Use storytelling to speak to the needs of your audience
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.”
I read quite a few business books (unless there’s a pandemic and my reading mojo is broken) and there are often takeaways that I remember from specific books more than others. Much of the content I remember best is wrapped inside a story.
One book that was particularly helpful to me while I was reading it was Good to Great by Jim Collins.
In chapter 4, “Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith),” Collins shares the story of Admiral Jim Stockdale, the namesake of the Stockdale Paradox. From 1965 to 1973, Stockdale was imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton. Collins asked Admiral Stockdale about the prisoners of war who made it home and why others didn’t. Here’s what he said:
“The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”
“This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
When I read those words, I happened be going through a difficult time and I’d made a decision about it that I was deeply torn about. But until this idea sunk in, my grief over walking away from the truly excellent parts of the situation I was in made it hard for me to let go and look forward to my next step with excitement.
Good to Great is an excellent book with many stories that you can connect to, but this one spoke to me especially loudly because of my circumstances. It was validating. It gave me hope. And I’ve retold the story to every friend who’s been in a similar place since.
Storytelling in marketing content is just as effective.
Give your audience data they can relate to
“Narrative imagining — story — is the fundamental instrument of thought. Rational capacities depend upon it. It is our chief means of looking into the future, or predicting, of planning, and of explaining.”
Long before I called myself a writer, I loved to do research. I’ll explore a wide variety of topics when my interest is piqued. Even if you aren’t prone to distractability with broad interests, I bet you’re doing research pretty regularly when it comes to your business. Whether you’re looking up relevant information for yourself or clients, keeping up with what’s happening with your industry, or checking out your competition from time to time, it’s all research.
But one of my favourite things to do with research is give context or data that backs up what I have to say. The biggest challenge with sharing stats, though, is communicating the crucial information in a way that’s relatable and clear.
The single best chapter of any book on this subject that I’ve read (so far) is in Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. In the 4th chapter, “Credible,” in a section on the human-scale principle, the authors give concrete examples of how to make statistics more relatable to your audience. The following example is one I’ve tried to internalize and follow since I read it.
“Stephen covey, in his book The 8th Habit, describes a poll of 23, 000 employees drawn from a number of companies and industries. He reports the poll’s findings:
Only 37 percent said they have a clear understanding of what their organization is trying to achieve and why.
Only one in five was enthusiastic about their team’s and their organization’s goals.
Only one in five said they had a clear “line of sight” between their tasks and their team’s and organization’s goals.
Only 15 percent felt that their organization fully enables them to execute key goals.
Only 20% fully trusted the organization they work for.
Pretty sobering stuff. It’s also pretty abstract. You probably walk away from these stats thinking something like “There’s a lot of dissatisfaction and confusion in most companies.”
Then Covey superimposes a very human metaphor over the statistics. He says, “If, say, a soccer team had these same scores, only 4 of the 11 players on the field would know which goal is theirs. Only 2 of the 11 would care. Only 2 of the 11 would know what position they play and know exactly what they are supposed to do. And all but 2 players would, in some way, be competing against their own team members rather than the opponent.”
The soccer analogy generates a human context for the statistics. It creates a sense of drama and a sense of movement. We can’t help but imagine the actions of the two players trying to score a goal, being opposed at every stage by the rest of their team.”
I read articles all the time that sound like that bullet list, but the ones that stand out are more like the soccer analogy.
During the pandemic, we’ve had stats thrown out all over the place. One that I found was particularly bad is when public health officials talk about how many people out of 100,000 have COVID-19 and how they make decisions about restrictions. Then one day, a friend of mine shared that 1 in 42 people in Ottawa had contracted the coronavirus.
That one really hit home. Most people know 42 people or have a sense of how many people that is in a single room. It’s relatable in a way that 100,000 never will be. And just in case, I did check the stat. It was correct at the time, but it’s lower than 1 in 42 now.
Support and engage your audience with stories
“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.”
In the book, Content Rules by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman, there’s a chapter called “Share or Solve; Don’t Shill,” which is a pithy but concise way of saying help them out instead of pushing your products/services.
While there are stories of how some organizations have applied this “rule” in their content programs, what’s really useful in this chapter is the list of what to talk about when there’s nothing to say.
I hear this from business owners so often. I even think it sometimes. (Okay, I actually think it a lot and then I go find something to say.)
Here are a few items from the list (of 25.5 items) you can use to come up with stories that will help your audience. For the rest and the full descriptions, I recommend going and picking up a copy of the book.
Talk to your customers or people on your team dealing with customers for inspiration. Keep a running list of the common problems or questions they bring up. Make note of situations you can use as case studies or examples within your content (anonymized as needed).
Get ideas for content from Google Trends or news stories (whether it’s your industry or not). Trending keywords or phrases that are relevant to your business can give you some guidance on what to talk about that will help you get found in the search engines, and current news is a great way to grab your audience’s attention.
Bring some of your personal interests and passions into your content. I’m the first to admit I haven’t been great at doing this, but I’m launching some new things soon (stay tuned!) that show I’m changing my tune.
If you don’t know what stories to tell, there are lots of ways to get inspiration, from writing prompt books and websites to your day-to-day business and interactions. And if you get really stuck, I have a solution for that.
Share important information through stories
“We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling.”
Reading just business and marketing books could get old after a while, but I don’t do that. I read lots of fiction (because I’m a big fan of stories) and books about writing, too. One of the writing books I’ve enjoyed over the years is Wired for Story by Lisa Cron. I got sucked in on the first page of the introduction (footnotes redacted):
“Once upon a time really smart people were completely convinced the world was flat. Then they learned that it wasn’t. But they were still pretty sure the sun revolved around the Earth . . . until that theory went bust, too. For an even longer period of time, smart people have believed story is just a form of entertainment. They’ve thought that beyond the immense pleasure it bestows—the ephemeral joy and deep sense of satisfaction a good story leaves us with—story itself serves no necessary purpose. Sure, our lives from time immemorial would have been far drabber without it, but we’d have survived just fine.
Wrong again.
Story, as it turns out, was crucial to our evolution—more so than opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs let us hang on; story told us what to hang on to. Story is what enabled us to imagine what might happen in the future, and so prepare for it—a feat no other species can lay claim to, opposable thumbs or not. Story is what makes us human, not just metaphorically but literally. Recent breakthroughs in neuroscience reveal that our brain is hardwired to respond to story; the pleasure we derive from a tale well told is nature’s way of seducing us into paying attention to it.”
Stories have been our way of connecting from the beginning, from warning of danger to documenting events. We’re compelled to tell and consume stories. And you can use stories to convey information to your audience that will give them the information they need.
Get inspired by taking in great storytelling
“Stories are our primary tools of learning and teaching, the repositories of our lore and legends. They bring order into our confusing world. Think about how many times a day you use stories to pass along data, insights, memories or common-sense advice.”
If you’ve ever had a chance to hear a storyteller—and I mean someone who has been taught and studied extensively the art of telling a story—it’s a pretty magical experience. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing it a couple of times and it’s both intimidating and inspiring.
So, if you’re overwhelmed at the thought of telling great stories, I GET IT! But fear not, my friend, stories don’t require perfection or necessarily writing talent. You just have to get started. Here are two of my personal favourites of people who have a talent for telling stories and the first one is perfect to help you chase off any doubts you may have about your ability to do this.
And this final example includes a number of stories. It’s one of my favourite TED talks that shows the power of stories to help.
“Storytelling is our obligation to the next generation. If all we are doing is marketing, we are doing a disservice, and not only to our profession, but to our children, and their children. Give something of meaning to your audience by inspiring, engaging, and educating them with story. Stop marketing. Start storytelling.”
Happy storytelling!