Storytelling is intrinsic to every culture. From creation myths to legends and folk tales, it’s at the core of what makes us human and how we relate to others and our world. According to the Evolution of Storytelling and Fairy Tales by Princeton Press, as soon as humans developed the capacity for speech, “humans began telling tales” and “may have even used sign language before speech originated.” Moreover, from an evolutionary perspective, “Telling effective, relevant stories became a vital quality for anyone who wanted power to determine and influence social practices.”

Storytelling is also at the core of effective public relations, as we seek to influence reputations, perceptions and behaviors. To meaningfully relate to journalists and our target audiences, we need to tell compelling stories. We can’t simply announce news or offer a quote – what we share with target audiences needs to be in the context of a larger story to help us connect with others and show why our clients’ news matters. Though plots may differ, effective stories tend to have the following narrative components, in varying order.

Exposition – Often the opening of a plot, exposition introduces the characters and the environment they inhabit. It’s the opening shot of a movie, where we see the Shire and Bilbo Baggins celebrating his “eleventy-first” (111^th) birthday. Rather than explaining this information, effective writers bring the context of the story to life. They use a character’s actions to illuminate his/her traits and offer colorful descriptions to help the reader picture the environment, from its physical appearance to its social order. When we reach out to media, for example, we provide exposition when we share background information on our clients that demonstrates thought leadership in their respective categories. We also highlight the landscapes in which our clients operate to set up the conflicts of their stories.

Conflict – All gripping stories have conflict. The conflict drives the story and usually provides motivation for the protagonist to achieve his/her goal. The scale of a conflict can vary widely, from personal quests to societal-level issues of oppression. In public relations, we identify a compelling conflict and position our clients as the protagonist who’s actively working to resolve the problem. Conveying the conflict and positioning our client as the protagonist happens over a period of time, in what writers call rising action, as we conduct strategic media outreach and build up to the climax of the story.

Characters – Joseph Campbell, who studied and wrote about myths extensively, argued that we are each the hero of our own story. According to Campbell, “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” Compelling stories have a heroic figure who’s working to solve a conflict for the betterment of others. To tell stories people want to hear, we need to consider in what ways our clients are the heroes of their own stories – what problem are they solving, and why does it matter? Furthermore, who’s the villain in the story? The villain could be a literal person, but more likely the villain is metaphorical in nature – resistance to change, antiquated products, a crowded marketplace, or misunderstanding of the client’s product or service.

Climax – Imagine an action movie, in which a protagonist finally meets the villain to deliver one final, crushing blow. The knight slays the dragon, the big battle reaches its pinnacle, the guy finally proposes to the girl. This is the climax, and the story wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying without it. It’s the turning point in the story, when our hero finally confronts the conflict head-on and we approach resolution. In public relations, the climax of the story could be when our client achieves a certain momentum metric, beats a competitor on earnings, or achieves a successful exit. The key? The story builds up to this moment, making it all the more exciting once we reach it.

Denouement/Resolution – Denouement is derived from the French word “denoue,” which means to untie. Once the climax is over, we’ve reached the wrap-up portion of the story, where we “untie” a complex plot and the action comes to an end. In The Great Gatsby, for example, the denouement occurs when the protagonist Nick returns to Minnesota to seek refuge from the people he thinks are morally reckless and unfaithful. While the denouement serves an obvious function – to end a story – it also reinforces the themes of the story and allows it to resonate with the audience. In public relations, it’s crucial to consider what theme we want our audiences to walk away understanding after an important announcement.

Though it’s easy to get laser focused on a particular announcement or contributed article, effective public relations pros see the forest through the trees. What’s the broader story we’re trying to tell? And how can we use narrative elements to effectively tell that story? As U.C.L.A. professor Robert McKee said, “Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.”