How to tell a strong story

People’s stories are at the heart of everything we do. We help make change happen by gathering people’s experiences and sharing them with those with the power to improve health and social care.

To draw people into our work, we need to share compelling stories. Follow these steps to help you do that.

Gather the facts

Before you start writing, gather the facts. Think about your story in terms of:

• Who? – Who is involved? Who is affected? Who will benefit?
• What? – What is the issue? What change or effect might occur as a result?
• When? – When will or did the story take place?
• Where?  – Where did this happen? Where do people live who are affected?
• Why?  – Why is the story important? Why does it matter?
• How?  –  How did the issue come to be? How are those involved affected?

Identify your audience

Write with your target audience in mind. You might find it useful to develop personas for them, to imagine how they would respond to what you’re writing. Consider things like:

• Their age
• Where they live
• What they care about
• What frustrates them
• How they find out information

Develop your angle

Now you have your facts and your audience, you need to find the most compelling elements to focus on. What will your reader care about most? For example, will the story affect them, their friends or family? Are you sharing an emotional story they can relate to? Are you sharing exciting news about something they'll want to get involved with?

Start with a strong introduction

Your introduction is the most important part of your story. Evidence suggests people spend less than 15 seconds deciding if the content they're looking at is relevant to them. You should:

• Use an enticing headline that tells the reader what the story is about.
• Open with a short, sharp summary of the story, focusing on the most interesting elements. Imagine you’re talking about this story in the pub with a friend – spot the most interesting thing about it and open with that.
• Use simple, everyday language people will understand immediately, and that matches the tone you're going for. For example, if you want people to share their story, you'll want to make sure your language is encouraging and friendly.

You want to avoid having somebody read the introduction and think ‘So what?’

Edit, test and edit again

The best stories are simple and focused. Write your story, walk away, and then edit it with fresh eyes and your reader in mind. Test it with other people to make sure it’s interesting enough.

Top tips to keep your audience’s attention

• Get to the point
• Avoid jargon and acronyms
• Keep it punchy – use short words, sentences and paragraphs
• Break up text with subheadings and bullet points
• Use strong video, photos or graphics to break up the text
• When talking about your work, focus on the impact of what you did, not the details
• Focus on what your audience cares about
• Include any action the reader can take