communicates the strategy, and embodies the culture. To have such an imposing story one should have a clear understanding of the brand objective and the how the company is trying to achieve those objectives.  

A strategic narrative should have a brilliant idea, supported with facts and data, to present to its target audience to bond with the brand emotionally, make them believe in the brand, support it, and further suggest it to their connections. When done well, a narrative-driven PR strategy boosts alignment and cohesive messaging within teams and between organizations and their customers. When an organization is able to present itself as the driver and authority on major issues relating to the industry, the effect is clear - employees are united by a singular vision, customers are more engaged, and the company leaders have a new communications arsenal with which to pursue success.

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