The Vital Factor That’s Missing in Most PR Stories

Although they may use different words to identify it, public relations experts cite one crucial element in good storytelling: emotion.

Finding the passion behind the story and conveying heartfelt emotion is the not-so-secret, but often-forgotten sauce of great PR and brand storytelling.

All too frequently, PR stories about companies and products fail to establish an emotional connection with the audience. Establishing an emotional connection is the one vital element of successful storytelling.

The usual reason for lack of emotion in PR stories is the storyteller, or more precisely the lack of one.

Only a human being can tell – or write – a story that emotionally connects with the audience, stresses communications consultant Scott Monty. It doesn’t matter if the audience consists of consumers, employees or another targeted constituency. The best stories convey how the storyteller felt. Even if they don’t remember the facts of the story, people remember how the storyteller felt.

“Too many companies want to take the easy way out and hide behind a nameless, faceless logo, letting the brand tell the story,” Monty says. However, a corporation or brand doesn’t have feelings and so cannot relay emotions.

People empathize with people much more readily than they do with companies or products. The solution, therefore, is to let a real person speak in most all PR stories – and not just a pro forma quote. A great story needs an involved storyteller to tell a gripping story with genuine passion.

Hiding Behind the Corporate Veil

Kathy Klotz-Guest, founder of marketing firm Keeping it Human, blames poor brand storytelling on the unfortunate habit of hiding behind “the corporate veil.” The stories fail to capture the imagination because they set the company as the protagonist, she writes in an article for Convince & Convert. Readers don’t care about companies. They care about people.

“That means great storytelling should be told through the lens of a person: a specific customer, a passionate employee, a dedicated partner,” she says. “That’s what connects with people: stories of other people who are like them in some way or share similar values, situations, or challenges.”

Other mistakes that destroy emotion in stories include: corporate jargon and complexity. Simplicity brings accessibility to the message; it is not “dumbing down” the message.

Trying to appear superhuman. Being superhuman isn’t real. Honesty and vulnerability are real.

Fear of risk. Organizations often fear mentioning their challenges, but challenges are part of great storytelling. Oversanitized stories typically fail.

The perfect ending. An economic benefit is a boring ending. Readers want to know how their personal lives will change – how money will bring fulfillment, credibility or recognition.

The Perfect Protagonist

Finding the right protagonist is essential for telling a story with passion, agrees Gini Dietrich, founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, in her Spin Sucks blog. The protagonist could be your organization’s leader, a social media influencer, a spokesperson, a cartoon superhero of your logo. The other elements of good storytelling include an antagonist, a revelation and the transformation, she says.

But, lack of passion is the main shortcoming of brand story telling. “The passion lies in how your product is created, your office culture, the one thing your organization truly cares about that makes you unique and valuable to the world around you,” Dietrich says.

Bottom Line: Brand storytelling often fails because it does not relay emotions to the audience. That’s because the stories portray the faceless, emotionless organization as the protagonist. Finding the right hero or heroine is a critical step in great storytelling. Although that seems like simple advice, too often it’s ignored.