The Stories We Tell

Your organization has one story, just many different angles. Each angle has the opportunity to connect with your audience, as your story has commonalities that will resonate with their story. For the audience, THEIR story is the most important one, so you must figure out ways to align your story with theirs.

This means identifying the different ways your story angles can capture, captivate, and compel your audience toward action.?

Remember, the story that matters most to your audience is THEIRS. You need to identify how to make your story matter to them, which means seeing your story from THEIR perspective, through their desires. This alignment not only makes them feel understood but also fosters a sense of empathy, strengthening the connection.

So, let’s take a closer look at the different angles you can take to tell your story. Each angle holds the potential to captivate and engage your audience, sparking their curiosity and excitement.?

VISION & VALUE

Vision is how you see the world and how you can see positive change happen as a result of your work.

Value is how you are guided, what you believe in, and how you make your choices.

VALUE ALIGNMENT

In a world of copious choices and much marketing, it’s less about trying to convince an audience to buy your product than it is about trying to get the audience to buy you. But if you aren’t what you make, how do they buy you??

The key is to align your audience's beliefs with your own. When they resonate with the future you envision, when their beliefs mirror yours, it brings them closer to supporting you.

HOW CAN YOU TELL IT

Vision: A vision story is rarely told in isolation. The elements of a better future and the emotional connection to that future are often threaded through different angles. This approach, when built out as a reservoir of content and connection points, provides a sense of reassurance and confidence, particularly in the realm of video storytelling.?

Values: A values-specific story is a powerful manifesto that succinctly presents your unique beliefs and what sets you apart as a result of those beliefs, be it in your deliverables or your approach to delivery. This uniqueness can inspire and intrigue your audience, setting you apart in the business landscape.

ORIGIN

Origin is how your organization came to be. This angle has many different flavours, but there is a basic template. Whether you’re part of an organization that’s been established for a while or not as long, this is the basic flow:

• Someone observed a problem.
• They created a solution.
• It worked and created an impact.
• And today, the work continues.

TRUST ESTABLISHMENT

Building your track record is a pivotal part of establishing trust with your prospect. Many believe that the origin story is solely about your organization, but that's not the case. It’s a foundational element of your narrative, but not the leading one. Your origin story is a valuable source of inspiration for content creation and audience connection. It often reflects the pain points your audience experiences or will experience, allowing you to position your solution as a means to address or prevent that pain.

HOW CAN YOU TELL IT

Instead of chronologically, tell it from the perspective of the audience, highlighting how their pain led to the birth of the organization and its solution. Your origin story, which details how you built your organization to be a force for good, is not just a narrative but an aspirational and inspirational connection for the audience. This approach allows them to live vicariously through your story, building a powerful emotional resonance with your organization and its brand.

INNOVATION

Innovation is a celebration of the competence, dedication, and efficacy of your organization’s ability to create value for customers, whether direct or indirect. Direct would be telling stories of how features on products or services led to benefits that left a tangible impact on the lives of users. Indirect would be telling stories of how customers and their support have left an impact elsewhere.

IMPROVEMENT DEMONSTRATION

Innovation is a clear sign of your drive for improvement. It's not limited to your product or service, but extends to how you deliver it and the positive effects it has on your customers. This commitment to innovation sets you apart from your competitors, showing your customers that you're not just about making money, but about making a difference.

HOW CAN YOU TELL IT

When it comes to products, it's not just about showcasing the features. It's about sharing the journey of product development, the choices we've made, and the considerations we've taken into account, such as supply chain and sustainability. With services, we delve into our design philosophy and the meticulousness in the way we train our employees. And with impact, we emphasize that our customers are not just supporting a company and the livelihood of employees. They are, in fact, making a significant difference by supporting the causes our organization is dedicated to, thereby empowering them with a sense of impact and influence.

COLLABORATION

Collaboration is a celebration of who you’re working with, whether that’s collaborative partnerships with other companies or supporting non-profits. This is all about telling the story of other organizations or people, highlighting how awesome they are.

TEAM SHOWCASE

Collaboration is an opportunity to share the amazing network of people you work with. It showcases collaborators' shared values with you and helps the audience feel like they are part of a movement of positive change.

HOW CAN YOU TELL IT

Whenever you have events together, that is a good time. Event capture is a great opportunity, as it captures the good energy and emotion that comes from working together with good people. Another version of this is the testimonial, which is not just a statement of satisfaction. It's a testament to the fact that a customer isn’t merely a purchaser of your product, but a partner in a relationship. A testimonial is a powerful way to demonstrate this partnership in action.

EXECUTION

Execution is a showcase of how you do things differently. This is a way to showcase values in action and how believing differently leads to operating differently. This is an opportunity to showcase your processes and your people's awesomeness.

PROCESS SHOWCASE

Execution is more than just a task; it's a chance to demonstrate the excellence of our organization. It's about making you, our valued employees, feel appreciated for your contribution to our success. Your competence in delivering an excellent product brings us peace of mind and satisfaction.

HOW CAN YOU TELL IT

"How we work" or "Our process" type stories and employee profiles are great starting points for telling this story angle. The sensitive part is tone and showing off without showing off. This still comes down to telling these stories from the customer's perspective.

Your audience is flooded with decisions they need to make. So, knowing what they need to hear makes connecting with them that much easier.?