What does poetry, prose and internal communications all have in common?

First published as part of PRmoment's Internal Comms series

You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose. 

Mario Cuomo

Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo's famous political quote will be on the mind of the new government as it adjusts from its election victory to the reality of being in office.

Getting the right blend of poetry and prose is essential for all communication: conveying vision with practical information about what it means and how it will be delivered.

We can find tips from how the new government is attempting to do just that in its first few days:

• Choose a core message. For the government, this is just one word: change. A bold single word slogan during the campaign went with the mood of the nation and set a clear contract with their opponents, who could not match their promise. Set the narrative, before someone else sets it for you.

• Repeat it. In his first speech as Prime Minister outside No.10. Keir Starmer used the word 'change' four times in the first minute. Leave no doubt up front as to what you want to communicate.

• Build on it. While mentioning change at the start of his speech, Starmer turned to another word: delivery, which got twice as many mentions as change in the rest of his remarks. This signalled the pivot from campaign to government. Signpost where the poetry ends and the prose begins.

• Break it down. The new government has set out six 'first steps for change' in its initial days in office, all with actionable words : deliver, cut, launch, set up, crack down on, recruit. Don’t expect people to be able to recite them from memory but do assure them that there are measurable actions. And that the leadership will ultimately be accountable for them.

• Make it real. From unexpected appointments to government from outside politics to scrapping the Rwanda policy, undoing the ban on onshore wind and approving large scale - and locally unpopular - solar farms at the stroke of a pen, taking early action is essential. People are sceptical about words: show them deeds.

Voters, like all audiences, are busy, distracted, and often-disengaged, if not distrusting. Give them poetry without prose and they roll their eyes. But bore them with prose without poetry and you leave them cold.

Getting it right is hard. But like all great literature, it's worth it.