To stand apart from the crowd you need a great story, with a great hook, whether you're promoting your company, a product or service. Find out out what you need to successfully promote the kinds of stories that capture media attention.

1. Building Your
Brand By
Building Your
Story
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2. “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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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
 Ourproduct is so important we just need a
press release & we’ll get great coverage

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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.”

11. 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.”

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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.

16. Augment With Social Media
 Blog
 Twitter
 Facebook Brand Page
 LinkedIn
 YouTube