Master Storytelling One Step After The Other

Humans have always told stories and they're a vital part of our daily communication, but the stories have meaning beyond entertainment value. 

In fact, storytelling is a strong business skill and when implemented effectively, it can boost a business in a number of ways, such as improving customer loyalty, creating a strong marketing strategy, increasing profit and so on.

Telling a story is like painting a picture with words. While everyone can tell a story, certain people fine-tune their storytelling skills and become a storyteller on behalf of their organization, brand, or business. 

You might’ve heard of these folks — we typically refer to them as marketers, content writers, or PR professionals.

Every member of an organization can tell a story. But before we get into the how, let’s talk about why we tell stories — as a society, culture, and economy.

Why Do We Tell Stories?

There are a variety of reasons to tell stories — to sell, entertain, educate or brag. 

We’ll talk about that below. Right now, I want to discuss why we choose storytelling over, say, a data-driven powerpoint or bulleted list. Why are stories our go-to way of sharing, explaining, and selling information?

Here’s why.

Stories Solidify Abstract Concepts and Simplify Complex Messages

We’ve all experienced confusion when trying to understand a new idea. 

Stories provide a way around that. Think about times when stories have helped you better understand a concept … perhaps a teacher used a real-life example to explain a math problem, a preacher illustrated a situation during a sermon, or a speaker used a case study to convey complex data.

Stories help solidify abstract concepts and simplify complex messages. 

Taking a lofty, non-tangible concept and relating it using concrete ideas is one of the biggest strengths of storytelling in business.

Take Apple, for example. Computers and smartphones are a pretty complicated topic to describe to your typical consumer. Using real-life stories, they’ve been able to describe exactly how their products benefit users … instead of relying on technical jargon that very few customers would understand.

Stories Bring People Together

Like I said above, stories are a universal language of sorts. 

We all understand the story of the hero, of the underdog, or of heartbreak. We all process emotions and can share feelings of elation, hope, despair, and anger. Sharing in a story gives even the most diverse people a sense of commonality and community.

In a world divided by a multitude of things, stories bring people together and create a sense of community. Despite our language, religion, political preferences, or ethnicity, stories connect us through the way we feel and respond to them … Stories make us human.

Dove is a great example of this. By sharing stories of both customers and the people they serve through customer purchases, Dove has effectively created a movement that has not only increased sales but also built a community.

Stories Inspire and Motivate

Stories make us human, and the same goes for brands. 

When brands get transparent and authentic, it brings them down-to-earth and helps consumers connect with them and the people behind them.

Tapping into people’s emotions and baring both the good and bad is how stories inspire and motivate … and eventually, drive action. Stories also foster brand loyalty. 

Creating a narrative around your brand or product not only humanizes it but also inherently markets your business.

Few brands use inspiration as a selling tactic, but KFC does it well. By sharing the real story of their founder and now using it to brand their products, KFC not only makes the brand relatable and worth purchasing, but it also inspires other founders and business owners.

The Secret ingredients That Makeup a Great Story

Words like “good” and “bad” are relative to user opinion. But there are a few non-negotiable components that make for a great storytelling experience, for both the reader and teller.

Good stories are …

1. Entertaining. Good stories keep the reader engaged and interested in what’s coming next.
2. Educational. Good stories spark curiosity and add to the reader’s knowledge bank.
3. Universal. Good stories are relatable to all readers and tap into emotions and experiences that most people undergo.
4. Organized. Good stories follow a succinct organization that helps convey the core message and helps readers absorb it.
5. Memorable. Whether through inspiration, scandal, or humor, good stories stick in the reader’s mind.

The Storytelling Process

The age-long debate that whether Storytelling is an Art or Science drives some people crazy.

Let’s keep the debate to them.

As far as my experience goes, storytelling requires creativity, vision, and skill. It also requires practice. Enter: The storytelling process.

Painters, sculptors, sketch artists, and potters all follow their own creative process when producing their art. It helps them know where to start, how to develop their vision, and how to perfect their practice over time. The same goes for storytelling … especially for businesses writing stories.

Why is this process important? Because, as an organization or brand, you likely have a ton of facts, figures, and messages to get across in one succinct story. 

How do you know where to begin? 

Well, start with the first step. You’ll know where to go (and how to get there) after that.

1. Know your audience

Who wants to hear your story? 

Who will benefit and respond to the strongest? 

in order to create a compelling story, you need to understand your readers and who will respond and take action.

Before you put a pen to paper (or cursor to a word processor), do some research on your target market and define your buyer persona(s). This process will get you acquainted with who might be reading, viewing, or listening to your story. It will also provide crucial direction for the next few steps as you build out the foundation of your story.

2. Don’t let your core message to get overshadowed by the story

Whether your story is one page or twenty, ten minutes or sixty, it should have a core message. Like the foundation of a home, it must be established before moving forward.

Is your story selling a product or raising funds? Explaining a service or advocating for an issue? What is the point of your story? To help define this, try to summarize your story in six to ten words. If you can’t do that, you don’t have a core message.

3. Decide what kind of story you’re telling

Not all stories are created equal. To determine what kind of story you’re telling, figure out how you want your audience to feel or react as they read.

This will help you determine how you’re going to weave your story and what objective you’re pursuing. If your objective is to …

... incite action, your story should describe how a successful action was completed in the past and explain how readers might be able to implement the same kind of change. Avoid excessive, exaggerated detail. This type of storytelling is used mostly by brands to persuade the customer.

… tell people about you, tell a story that features genuine, humanizing struggles, failures, and wins. Today’s consumer appreciates and connects to brands that market with authenticity and storytelling is no exception.

… convey values, tell a story that taps into familiar emotions, characters, and situations so that readers can understand how the story applies to their own life. This is especially important when discussing values that some people might not agree with or understand.

… foster community or collaboration, tell a story that moves readers to discuss and share your story with others. Use a situation or experience that others can relate to and say, “Me, too!” Keep situations and characters neutral to attract the widest variety of readers.

… impart knowledge or educate, tell a story that features a trial-and-error experience, so that readers can learn about a problem and how a solution was discovered and applied. Discuss other alternative solutions, too.

4. Establish your call-to-action

Your objective and call-to-action are similar, but your call-to-action will establish the action you’d like your audience to take after reading.

What exactly do you want your readers to do after reading? Do you want them to donate money, subscribe to a newsletter, take a course, or buy a product? Outline this alongside your objective to make sure they line up.

For example, if your objective is to foster community or collaboration, your call-to-action might be to “Tap the share button below.”

5. Choose your story medium

Stories can take many shapes and forms. Some stories are read, some are watched, and others are listened to. Your chosen story medium depends on your type of story as well as resources, like time and money.

Here are the different ways you can tell your story.

A written story is told through articles, blog posts, or books. These are mostly text and may include some images. Written stories are by far the most affordable, attainable method of storytelling as it just requires a free word processor like Google Docs … or a pen and paper.

A spoken story is told in person, like a presentation, pitch, or panel. TED talks are considered spoken stories. Because of their “live”, unedited nature, spoken stories typically require more practice and skill to convey messages and elicit emotions in others.

An Audiovisual story is spoken aloud but recorded — that’s what sets it apart from the spoken story. Audiovisual stories are usually in podcasts or videos form, and with today’s technology, creating these stories is more affordable than ever. 

6. Start writing

Now it’s time to put pen to paper and start crafting your story.

With your core message, audience objective, and call-to-action already established, this step is simply about adding detail and creative flair to your story. Read more about our storytelling formula to help you with this step.

7. Share your story

Don’t forget to share and promote your story! 

Like with any piece of content, creating it is only half the battle — sharing it is the other.

Depending on your chosen medium, you should definitely share your story on social media and email. 

In addition, written stories can be promoted on your blog, Medium, or guest posting on other publications. Digital stories can be shared on YouTube and Vimeo.

While spoken stories are best conveyed in person, consider recording a live performance to share later.

The more places you share your story, the more engagement you can expect from your audience.

Pro-Tip

One of my favorite ways to develop a compelling story is to use “The Story Spine” formula created by professional playwright and improviser Kenn Adams.

Pixar has used this story structure to create so many films we know and love today.

It goes:

Once upon a time, there was [blank]. Every day, [blank]. One day [blank]. Because of that, [blank]. Until finally [bank].

The Story Spine — Emma Coats

Give the Story Spine a shot to help develop a truly unique story to tell.

In Conclusion

Today, it's difficult to find a successful brand that does not have a good story behind it. 

Stories provide meaning, create context and evoke a sense of purpose. 

Most humans are more receptive to stories than compared to facts or data as stories help us relate, empathise and remember. This is why more businesses are increasingly recognizing the importance of storytelling.