The 1 Key to Successful PR (Part 2)
Last post I talked about what the single most important ingredient was to a successful PR campaign: storytelling.
Storytelling is powerful because at our core, all of us want to be told a story.
The most gifted writers and speakers are those who know how to spin a good story.
Truth be told, any business or person has a story inside them.
This post will lay out simple steps for you to unleash your inner story.
-Identify your Ideal Client Profile.
-Figure out what keeps them up at night.
-Choose an avatar.
-Be persistent and consistent.
1. Ideal Client Profile
First of all, the key to a compelling story is to figure out your Ideal Client Profile.
Who are they? Is it a small business owner or the CEO of a mid-sized company?
Are they lower income or higher income?
What are their hobbies? Where do they congregate online?
Do they tend to be more conservative or liberal?
Figuring out an ICP is actually critical to all sales, marketing and branding efforts.
If you don’t really understand who your best customer is, take a look at your existing customers.
What traits do they share?
Spending time on honing your ICP will go a long way towards helping you craft your story.
2. Figure out what keeps them up at night
Do they worry about their sales, or lack of?
Do they worry about hackers breaking into their network?
Do they want a better way to monitor their health?
What is their pain point that your company helps solve?
3. Choose an avatar
In Russell Brunson’s book “Dotcom Secrets”, he refers to it as an “identity of an attractive character”.
I call it an avatar, but they both mean the same thing.
Here are some identities you can choose from that naturally fit your company or yourself the best:
The Leader – “The identity of the leader is usually assumed by people whose goal is to lead their audiences from one place to another”. You can be a leader either through fact (market leader) or through position (we are a leader in specific type of manufacturing for instance).
The Adventurer or Crusader – “The adventurer is usually someone who is very curious, but he doesn’t always have all of the answers. So he sets out on a journey to discover the ultimate truth.” Think a mix of Richard Branson and Elon Musk. Or Porter Stansberry in the investment world. Or James Altucher.
The Reporter or Evangelist – “This identity is one that people use when they have not yet blazed a trail to share with an audience, but have a desire to”. If you have a new means to good health, or your software secures networks particularly strong, for instance. In both cases you have to educate the market by both asking questions and evangelizing.
The Reluctant Hero – “This is the humble hero who doesn’t really want the spotlight or any fuss made over his discoveries. But he knows the information or secrets he has are so important that he must overcome his shyness and share them with the world.” For those who are uncomfortable in the spotlight naturally, this is the role that may fit you the best by default.
These four avatars are some examples, but you may find others that are a mix of these or are unique.
The point is to find your identity…your voice.
4. Be persistent and consistent.
Once you’ve figured out who your audience is, what they worry about, and what your identity is, the last step is to be persistent and consistent in your messaging.
When you pitch reporters, bring all these elements together to tell a story.
Telling a story is NOT selling them on how great your company is! That’s called self-promotion, and that will fail if that’s all you do.
For example, if your software helps secure healthcare organizations, the story is that data breaches of patient data can be hugely damaging for companies.
Tell the reporter what types of health care organizations get breached, the statistics on how often it happens, etc.
Tell the reporter 3 points to your story such as:
-Cybersecurity personnel are harder to find due to a shortage
-Because of advances in technology such as big data and machine learning, software can help automate some of the tasks you once had to hire for
-Results have seen accuracy shoot up from 30% to 90%
Next you blend your avatar in. Your company wasn’t involved in health care but because of the overwhelming demand for its software (reluctant hero), it’s now installed in multiple hospitals across the nation.
Play off any of the 3 points in your story in different ways, and use it consistently in all your media outreach or press releases.
Be persistent, but not a pest! That’s a fine line to walk.
If today’s email sounds overwhelming, the one key takeaway is to at least spend time figuring out your Ideal Client Profile.
That one step alone could have a dramatic positive effect on your PR and sales.
But following these four steps will have you on the road to successful PR!
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Need help coming up with a story and telling it to the press? Contact Firecracker PR today and let’s talk.
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