Once upon a time there was a PR agency that had all the tips and tricks for successful PR storytelling
Welcome to our essential business guide into the inner workings of a PR agency. In this post we reveal some secrets of the story telling process and how it can make or break your chances of media coverage.
THERE’S a wee nugget of wisdom we pass down to all staff who join the team here at Holyrood PR and it goes like this: “You won’t get the best story until a client is showing you out the door.”
Why’s that? Because we’ve lost count of the times we’ve sat through lengthy client meetings, only for them to share their best stories as an afterthought or a funny aside when the formalities are over and everyone is saying a relaxed goodbye.
This isn’t unusual and shouldn’t come as a surprise. Most people have a feeling for what makes an interesting or entertaining story to tell to a friend or colleague – but don’t necessarily see how that could translate into a media story or a blog post.
It’s common for clients to shrug off activities within their business, believing them to be irrelevant and perhaps even boring. For that very reason we created this essential business guide to Sexy PR, showing examples of amazing, creative PR results from unpromising material.
So, the first insight we can share into the storytelling process is the importance of finding the best hook or angle.
Like so many other things in life, practice makes perfect and at Holyrood PR our team of experts has decades of experience. That’s why we are past masters at digging out the quirk that moves a story from mundane to genuinely interesting.
While finding the angle is the crucial first step, it’s still just the start. The next part of the storytelling process is in the writing. Even the best tales will wither on the vine if they are written badly (think of a really funny joke being murdered by someone with no knack for delivery and a complete lack of timing).
Once again, practice makes perfect. Writing ability is the most prized skill at Holyrood and every member of the team has their ability honed on a daily basis, to meet the exacting standards set by our directors. They acquired their knowledge in the most demanding story telling environment of all – national newspapers.
This means we use a host of specialist techniques – the Five Ws; the inverted pyramid; a blend of narrative, reported speech and quotes that pass the ‘say test’; and third party independent commentary, to name just a few. Then we apply the same care and attention to detail in coming up with an eye catching headline.
But story telling is about far more than just the printed word. That’s why we are unique in Scotland as a PR agency with in-house photography and video services. It might be an old cliché that a picture is worth 1000 words, but in this visual age images really have never been so important and can give media releases that extra ‘oomph’.
Of course, not everything we write is for a journalist or blogger – and we also have extensive experience and expertise in writing blog posts, social media updates, newsletters, brochures and flyers.
Whatever the writing project our knack for finding a quirky angle, our ability to tell a story that people can relate to and our lean prose style always delivers results for our clients.
Don’t forget to check out the other posts in our Through the Keyhole guide to PR
Find out how our Scottish public relations agency can help you
If your business could benefit from having its stories better told to the right audience, then do yourself a favour and contact the team at Holyrood PR in Edinburgh.
We’re a chatty bunch here at Holyrood PR and we’d love to discuss ways that our PR services could bring measurable benefits to your business. You can get us on 0131 561 2244 or just fill in the simple form below and we’ll get straight back to you.
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