...compelling stories inform, educate, and create authority.

Maybe it was the 2022 election, but recently I have been thinking a lot about influencing people and how messages are delivered to targeted audiences.

I have been in marketing and communications for a long time. Whether for consumer-packaged goods products, the automotive industry, or law firms, shaping how people think about products and services has been a constant for me. It is what marketers and corporate communicators are trained to do.

What starts as brand strategy and messaging points, must then be disseminated: translated into copy on package labels; included on end cap displays and signage for drugstores and supermarkets; communicated in print, broadcast, and now digital advertising campaigns; properly featured in a company or brand’s website (AKA the 24/7 storefront); included in case studies to showcase expertise; or translated into public relations programs at both the consumer and corporate level.

The thinking is that the messaging will communicate the brand, and its differentiation from others it competes against, as well as its distinguishing vision, mission, and purpose, all to propel a purchase of goods and/or services. That influence would be the commercial use case.

The Court Of Public Opinion

But a second, and perhaps more interesting use case is when this work is used to frame public opinion. I remember a fascinating presentation when I was in graduate school by a political campaign consultant. He spoke about how specific messages were created for targeted groups of voters (broken apart by, for instance, age, gender, income level, or geography) in order to influence a campaign donation or, more importantly, to motivate someone to get out and vote for a specific candidate. At the time, and this was well before the Internet and big data, as a naïve 20-year-old, I was fascinated by all of this.

The collection and harvesting of that data has gotten a lot more sophisticated since then. But it is not limited to campaign election use. Today retargeting is used in most digital marketing efforts. Retargeting — or the insertion of code to tag your website visitors — is enabling both campaigns and company’s alike to serve up advertisements (like on page ads) when those same people visit other websites on the web. Highly effective, these not-so-subtle reminders of a product, service, or a candidate do work.

Big data and digital marketing are not the only ways to sway public opinion. Public relations media professionals and crisis communicators are not always going after ink on the page for their clients, with examples of ‘ink’ being a feature story or a quote in an article. Often their goal is to shape coverage — cultivating relationships with the media, providing them with data and information or a subject matter expert for a ‘backgrounder’ to discuss the different angles of a new law, regulation, or an issue of the day. This is a long-term strategy and while often a waiting game (someone else’s article needs to be published), can be highly effective.

A somewhat more direct technique to sway the court of public opinion, and I might add the courts themselves, is through the use of opinion pieces and op-eds to tell a story and convince an audience to be on their side. Lawyers are terrific at writing briefs or delivering arguments in the courts. But writing an op-ed for the daily newspaper can have a much broader reach and an even more significant impact. An op-ed allows the writer to not only tell a story but control the narrative. A strong op-ed can help to build widespread awareness on an issue, and even, at times, right a wrong. And when a campaign of op-eds — of stories — is carefully constructed over a period of time, the results can be impressive.

Storytelling

Getting back to strategic communications, good storytelling engages an audience. The best stories harness the power of vulnerability and provide connections to others. These stories allow us all to see the world in different ways, often providing an understanding of different experiences.

Whether it is an op-ed, TED talk, LinkedIn or blog post, well told, compelling stories inform, educate, and create authority. And if the story is strong, they help the storyteller to influence people, sway public opinion, cultivate a course of action, or effect specific change. And sometimes even get a candidate elected!

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Paula Zirinsky, the founder of Zirinsky Strategy LLC, tackles marketing challenges and problem-solving through branding, thought leadership, and intentional marketing initiatives. With over four decades of experience, she possesses a proven track record in identifying growth opportunities for global companies and has a knack for building the necessary infrastructure and teams to drive strategy, branding, thought leadership, marketing, and business development. A former Global CMO, Paula has held leadership positions at K2 Integrity (formerly K2 Intelligence), a leading risk advisory firm, and law firms including Morgan Lewis, Morvillo Abramowitz, Fried Frank, and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft. Additionally, she has provided corporate marketing and communications counsel to Daimler-Benz AG, Mercedes-Benz AG, Daimler Chrysler, and Hanover Direct Inc. She can be reached at paula@zirinskystrategy.com