Storytelling is an empty exercise without authenticity.
Millennials are driving companies to be more socially conscious, and, through their skills navigating 24-hour news cycles and social media streams, these consumers have become adept at sniffing out insincerity.
With these dynamics in play, authentic storytelling is as important as ever. A recent Adweek article explored its benefits, pointing to Lyft’s donation of $1 million to the ACLU and to Airbnb’s offer of free housing to refugees as notable examples of companies’ promoting their mission organically in context with the state of affairs in the U.S.
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PR pros collaborate every day with skeptical reporters. To ensure we’re forging a unique, honest voice forward on behalf of the organizations and clients we work for, there are a few things to keep in mind.
1. Know who you are. No company finds lasting success by doing the same thing as everyone else around them. Homing in on your organization’s mission and what separates it from the competition can spur authentic storytelling. By keying on those differentiating factors, you can carve out a path for creating campaigns and stories that align with your organization’s objectives.
2. Know who you aren’t. When a big advertising campaign falls flat, often it comes down to believability. In the PR world, spin might get in the way of the story. Being stewards of accuracy helps build credibility and trust with reporters, so we ought to drop those “groundbreaking” and “industry-first” qualifiers if the evidence isn’t there to back it up.
3. Value your people. Do you think more impact comes from a press release with carefully crafted company messaging, or from an article featuring insightful commentary from an employee or executive? It’s real people who serve as the backbone of successful organizations, so they must be trusted to be the brand ambassadors.
These steps sound simple—and that’s exactly how it should be. The beauty of authentic storytelling is that it shouldn’t require a lot of effort. There’s a practical “stay in your lane” philosophy to it, which keeps us equipped in navigating the ever-changing media landscape.
Authentic storytelling helps us get to the heart of the message, staying true to the roots that support the organizations we serve.
Ryan Boger is a senior content strategist at Largemouth Communications. A version of this article originally appeared on the agency’s blog.(Image via)
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