Building Your

Brand By

Building Your

Story

G2 Communications Inc.

4250 El Camino Real, Ste. A104

Palo Alto, CA 94306

www.g2comm.com

650.856.1607 @g2comm

www.facebook.com/g2comm

“Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.”

-- Robert McKee

“If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen.”

-- John Steinbeck

Why the Need for Story At the basis of the problem you’re solving is a

human experience -- fear, frustration, pain, risk,

uncertainty, love, happiness, peace, etc.

The story is the human connection between the

problem and your solution

Even a vertical b2b product has an underlying

inspiration

The story matches up the challenge and the

associated emotion to your solution

Stories are not intellectually based –

We’re easier to implement, with greater

interoperability and better ROI is not a story

Why is PR Important to Your Story?

PR takes the disparate pieces of the company -- the leaders, the products, the services, the experience and challenges of the customers to create the story

Good PR crafts the story for journalists - something worthy of writing, publishing and/or broadcasting

Your company is featured in the context of something that’s important in people’s lives.

PR makes sure the value of your company’s solution also has value for the journalist’s audience

Story is the only word that matters to a journalist

Companies Think Their Solution

Alone is the Story

We have a new gizmo that’s faster than

the fastest Intel processor

We think our product is so cool it should

be on the cover of TIME Magazine

If we get on the cover we’ll go viral

Our product is so important we just need a

press release & we’ll get great coverage

Myths About PR: What PR is Not

Free advertising for your company

A press release that leads to a feature story starring you every time you issue one

A rolodex full of media contacts who write about your company whenever you call

Being on Dr. Oz because you’re passionate about your new medical device

Being featured on TechCrunch because you have a new mobile app to measure you’re likeability

Media Story Mistakes

We only want to talk about your solution

We think the story is a product description

We only want to communicate one-way

marketing messages

The story has to have a hook – you need to

grab the reader in the headline, first sentence

Even when you’re trying to reach a specialized

audience, people respond to great stories

JUNEAU, AK -- April 13, 2012 -- As Tinnitus Awareness Week

commences, XYZ Company, a new tinnitus solution provider,

today announced the recent publication of clinical study results

in the Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology

(JARO). This clinical study titled “Temporary Suppression of

Tinnitus by Modulated Sounds” describes an effective means to

reduce tinnitus perception by amplitude modulated tones.

The XYZ Tinnitus Treatment System includes customized,

amplitude modulated treatment tones within XYZ TTS. The XYZ

TTS consists of a handheld patient device to generate sound

therapy, earphones, and proprietary treatment sounds which

are customized to each patient and designed to address the

underlying neurological cause of tinnitus.

What Life is Like for Today’s

Journalist

In the old days journalists filed 1 story a day or every few days depending on the nature of the story

Today a journalist might have to file 1 story every hour to a few hours, plus blog and tweet

They get 100s of emails from PR peeps on news that has nothing to do with what they write about

With much tighter deadlines they get very cranky

Public flogging of PR peeps is a regular occurrence on Twitter

Consequences of Not Carefully

Pitching a News Worthy Story

“Today people send out press releases so they can see

their company all over the Internet”

“PR people have a PRWeb mentality; they want ‘pay for

play”

“The thing that bugs me is companies who think that if

they get interviewed they will dominate my story. They

don’t understand that they’re part of the story; not THE

story. But they want the story to be about them. Or

they’ll pitch only what they’re doing and not make it

broader. They don’t get it. And they don’t like the

outcome of the reporting. I get a lot of these kinds of

queries.”

More Journalist Rants

“I get about 300 emails a day; 200 are from PR people

who send out press releases to promote their product

using the ‘Howitzer’ approach!”

“I’m annoyed by PR people who haven’t taken the time

to understand at all what we cover (health news

outlet). I get releases about country music! I get

releases with follow up calls. Don’t ever call me to see if

I got your press release. If you’re calling to do that, I

can't imagine we have a relationship. Not only is it a

waste of time, but you’ll get a mini rant. It won’t be

pleasant.”

“I hate when PR people use nonsense words like

breakthrough technology, etc. Show me, don’t tell me.

It won’t work for me and other journalists in the

business.”

Traditional Media Isn’t

Dead Yet

Contrary to popular belief, the

percentage of original content found on

social media pales in comparison to

traditional media (Pew Charitable Trust

study)

Media stories about your company

increase credibility & desire for your brand

Positive stories make invaluable content for

curating and syndicating on social networks

Where to Start Remember composition 101: the story has a

plot, characters, conflict, theme, setting, point of view

Come up with the human interest angle about your product/service

Start at the end – customer experience from using your product

Articulate the problem

Educate your audience

Come up with a personal anecdote

Story Examples

CEO boxes tougher opponents, turns around failing

company; scrappy contender metaphor puts company

on the map

Hospital acquired infections – patient develops MRSA

after knee surgery; what life is like now

Did you know that far more soldiers coming home from

Afghanistan suffer more from tinnitus than PTSD?

Healthcare reform drives new care models – ACOs; we

streamline ACO management

Report comes out stating 70% of seniors living alone will

be subjected to financial fraud

Talk to elder care advocate and professional

conservator…

Digital x-rays & and astute ER doc from Shepherd

Hospital saves a patient from permanent brain damage

Elements of Your Story

Who, what and why

Show me, don’t tell me

Why should I care?

What universal problem are you solving?

How did you come up with your business idea;

your light bulb moment

Personal experience

The pain you witnessed/experienced

Improvement you made that changes the

game

You need to provide sources – customers, background/market research data, company

founders, executives, backers, influencers, etc.

Augment With Social Media

Blog

Twitter

Facebook Brand Page

LinkedIn

YouTube