How to Tell Brand Stories That Reporters Want, and Audiences Repeat with Ryan Flinn
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The term storytelling has been thrown around quite a bit over the last decade, but how do you actually get the stories you want in the media landscape?
In this interview with Ryan Flinn, a former Bloomberg journalist and now a communications leader at health care and biotech companies shares his lessons from the trenches so you can better tell your stories that reporters want and audiences can’t wait to repeat.
In this episode, we cover off on a variety of topics:
It doesn’t matter how many people you reach, it only matters reaching the right ones
Communications is never done, especially after publication
The intrinsic conflict between what a company wants to say and what a reporter needs to write
Jargon and complexity are death in storytelling
The dramatic rise or falls lead to the best stories
Build relationships when starting your career, it pays dividends for life
KEY LESSONS
Always think about the audience first
It may seem obvious, but most brands forget that stories are meant for their audiences, not for them. A story that doesn’t get retold is a dead end, underleveraging the power story. Hence, we all need to follow our audiences and stop assuming what may work. Ryan reminds us that vanity goals like appearing on a top tier publication doesn’t mean a home run.
“Who is the audience we wanna reach? Is it patients? Is it physicians? Is it KOLs or people at universities? Maybe it is a New York Times story, but whatever it is, where are they spending their time reading and how can we reach them? I think generally found that, not everyone reads the top papers.”
When thinking about the audience, it’s also an important realization that there is no silver bullet in communications – a comprehensive approach is needed.
“The top papers don't necessarily drive conversation as much as owned media does. So understanding that you can put out your own social media posts that can get to your audience better than pitching a journalist who may not cover you or may not write the story you wanna write is important. I do think it's important to have a comprehensive approach to everything.”
When talking about audiences, Ryan pointed out that most companies want to keep silent when there is bad news, but audiences want and need information, especially during these situations. Companies need to prepare for crisis by having a playbook of what information to provide instead of following their natural instincts to keep quiet and let the critics drive the story and perception of the brand.
“I think companies always get in trouble when they didn't address a really bad situation. They would do no comment or we're not gonna talk about it. Like in life, it's hard to accept failure and acknowledge failure. But as a company, I think being able to acknowledge failure, and yes we're gonna look at it and try to find out a solution. It allows you to at least seem kind of human versus, you know, kind of a stone cold, no comment. Cause then the loudest critics are the ones that are always the ones that are driving the story”
Always ask the question – what do my audiences need to hear?
Communications doesn’t stop after the story is out
It’s natural to stop once the story is out, assume the published story will speak for itself and the work is done. But in today’s media landscape and aligning with the expectations of the public, putting something out there is only the beginning.
“Nowadays reporters are more successful when they do end up as a PR person and promoting their own story. Continue the conversation gets more engagement.”
Ryan reminds us that audiences have their own agenda and even if you are delivering bad news, it may be attracting a group of people who have no other options. He recounted a story when he was the head of communications, addressing a bad situation and he expected the end in the process after publication of the release, but he was wrong.
“We put out a press release talking about these patient deaths, I get a call from a mom who saw the release, saw my name on it, and said, hey, my kid has this disease, how do I get into the trial? Because again, they're so desperate. There's no other treatment or cure, you know? Um, so I, I think understanding that there'll be different motivations for the audience is important”
Find the intersection between what the journalist needs and what your company wants
There is an intrinsic conflict between what the company wants to communicate about the brand and what journalists needs in a story. Ryan shares his perspective during his time as a journalist.
“The challenge is that your goal from a company point of view is to have your story and your wording and phrasing used by the journalist. And journalists don't want that. When I was at Bloomberg, I had four screens in my desk with headlines constantly screaming up. And my goal to write a story or headline, so amazing that you stop your tracks and click on that story and share it with your friends. And so a journalist wants a story or an angle or a perspective that hasn't been told.”
What you need to do is develop a relationship with the journalist and really understand the type of stories and angles they are interested in, while aligning it to a broader trend that’s hot. Not something easy to do, but that’s why media relations and PR is as much an art as it is science.
“It's important to set expectations that you can get a story in the media, but it may not come out like you want or it may have a competitor mention. So if you're not fine with that, you have to rethink your approach. But how do we get journalists interested in stories? The key is understanding who they are as a person. Uh, I always tell people to think of it as a relationship and not a transaction. If you only go to a journalist with a press release and say, I want coverage, that's not gonna work, right?”
Ryan shares an example of bringing up a brand and what they are up to in a different and fresh way.
“I was on this feature beat at Bloomberg where everyone covered Apple and Google. I was trying to find stories that they wouldn’t pass and at the same time be a good feature. And so when Apple put its phone out every year, the Apple reporter will cover the Apple iphone and the event. For me, I got a story once about what happens to these old phones that are being thrown away. And so we did a whole story about the companies that were buying the used phones from consumers and reselling them. And it, it wasn't like a big known thing back then. So again, that's like a unique angle to the Apple phone release”
Tell stories that are simple and have the biggest rise or fall
Our discussion around stories had us laughing about how jargon is used so much in healthcare – “end-to-end solutions”, “first in class treatment”, “innovative products”… the list goes on. And while stories are about relaying a message, Ryan was clear that a story’s job is to make the audience emotionally attached and be retold. He also helped me visualize the key to a good story.
“The key thing to all stories is change over time. So if you think about an XY graph and change is one axis, and time is the other axis. A story is the biggest delta between two points. So typically you think about what was the most change I got to success and what was the moment when I thought I was going to fail?”
A practical way he used to test his stories are by telling it to his kids and try to maintain their attention. It’s a high bar, but it works to see if the story is attention grabbing, easy to understand, and simply shareable.
“Wired has this thing - six conversations. They take a topic like black holes, they have an expert explain black holes to a kindergartner, a middle schooler, a high schooler, a college student, and then another expert. And you can see the lenses they put on in the conversation. How do you explain a complex topic to someone who's not in the space? And this where I practice on my kids. When I'm story mining, I'll sometimes present to my children who are in middle school and if they can understand, if I keep their interest, which is hard. I know they're doing a good job explaining a complex topic.”
Communications and storytelling in the world of healthcare is not easy, but done well can really help to build an audience who is emotionally invested in the brand.
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