Unlocking Business Outcomes with the Magic of Metaphor

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”

Anyone who’s even remotely familiar with English literature knows this famous line from William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” It’s also one of the most cited examples of metaphors in our language.

The dictionary definition of “metaphor” describes it as a figure of speech in which a word/phrase that denotes one kind of object or idea (e.g., “stage” and “players”) is used in place of another (the world and the people in it) to suggest a likeness between the two. Those of us in the business of storytelling see metaphor as a powerful and effective brain hack that sparks an immediate connection between something in your audience’s mind and the concept you’re trying to communicate.

Here’s an example I’ve used on the Go Narrative blog before: My wife explained the concept of a dynamometer to my 10-year-old son by describing it as a treadmill for a car because “you can see how fast you can go without actually going anywhere.” My son already knew and understood what a treadmill is, and thanks to a brilliant metaphor, he knows and understands what a dyno is.

If metaphor can help a 10-year-old grasp the concept of a complex piece of machinery, think about how well it could help you communicate your brand’s value proposition and benefits. That’s why we’re huge proponents of metaphor, not only in individual stories but in larger brand narratives, too.

Why do metaphors work so well?

The metaphor and its cousins, analogies, and similes, work because they are essentially storytelling shorthand. You can convey a lot of big ideas and information in a mere sentence or two, by merely likening one thing to another. These condensed forms of storytelling are particularly useful in today’s social media-driven marketing landscape, which values brevity and quick consumption.

To understand the ability of metaphor to tell a complete story in just a few words, consider the Tea Party movement that emerged shortly after President Barack Obama first took office. This group of political activists chose their name as a reference to the Boston Tea Party of 1773, a demonstration against “taxation without representation” that helped launch the American Revolution.

The modern Tea Party cohort carefully chose this moniker because they knew it would press the right buttons in its supporters’ brains. They even dress up in Revolutionary-era costumes at their events to drive home the connection. By likening the current movement to the historical Boston Tea Party movement, members of the Tea Party are using this phrase as a metaphor for their political views and beliefs.

You probably use metaphors and analogies quite a bit in your everyday life when you’re trying to describe things to people outside your circle of expertise (I know I certainly do). So why not start here when you’re trying to tell stories about your business? They work extraordinarily well at making concepts “sticky” and memorable, and they can serve as a gateway to introducing your audience to more complex, detailed information about your products and services. Metaphors lead a horse to water. And they are hidden everywhere in plain sight.

Over the summer, I had a truly enlightening conversation with memory expert and actor Mark Channon about the role memory plays in good storytelling, and part of our chat focused on the power of metaphor. Mark uses metaphor frequently when working with clients because it’s a great learning technique. Here’s how he describes it:

“I’m fascinated by the metaphors people use for their life. I was working with someone the other day, and they were like, “I feel like I’m trapped.” Whenever I hear someone use a metaphor like that, I always like to follow up with it, like, “Where are you trapped? What does it look like?” They may go, “It feels like I’m behind a wall.” And I go, “What happens if you put a door in the wall?” And now suddenly you start to play with this stuff underneath. I think when people start to raise their awareness of the metaphors they use for themselves, that’s where real change can happen.”

When you use a metaphor, you’re finding a point of reference with some story that they get, so they can start to understand and decode your information within their brain. You’re saying something that triggers a known story in people’s minds, thereby making them both draw a connection and remember it. That’s the magic of metaphor.

Metaphor and narrative: Infusing meaning through language

If you’ve been following the Go Narrative blog, you know we talk a lot about the importance of both story and narrative. Stories are fundamental to how we think, and our brains organize and process those individual stories as part of larger narratives.

I do fully believe our brains are organized on narrative, but our thought processes are also organized on metaphors.

Narrative itself leverages metaphor heavily. When we come up with a narrative for a client, that in itself is a metaphor. We summarize the narrative in an overarching tagline, which serves as a metaphor for the stories within the narrative. Put simply; the tagline is a stand-in for those stories; we are saying one specific phrase to encapsulate and convey meaning about something else.

Now, when we leverage the power of metaphor in precise and particular ways – often through repetition of a specific narrative – we can attribute meaning into certain phrases and images and build a definition around it for our audience. We use words and symbols to make the world seem a certain way, thereby turning those words and symbols into metaphors that represent something far beyond their original, literal meaning.

While this can, of course, be used in positive ways (e.g., the rainbow has become an instant visual metaphor for the struggles, triumphs, and solidary of the LGBTQ+ community), there are plenty of examples of how negative meaning can be infused into certain parts of language. Two that come to mind for me are “cancel culture” and “political correctness.”

In the modern world, these two phrases hold an apparent direct meaning. But when you look deeper, there are a lot of factors and a lot of history at work. Each can describe many things. Both these phrases can invoke revulsion and are sometimes used to make a point that something is terrible.

Take political correctness, for example. In my experience (and perhaps yours, too), the term “PC” is used overwhelmingly as a negative term. When a person or an organization is labeled as “PC,” it’s often meant to signify that they’re “too PC.”

I’m sure most people could find examples of extreme PC behavior that are negative. However, the act of being politically correct technically means “to modify in a way that is more respectful to minorities,” or “to modify in a way that conforms more to the official position of a government or political party.” 

When such modifications are made to speech, they are not inherently bad. And yet, I’ve observed people seem to be more likely to talk about diversity and inclusion than try to reclaim PC as a positive term. 

So, what happened? Meaning was attributed – and the meaning was, by and large, negative.

It wasn’t always like that, though. Political correctness was once used as more of a practical term. In fact, when it first emerged in the late 18th century, “political correctness” had an entirely literal meaning: In 1793, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall declared that it was more “politically correct” to give a toast to “The People of the United States,” rather than simply, “The United States.” As Harvard Political Review puts it, being PC was “merely a social convention for elites to abide by, not a nationwide topic of debate.”

In the 1960s, that term took on a new meaning for both sides of the political aisle during a climate of intense social change, where “politically correct” actions were seen as being helpful to a cause. Then in the 1980s and ’90s, the terms changed again. “Being PC” stopped being positive and morphed into a weapon – a term to attack intellectuals and academics who sought to define language. Today, it has become shorthand for “extreme liberal.” 

Two exciting things have happened here in our brief journey into the history of political correctness. We have shown the power of the term as a metaphor, a tool to quickly hack someone’s brain to convey its (modern) meaning. And at the same time, we’ve shown the power of the narrative of the term.

Narratives represent a way of being, the essence of something. Its meaning. Its intent. Because we use a figure of speech to convey that broader meaning, it becomes a metaphor. 

It’s the mashup of the power of these two tools where the real magic happens.

Hooking your audience with the right metaphors

We’ve seen how potent the right metaphors can be in the context of storytelling. Even trial attorneys use metaphors to help a jury better understand their arguments and presentation of evidence. So why wouldn’t you want to leverage this power, combined with narrative power, to craft strategic narratives that help you build internal alignment and external engagement for your business?

Maybe you’re not feeling confident about choosing the best analogies and metaphors to include in your brand narrative. If you’re stuck on how to identify and leverage the right metaphors in your storytelling, here are a few helpful hints for thinking it through:

• What thoughts can I trigger by relating them to my idea? Metaphors trigger us to think of certain things and “anchor” those thoughts to an idea. When you know this and can control those “thought triggers,” it can be immensely powerful.
• Can I clarify my idea by comparing it to something else? The effort of coming up with a good metaphor helps us sharpen the clarity of the original idea in our mind.
• What is something simple and familiar to my audience that will help them grasp this idea? People learn best by viewing new concepts through the lens of the familiar. When choosing a metaphor, think of a simple, accessible concept that doesn’t need further explanation on its own, so your audience can overlay that simple concept onto your idea to instantly “get it.”

If you want your audience to ‘get it,’ be intentional with metaphor.

Studies have shown that interest plays a crucial role in learning. The more interested we are in something, the more likely we are to grasp it, devour it, retain it, and even pass it on to others who may share our interest and excitement. This is where metaphors can come into play for businesses.

A metaphor makes an unknown thing both accessible and interesting. It reels in the audience like the fish on the end of a line (look, a metaphor!). When used intentionally, metaphors become a powerful tool for creating clarity across your entire organization, from internal team alignment to outbound customer messaging in your campaigns. You can help your audience understand a concept quickly by relating it to their own lived experiences.

The brain is used to working in this way. We process, store, and retrieve memories in much the same way a computer processes, stores, and retrieves data inputs (this is called “information processing theory,” and it’s a psychological theory built entirely on this computer metaphor). The easier a story is to process, the easier it is to recall – and we use metaphors because they make the “processing” easier on our brains.

Now, easy is relative. It might be easy to use an off-the-cuff metaphor like “easy as pie” to clearly illustrate how easy something is. In business, you have to be a little bit more structured. 

That’s why we developed the TRIPS Storytelling? methodology. When you have this type of narrative framework, you can then deconstruct an issue into its components. You can get clear on what those components are and apply them intentionally to your storytelling strategy. It gives you the fuel to find the figure of speech that makes the most sense for your narrative.

When you are intentional about metaphor, you have a strategic narrative – something that is intentionally crafted to move someone forward in the direction of your choosing. For example, we’ve created such metaphoric strategic narratives for clients, including, “Soaring like an eagle,” “Quality control,” and “Diversity.” All are relevant to the specific product or service. All help provide clarity as to the meaning of whatever fancy technology is being offered. 

All these metaphors were designed to make an audience say, “Ah ha, I get it!” And when people deeply feel and understand something – when they “get it” enough to be interested – that’s when you hook them.

Need help finding the right metaphors and narrative for your business? Book a complimentary 30-minute consultation with Go Narrative and let’s chat about your storytelling strategy.

Go Narrative is a Seattle Based marketing firm that assists business leaders in technology companies build and implement advanced marketing strategies. Our secret sauce is storytelling for business growth and transformation. We can help you cut through the noise and improve your reputation. We love helping business leaders understand, use, and apply storytelling in business via writing, presentations, video, strategy, and actionable plans. Get attention. Be heard. Sell more.

www.GoNarrative.com | Signup for storytelling tips to your inbox.

eBook available at https://bit.ly/GoNarrativeEB1LP

More about what we do, our services