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STORYTELLING + TALKING TO STRANGERS

When I was a kid, there where two things that my father did that embarrassed and annoyed me to no end. Ironically, those very same things now play a very important role in my professional life.

I am referring to the many thousands of times (or so it seemed) that my father would strike up a conversation with perfect strangers and tell them stories for hours on end (or so it seemed). His blind commitment and dogged determination to tell stories to random people used to drive me absolutely nutty. Without realizing it, my Dad taught me some great skills.

Milwaukee is dramatically different than Lake Mills, Wis., so I am no grocery store storyteller. But, I am driven to leverage my father’s tactics to help my clients, help me, tell better stories about their company and products. At Comet we work very hard to be able to tell great stories to the media with nice personalized faces.

An August OP-ED in PRWeek by Brad White validates my commitment to great and rich storytelling. In his article, Mr. White tells us his days working for CBS News, we driven by this maxim, “Tell me a story.”

Mr. White throws a critical dart at some PR Pros that just don’t get it, saying that “the storytelling concept permeates all forms of the news media, yet it is a concept that appears to be all too foreign to many PR pros.” The commentary Mr. White has is direct and I totally agree.

He goes on to discuss the importance of shaping a story fully for a reporter, instead of just pitching ideas and walking away. In this sense, I work to dig deep into my clients’ business and approach it from a journalistic perspective to uncover stories that will resonate with reporters and the publication’s readership. If I can do this and create an emotional connection to paint a picture that helps the read feel something – my clients will never lose.

While finding stories is important, White says it’s also helpful to suggest or line up people the reporter can contact to help strengthen and expand their story. This work also save the reporter hours or days of time. This also helps me continue to gently control the story.

A main piece of advice that I share with interns, young pros and clients, is this: “that best way to make a friend in the media is do as much of their job as they will let you and make their life as easy as possible.”

My youth may have been littered with embarrassment, but because of my old man, I’ve learned that telling great stories to strangers (also known as reporters) can be interesting and beneficial.

by: al krueger, president | brander
source: comet branding, PRWeek, school of hard knocks

Tags: branding, Dad, Storytelling