The power of storytelling for local government
Last week on the Sussex and the City podcast, I joined Richard Freeman to discuss one of my favourite topics — and one of the biggest frustrations in my career. Local government communications too often fails to build trust. And if we don’t fix that now, Sussex could miss the chance that devolution offers to reset our relationship with local government.
In my experience, the gap between what public sector organisations think they are communicating and what residents actually hear and experience is where trust dies. In my view, storytelling is how you close it by bridging complexity to bring clarity. But for storytelling to be effective, particularly in local government, we have to address the trends shaping how people find information.
We live in an age of reference — People hear something on social, check it with a friend, turn up to an event, then decide. Messy, yes, but navigable as long a communications strategy is in place that ensures consistent engagement based on insight into what audiences need (and where they are).
Communications needs marketing — Too often the discipline of data-led marketing is seen as sales. Instead, using marketing processes can enable data and technology to improve communications - cheaply.
The network effect — Influence is relational. I’ve seen first hand that in local and regional contexts, networking has a multiplier effect on communications reach. Instead typically in public sector comms, ‘partnership’ sits outside of delivery, removing a potentially vital source of scaling communications reach and impact.
As Richard and I agreed, the challenge of bringing communities into devolution is particularly difficult in Sussex as compared to say Greater Essex. We don’t (yet) have a shared sense of regional identity or a clear sense of what success could be from the change ahead. That makes it even more important that we get the story right — to show why devolution matters for transport, housing, jobs and climate action. If we don’t tell it, someone else will — and their version might divide rather than unite.
You can hear the full conversation on the Sussex and the City podcast here.
