How to tell your story with impact - Part 2

Part 2 – 80:20 Rule

I like to think of communications like a bank balance – every time you interact with someone you have an opportunity to make them more or less engaged. Any negative interaction will reduce the bank balance or the love that person has for your organisation but a positive interaction can be hugely rewarding for both parties.

Like any good challenge, to help ensure the bank balance is always heading in the right direction, you need to have a plan - a Communications strategy to be precise. Like the saying goes - success is 80% preparation, 20% execution.

Believe it or not, many organizations still view their communication as a simple output and in many cases an afterthought. I, along with many wise gurus in this space, strongly believe that communications must be viewed as a strategic imperative and I have seen first-hand how beneficial this approach can be. In the same way, you would carefully plan your finances and marketing each year, you need to plan your communications – big and small.

We are all busy and it is very easy to get caught up with the “doing” so much so that we often forget who we need to bring along for the ride – we think about how we will communicate our story after the fact and my challenge to you is to get ahead of the curve and plan your communications alongside your other strategic imperatives and initiatives. Remember, your story is important – it is unique to you and only you can tell it.

From an internal email, to a funding request. From an eDM to a formal submission we are talking about all the touchpoints you have within your organisation. You need a plan and buy in from the top to ensure this plan has the support it needs to make a difference and to help your organisation stand out from the crowd.

We start this planning process by focussing on the WHY. It is really important to be clear on your objectives for your various communications. If you want to have IMPACT – you must have a purpose and a there must be some value in your communication for the audience

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Communicating just for the sake of it is like yelling on a street corner at rush hour – yes you might catch someone attention but it won’t be strategic or overly meaningful for the audience. If you can be clear on your "why" and tap into the “what’s in it for me” for your various audiences, your communications will be more engaging and you are more likely to see action off the back of it.

You should also give some thought to how you will track and measure this engagement to ensure your communications stay relevant and effective. You could use simple measures such as the number of responses to e-bulletins, hits to your website or increases in donations following a mail-out. Alternatively your KPI’s could be focused on something like policy changes e.g. have the key calls of your campaign been achieved? If relevant, you could also include measures of media coverage; not only in terms of volume, but also breadth and depth e.g. How often were your key messages mentioned and has there been a shift in public attitude on issues you’ve been campaigning for?

We will explore measurement and review in more detail later but remember the goal of good business storytelling is to move your audience towards the “ideal state” where they are loyal ambassadors for you and your brands/oganisations. We are all increasingly time poor so being clear on your WHY upfront will help to shape your story from beginning, middle to end.