What’s more frustrating than a great idea sold badly?
Or when a bad idea gets the go ahead purely because of the way it was communicated?
Whether it’s a quick one-page proposal, press release, piece of comms, Op Ed, blog, or a marmalade-dropper of a proposal to present in the boardroom, the art of storytelling is often neglected.
Here are some hard and fast tricks for peppy storytelling, fresh from the Fleet Street journalists’ handbook, using the VERVE checklist.
Don’t – begin with the bland and obvious; “e.g. PR Proposal”, “evaluation” or “Background”.
Do – kick off with a bang; a striking insight, dramatic concept or slice of imagery that provides a vision for your story. This will help readers, listeners or viewers to connect right from the start.
Use ‘Three Act’ story telling. Lead them along a story arc – but without over explaining. There needs to be a dose of jeopardy and crisis alongside a solution. The classic Hollywood narrative works pretty well for most storytelling. “Need” – “Obstacle” – “Resolution”. In other words, X wants Y but [problem] so they [solution].
The most basic things make the difference. Read what others have done before; learn how your audience likes to hear things. And most importantly, review what you have created. Re-do it. Re-read it until you know it’s good. Patience and discipline.
In short – can you use better words? Can you rewrite the cliches? Are you using lazy jargon? Can you find a more memorable way to communicate your story? The answer is usually yes. And the thesaurus is your best pal. But the internet version is terrible – download Collins or Roget’s for more.
To borrow a tip from Stephen King (from his excellent book ‘On Writing’) when you’ve got it into a place you’re happy with, chop it down by 20% and it’ll be even better. This works!