Good Storytelling Changes Everything - 3 Tips from Netroots Nation 2024

This year at Netroots Nation 2024, one message rang loud and clear for us– storytellers and their message can be a powerful force for movement-building.

We had the pleasure of hearing from a number of top storytellers, advocates, strategists, and creative professionals about the role of narratives and storytellers in activating and mobilizing audiences. Here are three top tips from their sessions. Each one can help you leverage storytelling for impact, whatever your industry.?

1. Center Your Stakeholders

First and foremost, understand and center your stakeholders within your movement’s narrative. Consider questions like, “Who is most impacted by the challenge we’re trying to solve?, "Who owns the dominant narrative right now?”, Who is being asked to participate in this storytelling, and who is being left out?"?

As you answer these questions, think about how the most impacted communities can meaningfully participate as storytellers. This means not just inviting them to the table but ensuring they have a voice and feel safe enough to use it.?

Engaging with stakeholders as storytellers requires active listening and a genuine commitment to inclusion. Understanding stakeholders’ unique perspectives and lived experiences, needs, and contributions is crucial to building a trusting partnership that drives more equitable and progressive narratives. Stakeholders are not just passive recipients of? your efforts; they are active partners and the ones who will feel the outcomes of the work more than anyone else.?

Top Tip:

Inviting stakeholders communities into the creative process can produce uniquely authentic stories, visuals, and other ideas, but don't limit your stakeholders with requests for specific visuals or burden them with distilling their ideas into? sound bites - that’s work for your team. Instead, ask participants? about stories that inspire them. Create campaigns and initiatives inspired by these stories. Then, go back to your stakeholders to make sure you got it right. Iterate as necessary.

2. Use Emotion to Make Your Audience the Protagonist

A bit of creativity certainly goes a long way! This probably doesn't come as a surprise to folks working in the agency world, but establishing the right tone and narrative frame for your given audience is a game-changer. Crafting a message that resonates involves more than just choosing the right words; it's about connecting on an emotional level and making sure your message resonates enough with your target audience to inspire action.

By using creative elements like metaphors, analogies, or visual storytelling, you can capture attention and inspire action. Even humor, when used appropriately, can break down barriers, making your message more relatable and memorable as long as the message and call to action are clear. The key is to align your tone and narrative with the values and interests of your audience, ensuring that your message not only entertains but informs and engages them.

That said, when you're storytelling specifically to drive social or environmental impact, it can be all too easy to get distracted by technical details, rather than creating an emotional connection with your audience.

Something we heard at Netroots is that even, or perhaps especially, in the impact space, your ultimate goal is to elicit feelings that drive action. Make your audience the protagonists in your story because they are the ones who have the power to enact change.

This might look like drawing clear connections between what your audience cares about and a piece of news, a proposed policy or law, or a technical development related to your organizations' efforts. Tools like message briefs can help you plan ahead on how to connect the dots between your audiences' priorities, your organization's project or campaign, and an appropriate tone and approach.

Top tip:

Embrace message briefs. They are invaluable. When news or policy developments that are relevant to your organization hit, work up a quick message brief. Working with narrative organizations can help your organization assess relative narratives quickly and find the right tone for your audience. Narrative organizations are also a great resource for fact-checking your brief and subsequent messaging.

3. Invest in Content Creation

How it looks and how it sounds matters. And, who says it matters. While your campaigns don't need to have the budget of a Michael Bay movie, investing in great design and competent creators pays off. Even as AI creative tools become more powerful, the authenticity that designers and culture-makers bring to your message is still unmatched. People still create culture.

The creative elements of your campaigns play a critical role in how your message is received. Thoughtful design and production can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your communications. This isn't about flashy budgets or high-tech gimmicks, but rather about creating a cohesive and compelling message that resonates with your audience.

Designers and culture-makers can also bring an authenticity and nuance to your campaigns that still cannot be replicated by AI . They understand the subtleties of cultural context, trends, and emotional resonance, crafting messages that truly connect with people. This human element is crucial because it ensures that your campaigns are not only visually appealing but also culturally relevant and sensitive. In a world where consumers are increasingly savvy and skeptical of overly polished or automated content, the authenticity that comes from real creators is more valuable than ever.

Top Tip:

Embrace content creators as an extension of your marketing and communications teams. Influencers essentially are news reporters for many folks today. Channeling your campaigns through them is a great way to reach audiences you wouldn't otherwise.

Regardless of what kind of impact your organization is trying to achieve, it's vital to amplify your story and the stories of your stakeholders. Centering your stakeholders, cultivating emotion that drives action, and investing in content creation can help power up your efforts. On a practical level this can look like asking your stakeholders to tell their stories (rather than create sound bites themselves), embracing message briefs, and embracing quality content creation.

We hope these pointers help and would love to hear your favorite storytelling tips in the comments!

A heartfelt thanks to the Netroots panelists who shared their wisdom: Anat Shenker-Osorio of ASO COMMUNICATIONS, LLC , Ankia Fassia from We Make The Future , Clemencia Herrera from Moria Architects | Studio MA , Julie Hermelin at Gutsy Media , Tyler Steinhardt of Vocal Media , Glennis Meagher at Generator Collectiv e, Joshua Joseph, content creator, Maddie Medved of Way to Win , Courtland Cox at SNCC Legacy Project , Janai Nelson ? at The Legal Defense Fund, Judith Browne Dianis at the Advancement Project , Montague Simmons ? from The Movement for Black Live , Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO), Tre Murphy The Legal Defense Fund