Parts 1 and 2 combined. What are narratives? Why do they matter and what can the candidates websites teach us?

1. NARRATIVE
STRENGTH IS
MEASURABLE.
CANDIDATES’
WEBSITES
PROVE IT.

2. Narratives win hearts and minds.

3. When they’re powerful.

4. But how do you make a narrative
powerful?

5. First you measure.

6. You can measure how
strong your narrative is.
We can use candidates’
websites to demonstrate.

8. For the purposes of
this discussion, we’re
only looking at
candidate websites.
Yes. That’s a big simplification. But we’re
making a point, not a campaign. So far.

9. Oh. You want to know
what a narrative is?
Here are 3 useful
definitions:

10. 1.
A narrative is a
system of beliefs that
effect how you
interpret the meaning
of things.

11. 2.
Your organizational
narrative is the core
of what you believe
and why you matter.

12. 3.
Your narrative is the basis of
the many stories you need
to tell to customers,
prospects, employees.

13. STORY VS NARRATIVE

14. NARRATIVE

15. STORY

16. SO. HOW DO WE
MEASURE NARRATIVE
STRENGTH?

17. WE NEED
SOME
CRITERIA.
SO I’VE
IDENTIFIED
FIVE.

18. PRESENTATION
How well is the
narrative is presented?
Can I find it and follow
it?
Do I want to?
ONE

19. How easy is it to
understand? This can
be the key issue in
complex or technical
narratives.
CLARITY
TWO

20. Does it make me feel
something? Does “it
make sense”? Does it
have supporting
evidence?
RESONANCE
THREE

21. If I see it, and I get it, can I
explain it to someone else?
Do you encourage me to do
that?
SHAREABILITY
FOUR

22. This measures how well your
organization is managing its
narrative internally.
We have no inside knowledge
of the campaigns, so we will
skip this criterion in our
assessments.
ORGANIZATION
FIVE

23. So let’s check out
HillaryClinton.com
with this in mind.
Note, we aren’t evaluating the merits, just the
strength of the narrative.

24. HOW STRONG IS THE NARRATIVE ON
HILLARYCLINTON.COM?

25. This is a simple page designed to
engage existing supporters. “I’m with
her” has morphed into “She’s with us”
in recent days.

26. Scroll down and you
see links to her
“Racial Justice Plan”
and “Economic Plan”
People are probably
interested in those.
Wonder where that
college plan is? Keep
scrolling….

27. The likely next stop is
this page.
Generic text. Generic
image. Generic.
Massive opportunity
to do better.

28. Scroll down to an
Issues List. It’s
alphabetical .
No prioritization,
emotion, vision. No
imagery.
None.

29. There are themes here, however.
A little jiggering could slot all 28
issues into “Justice, Prosperity and
Security”
That would be better.

30. OK. There’s some
vision and substance.
Not very readable.

31. Further down the page. Good
sharing buttons. A deeper,
downloadable paper for nerds like
me to read.

32. FINDINGS

33. The narrative on this site is
subtle and not particularly
well presented. It is hard to
point to the main message
or themes.
It would be challenging to
explain it to someone else.

34. We are surprised by the lack of
interesting imagery or reference to
her massive body of public service
outside of her bio page.
We note a lack of any future
focused theme or attempt to make
an emotional connection with would
be voters.

35. SC
SCORE – 8/32

36. 8/32. That score leaves a lot of
narrative power, a lot of influence
and a lot of impact on the table. This
site is not serving its organization
well. The only candidate site with a lower score was
Jeb2016.com (we archived screenshots)

37. 8/32. But with a clear sense of what
can be done to make it stronger.
This score is both an “As-Is” and a
way forward.

38. If her campaign wanted to improve
that score, they need to build out a
narrative hierarchy and a
presentation strategy.

39. We’ll talk aout this more at the end.

40. First, let’s check out
DonaldJTrump.com
with this in mind.
Note, we aren’t evaluating the merits, just the
strength of the narrative.

41. HOW STRONG IS THE NARRATIVE ON
DONALDJTRUMP.COM?

42. Vague but dramatic tag line.

43. Smirk face. Victory sign. Or maybe a
peace sign?

44. Scroll down. This section changes
frequently. This week it’s about his wins
and anti-Rubio. Trumps site is very much
about Trump.

45. 6 “Positions”. Up from 5. Of
all the candidates, this is the
fewest number of issues.
Layout is OK.

46. Positions pages aren’t optimized for
online reading and scanning. Easy to
navigate on right. Yes. The wall is in there.

47. Look hard and you’ll find an Issues page in
addition to the positions page.
These are shorts of Trump speaking to the
camera on hot topics. These are updated
frequently.

48. FINDINGS

49. The main theme of the
home page “Make
America Great Again” is
referred to at the
conclusion of each
Position paper, but not
elsewhere on the site.

50. The presentation is tidy and
businesslike, but not exciting or
engaging, though the issue videos
are dramatic.
His position papers are clear, but
not backed by data or details.

51. There is minimal opportunity to
share and minimal connection to
social, which is surprising given the
strength of the campaign’s social
presence.
Again. We’re not evaluating the
merits here.

52. SCORE – 13/32

53. 13/32. Still leaving a lot on the table.

54. Hard to make recommendations
about DonaldJTrump.com but there
is a clear gap between “Make
America Great” and the other
information presented on the site.

55. Stay tuned for our
analysis of the next
candidates’ sites:
Berniesanders.com
TedCruz.org
MarcoRubio.com
Jeb2016.com
Yours.

56. HOW STRONG IS THE NARRATIVE ON
BERNIESANDERS.COM?

57. One, focused, statement.

58. Personal invokation

59. Generic image and headline. Emotional
text. A little hard to scan.
BUT…

60. The issues list is prioritized and action
oriented, if not exactly organized around
any core principles. And…

61. The issue pages are scannable, chart-
rich, and evokative

62. This volunteer form starts out the same
as all the others BUT…

63. The rest of the form
gets specific…

64. Every candidate
has the “paid for
by” footer
(required by law)
but Bernie
makes a point
with his. Details,
details…

65. Lots of depth for the
super-fans

66. References external
articles about him….
That adds credibility

67. Super-fans get a
roadmap for
volunteering

68. They can start right
from their homes,
meeting others, they
can get it on their
calendars right away…

69. The “organizers toolkit”
is a complete activist
in a box kit.
This site is an
organizer and activist
factory. Pretty slick.

70. What is interesting, is that
this site has the means to
serve as a hub for super-
fans. Something none of
the other sites have the
capacity for.

71. FINDINGS

72. Amongst the candidates
websites,
berniesanders.com is a
standout. It demonstrates
design savvy, narrative
savvy and strategic
engagement savvy.

73. It is emotive, filled with
many kinds of easily
scannable and digestible
supporting information,
and reaches out to
activate super-fans –
something none of the
others do.

74. PRESENTATION
0-8 points. Each line 0-2 points.
Is the narrative clearly presented on the
organization’s website or other public-facing
resource?
1
Is it easy to find and follow? 2
Is the presentation interesting? 2
Is the presentation connected to other digital
assets that further develop the theme?(social,
blog, video, whitepapers)
1
TOTAL 6
CLARITY
0-8 points. Each line 0-2 points.0-8 points. Each line
Is it easy to understand? 2
Does it cover key points or are there significant
gaps?
2
Does it flow naturally from one level of detail to the
next?
2
Does it flow naturally from one topic to the next? 1
TOTAL 7
RESONANCE
0-8 points. Each line 0-2 points.0-8 points. Each line
Does it evoke an emotional response in the
viewer (emotional resonance)?
2
Does it “make sense” to people (intellectual
resonance)?
2
Can it be applied to many situations and people? 1
Does it offer supporting information and proof
points that lend credibility?
2
TOTAL 7
SHAREABILITY
0-8 points. Each line 0-2 points.
Is it memorable? 2
Can most people explain it to someone else? 2
Do you encourage people to share the narrative? 2
Do you make it convenient for people to share it
digitally?
2
TOTAL 8
SCORE – 28/32

75. 28/32 is a very strong
score. But look at the
score cards carefully, and
there’s room to grow.
The improvements that will
take this narrative to the
top, however, will take real
effort.

76. What is the theme
that holds all those
policy positions
together? How do we
understand how
those principles
would apply to other
situations?

77. int
HOW STRONG IS THE NARRATIVE ON
TEDCRUZ.ORG?
Interesting that this is a .org. the rest are
all .com

78. Lots of emotional
words. “Join”
“Movement”
“Courageous”

79. Nice use of media.
(almost made me want to watch it)

80. Nice use of imagery. Powerful
headlines.

81. This is interesting… the only candidate
app that I found.

82. Issue pages themselves have evolved since
February. Many had read like a resume more
than a position paper. They’ve added more
proposals and positions. This is Cruz
demonstrating his bona fides. (again, not on
the merits)

83. TedCruz.org has a slightly different
approach to the volunteer thing.

84. His site asks you to self-identify on your
demographic and issue. This is smart.
Now the campaign knows who his super-
fans are.

85. FINDINGS

86. TedCruz.org is pretty clear on its
message, and is relatively well
organized.
Good use of imagery and video.
Visible social sharing.
There is a strong conservative
religious theme across all.

87. His plans are often buried in
resume, but he does get there in the
end.
We particularly note the simple tax
plan and the 5 government
agencies he plans to shut down.
(including the IRS and the Depts of Energy, Education, Commerce, Housing and
Urban Dev.).

88. There’s a bit of “New Speak”
reframing social issues as
constitutional freedoms.
In particular, he uses the
constitution to argue against
secularism.

89. Reframing is a smart and effective
narrative strategy. (NB. Not the merits)

90. PRESENTATION
0-8 points. Each line 0-2 points.
Is the narrative clearly presented on the
organization’s website or other public-facing
resource?
2
Is it easy to find and follow? 2
Is the presentation interesting? 1
Is the presentation connected to other digital
assets that further develop the theme?(social,
blog, video, whitepapers)
2
TOTAL 7
CLARITY
0-8 points. Each line 0-2 points.0-8 points. Each line
Is it easy to understand? 1
Does it cover key points or are there significant
gaps?
1
Does it flow naturally from one level of detail to the
next?
1
Does it flow naturally from one topic to the next? 1
TOTAL 4
RESONANCE
0-8 points. Each line 0-2 points.0-8 points. Each line
Does it evoke an emotional response in the
viewer (emotional resonance)?
2
Does it “make sense” to people (intellectual
resonance)?
1
Can it be applied to many situations and people? 2
Does it offer supporting information and proof
points that lend credibility?
2
TOTAL 7
SHAREABILITY
0-8 points. Each line 0-2 points.
Is it memorable? 1
Can most people explain it to someone else? 2
Do you encourage people to share the narrative? 1
Do you make it convenient for people to share it
digitally?
1
TOTAL 5
SCORE – 23/32

91. 23/32 is a respectable score. The
website should focus on simplifying
and clarifying the position papers,
which it appears to be doing.

92. So. What did we
learn? How do you
build a powerful
narrative?

93. First, examine, answer
and refine the four
questions:

94. 1. What’s the big idea and
how do you want people to
feel about it?

95. 2. What’s your approach,
point of view or
methodology for achieving
that ideal?

96. 3. What’s your actual offer
or plan? What are you
doing to implement that
point of view or approach?

97. 4. What’s your proof that
your approach is right?
Data? Testimonials?
Respected third parties?

98. (Answering those
questions isn’t as easy as
it looks.)

99. (You knew that.)

100. Next, construct a
presentation that
evokes the right
emotions, guides
people to the right info,
and is easy and
delightful to consume.

101. Test it against the
scorecard.
Not you.
Ask someone else.
How are you doing?

102. Measure, learn and
improve.

103. Don’t forget. Your website
is just one piece of your
narrative.
Your content and social
presence, your media
presence, and importantly,
what your market believes,
is equally important.

104. Want to talk about
narratives?
www.narrativebuilders.com
@deb_lavoy
deb@louisonlavoy.com