All posts by Sebastian

We’re all natural born story tellers: so why not liven up your communications and tell one?

Social media, Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees

“When you have a story it’s absolutely natural to try and tell it.” At least that’s the view of novelist and playwright Michael Frayn speaking on the radio the other day.

From the moment we learn to speak, read and write we all love stories. And it’s a very effective communication method. It’s our brains apparently. Hear a compelling story and the grey matter is flooded with oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin – hormones all associated with rewards, pleasure and well-being.

once upon a timeWhy then, do we lose the art of good story telling in our work lives?

The trouble is, storytelling can seem like a risk. It can be easier to shelter behind the day to day jargon and ‘safe’ harbour walls of the corporate patois. But you know what? That stuff is neither fun to write or to read and nor is it always very effective in getting a message through.

Every story should have…
So what makes a good story? There is no scientific formula for writing a good story but like a good song you’ll want to hear it to the end; you’ll feel engaged with it; you might laugh, cry, or even think deeply about it; and, you’ll remember bits about it.

But there are elements any self respecting story needs to have:

  • A hero. And no, it can’t be your brand but it could be a customer, an employee, or even a thing!
  • Structure. Beginning. Middle. End. No one says though you need to tell it in that order though. Think Pulp Fiction.
  • There’ll be a big issue to resolve
  • There’ll be troubles on the way
  • There’ll be a resolution of some sort – perhaps a big reveal too
  • Or perhaps there’ll be a cliff hanger ‘till next time?

Next time you have a communications challenge, think up a quest, throw in a few ‘mission impossibles’, and let your hero loose!

And the winner is…

Working with the media

The problem with industry awards is they’re like Tribbles.

Tribbles? Readers of a certain generation might remember the furry little critters from Star Trek (we’re talking William Shatner vintage here) that looked attractive to have, but which reproduced at an enormous rate, gradually getting bigger and bigger, consuming all before them.

Every week seems to bring another letter or email exhorting you to enter a nomination for another “must win”  award. But, for the in-house comms people they offer a no-win situation. If you decide to enter, then the bulk of the work to put together a slick, compelling entry will fall upon your team. But, all too often, that can mean trying to to make a silk purse from… well, not very much at all. If you win…it’s mutual back-slapping and trebles (Tribbles even) all round for the winning team in the business, while your contribution will probably not be acknowledged. And, if you lose, well, it’s your fault for not getting the entry right.

So, here are my top three tips to make it through the industry award season:

  1. Prioritise the awards: decide which awards mean something to your business. Don’t be pressured into entering everything that’s going.
  2. Prioritise the categories: likewise, only enter those categories that your business has a chance of winning. A good litmus test is if you’re struggling to get enough information together or find a compelling story that usually means your entry will fall short.
  3. Story, story, story: the judges are only human. They like a good story better than anyone. So tell them one.

If all else fails, make sure you at least get a seat at your company table at the awards do and make like a Tribble; consume everything!

 

Bin your website section on CSR if you really want to be known as a socially responsible business

Sustainability, Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees

I can’t help feeling that when it comes to communicating corporate social responsibility(CSR), it’s still a bit of a tick box exercise for many businesses.

HiRes

Piece on CSR in the website somewhere. Tick.
Piece on CSR in the annual report somewhere. Tick. Tick.
Some community related news on the intranet somewhere. Triple tick.

So big green ticks all round which is fine of course if, as a business, you’re not really committed to CSR and don’t consider it to be an integral part of what you do, and what you want to be known for.

This piece on integrated reporting in last month’s PR Week makes for an interesting read. Integrated reporting, the article says, ‘describes a movement in corporate reporting to intertwine the financial information in annual reports and the non-financial content usually found in separate CSR reports’.

If there is real commitment to CSR from the board level down, shouldn’t integrated reporting be obvious, and shouldn’t every piece of communication help illustrate what your business stands for when it comes to the environment, the community around you, and how your business functions in a sustainable way?

Get rid of the CSR section
So why have a separate CSR section on your website (or even a separate site altogether as I’ve seen with some) or intranet. Why not integrate elements of CSR throughout the site? And how about abandoning that hurried attempt in the annual report to pull together all your charitable endeavours and try to reflect your company’s CSR approach throughout the report. Think about every single touch point your business has with employees, clients, and other stakeholders and ask yourself whether it communicates your CSR values.

A luxury car maker doesn’t need to have a section on its website somewhere that says ‘luxury’, it simply reflects those values throughout its brand; in its product, how it behaves and how it communicates. Communicating CSR should be no different.

 

To boldly go…grammar rules are there to be broken

Social media, Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees, Writing

Nurse: “Would you like me to gently prop you up?”
Elderly patient: “My dear, try never to split your infinitives.”

BlackboardSplit infinitives. Does anyone care anymore? Well, yes, lots of people do care and I’m not knocking them. Having said that, language changes and evolves, and so should our interpretation of the rules.

 

A pedant’s obsession with rooting out split infinitives for example, seems unnecessary particularly when a re- write would sound, well;

Nurse: “Would you like me to prop you up, but gently?”

…clumsy.

It’s important to know what’s wrong and what’s right, but good writing can exploit that knowledge to flout the rules and create interest. The point being: Rules. Are. There. To. Be. Broken. Sometimes.

And, another thing, who said you can’t start a sentence (or a paragraph) with a conjunction? But just make sure you don’t overdo it.

Good PR shouldn’t sound like PR

Talking to your customers

I heard a Chief Executive the other day providing some perfectly legitimate information about the performance of his business and then being derided by the business journalist interviewing him as providing  ‘just a load of PR’. Unfair, I thought.

It’s funny how an industry – Public Relations – that devotes itself to managing the reputations of others, has such a shabby reputation itself. The media, the public, all demand greater transparency and access to information. But when it comes, that extra information is derided as ‘puff’ or manipulative PR.

It’s all good
Who’s to blame? Well, we all are to some extent. Hiding behind corporate and financial jargon doesn’t help. Who watched the BBC’s Twenty Twelve mocumentary on the Olympics and failed to recognise some element of truth in the ludicrous language pedalled by the team.

What to do about it? We could perhaps start by working with the spokespeople we work with and ‘rehearse’ to talk in a language that not only makes sense but is emotionally more engaging.

The Chief Executive of Ocado was also on Radio 4 talking about the performance of his business the other day. He undoubtedly had some good news to share but much of it was hidden behind phrases like:  “there’s an enormous channel shift, we’re at an inflexion point in the market” or “customers who rely on us to deliver outstanding quality to their homes”. In both instances, I know what he means but I can almost hear the journalist sighing.

What about sharing an interesting delivery anecdote for instance, or some feedback from a customer? Don’t tell me the market is at an inflexion point, tell me about how many thousands of loaves of bread have been bought online in the last 12 months?

The point is, we can help people like the Chief Executives of the world relate what they do in a way that not only makes for better radio/TV/ or whatever channel you choose, but might actually do a great deal for stripping away the general cynicism that PR has attracted.

After all, really good PR shouldn’t sound like PR at all.