{"id":70688,"date":"2011-10-11T17:38:15","date_gmt":"2011-10-11T17:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/"},"modified":"2011-10-11T17:38:15","modified_gmt":"2011-10-11T17:38:15","slug":"because-story-time-counts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/","title":{"rendered":"Because story time counts&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The annual report is a landmark in a company\u2019s ongoing narrative and, as such, must be consistent with the story they have already created.<br \/>\nBlack Sun, a respected strategic, marketing and communications agency, advocates that \u201cgood storytelling brings people together, restores faith, and stimulates the heart and mind.\u201d And, as an annual report strives to unite, inspire and encourage stakeholders into new or continued investment, a good corporate story can go a long way.<br \/>\nLike any good story, this means having a clear beginning, recurring themes and values, and anticipation for a thrilling climax that your readers believe in. This story is exciting to create \u2013 and it may even help a company to recognise a common purpose that inspires both staff and stakeholders \u2013 but there are a few rules to first take into account.<br \/>\nThe annual report, as defined by Black Sun, is \u201can opportunity for enhanced engagement and dialogue with stakeholders.\u201d Therefore, as prospective investors and current stakeholders are the people most likely to read the annual report, it is crucial that the narrative actively engages them. Richard Ketchen, a Stakeholder Communications Advisor, recommends the use of an \u201cactive voice, plain language and personal pronouns.\u201d Addressing the reader personally will demand their attention so they interact with the story as it unravels.<br \/>\nHowever, the story within an annual report is nothing like Little Red Riding Hood. While a company\u2019s story is a fantastic means of communicating its brand, values and dreams, there is an underlying corporate responsibility to disclose clear, factual figures and genuine insight into the factors behind those figures.<br \/>\nThe figures, of course, will come from annual revenues, profits and losses. These need to be complete and honest, but they will mean more to the reader if a context for the results is provided. This is the part of the story where characters within the company take a front seat. It is when the audience learns about what the key figures stand for, what they want to achieve and how they make decisions in order to meet their goals.<br \/>\nThe more transparent companies are about their business model, including management structure and financial planning, the more comfortable investors are exploring new or increased investment. Jessica Fries, Director of the Prince\u2019s Accounting for Sustainability Project, describes an annual report as a \u201cwindow into what is truly happening within the company.\u201d<br \/>\nThe way a company conducts business and the factors that contribute to decision-making, including everything from financial considerations to sustainability issues, help to distinguish a company from its competitors. These details can be thought of as the story web behind a narrative and, when emphasised well, they have the potential to support an alluring tale that investors will return to year after year.<br \/>\n<strong>Stratton Craig can help develop your narrative and tailor the style and format of your annual report to your company\u2019s unique reporting needs and objectives. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The annual report is a landmark in a company\u2019s ongoing narrative and, as such, must be consistent with the story they have already created. Black Sun, a respected strategic, marketing and communications agency, advocates that \u201cgood storytelling brings people together, restores faith, and stimulates the heart and mind.\u201d And, as an annual report strives to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copywriting-us"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Because story time counts... - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Because story time counts... - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The annual report is a landmark in a company\u2019s ongoing narrative and, as such, must be consistent with the story they have already created. Black Sun, a respected strategic, marketing and communications agency, advocates that \u201cgood storytelling brings people together, restores faith, and stimulates the heart and mind.\u201d And, as an annual report strives to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-11T17:38:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stratton-craig-share.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stratton Craig\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stratton Craig\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/because-story-time-counts\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/because-story-time-counts\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stratton Craig\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b\"},\"headline\":\"Because story time counts&#8230;\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-11T17:38:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/because-story-time-counts\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":488,\"articleSection\":[\"Copywriting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/because-story-time-counts\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/because-story-time-counts\\\/\",\"name\":\"Because story time counts... - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-11T17:38:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/because-story-time-counts\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/because-story-time-counts\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/because-story-time-counts\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Because story time counts&#8230;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/\",\"name\":\"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency\",\"description\":\"Written Communication\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b\",\"name\":\"Stratton Craig\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Stratton Craig\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/author\\\/stratton-craig\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Because story time counts... - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Because story time counts... - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency","og_description":"The annual report is a landmark in a company\u2019s ongoing narrative and, as such, must be consistent with the story they have already created. Black Sun, a respected strategic, marketing and communications agency, advocates that \u201cgood storytelling brings people together, restores faith, and stimulates the heart and mind.\u201d And, as an annual report strives to [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/","og_site_name":"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency","article_published_time":"2011-10-11T17:38:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stratton-craig-share.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Stratton Craig","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stratton Craig","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/"},"author":{"name":"Stratton Craig","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b"},"headline":"Because story time counts&#8230;","datePublished":"2011-10-11T17:38:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/"},"wordCount":488,"articleSection":["Copywriting"],"inLanguage":"us-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/","url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/","name":"Because story time counts... - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-10-11T17:38:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"us-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/because-story-time-counts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Because story time counts&#8230;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/","name":"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency","description":"Written Communication","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"us-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b","name":"Stratton Craig","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"us-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Stratton Craig"},"url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/author\/stratton-craig\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}