Storytelling 101: how narrative can transform your business
Recently I mentored an incredible bunch of startup founders who are all experts in their field and have compelling products and services to tell. But I find that most of them have a common struggle: storytelling. When people are experts in their field and spend their days and nights thinking about their business or product, it is hard for them to distil its brilliance into a compelling, easy to understand story. So, I thought I would share my tips.
Before we start…. Remember that post is about telling your story, this is not an elevator pitch, although those are extremely important too. But when you’re starting a business, launching a product, trying to win new customers or trying to get someone to invest in your business, your storytelling capabilities matter. Listing a set of features, components and statistics don’t get most people excited because they focus on the what and the how whereas storytelling is all about the WHY.
Why does storytelling in the business matter?
Plain and simple — people are motivated by their emotions. When it comes to business you’re constantly trying to get people to carry out certain actions — invest, download, transact, subscribe, share, sign a contract, and the list goes on. If you make people feel a certain way through storytelling, they are likely to act a certain way.
Ok, now, let’s get into it….
WHAT to do to prepare:
Before you start, write down what you want to achieve or what your end goal is. Like any creative process, things can get messy and you can go down many twists and turns, get lost, and forget what it is you’re trying to achieve.
E.g. develop key messages for our launch marketing materials that resonate with our target users.
Before you get started, it is also helpful to answer these key questions which will act like a brief for your story:
WHO is your audience?
Is it an investor? Potential customers? Someone you’re trying to recruit? An agency you’re trying to brief? E.g. our target market — busy immigrants who have recently relocated and want to learn a language.
WHERE to get inspiration for your stories.
Every good story needs a character. The best place to get inspiration for characters is from your customers, or from the market your targeting. Any good entrepreneur should have spoken to lots of prospective customers to gain better customer understanding to ensure they are creating the best product or service possible (and if you haven’t yet, I would do this ASAP!).
What did they get from the product? What pain or frustration were they experiencing before using your product? How did using your service change their lives for the better?
Make them relatable and personal, be sure to give them a name and understand their situation, the frustration they were experiencing and the impact they did/could achieve with your solution.
E.g. Jane is a busy working mum who has just moved to a new country who feels frustrated because she doesn’t speak the local language and doesn’t have the time to attend traditional language courses.
HOW do you want to make them feel?
Do you want them to fear the future if they don’t use your carbon offsetting app? Do you want them to feel empowered to walk down the street alone using your safety app? Do you want them to feel more relaxed by the thought of using your wellbeing service? Do you want them to feel proud that they are feeding their kids your healthy kid snacks? Whatever it is, be clear about the emotions you want to evoke.
E.g. We want Jane to feel empowered and relieved that she can learn a new language despite her busy schedule.
WHAT do you want them to do after hearing your story?
The point of the story (in a business setting at least) is to drive action. What is the key behaviour you want to drive, change or influence? Do you want to create brand awareness? Get more customers? Launch a new feature? Attract amazing talent to the team?
E.g We want Jane to download the app and use the free month trial with the ultimate goal in mind: she pays for a yearly subscription and shares it with her friends.
HOW to tell your story:
Not all stories are words. Practise with different mediums that are going to resonate with your audience. Videos, narrative, written story, podcast, a photography series, a pitch. Get creative with how you tell stories and adapt them to your various audiences.
E.g. A day in the life video with no words which follows Jane around and observes her busy schedule, and shows how easily she can learn the language when she is travelling on the tram or waiting for her coffee.
QUICK TEMPLATE
This is another template I like to use. It is basic, but at least gives you a base to work off and add some flavour too.
We met [insert authentic persona] and they were struggling to [insert end goal] because [insert obstacles & negative emotions]. But when they [insert the desired action], they started to feel [desired emotions] because they could [insert desired outcome].
E.g. We met who is a full-time working mother, and she was struggling to learn Spanish because of her busy schedule, lack of baby sitters and frequent travel for work. She started to feel stressed and worried she wouldn’t make any friends because of her inability to learn the language. But, when she started to use LearnLanguage app, she felt empowered and relieved she could learn on the go and also felt more connected once she connected with the online community that the app enables.
Things to keep in mind:
Practise: it is true, practice makes perfect. Write, write, and then write some more. First (second, third and fourth) drafts normally suck.
One story does not fit all. I often use this incredibly ineloquent saying often “if you’re something to everyone, you’re nothing to no one” — the point I am trying to make is, if you try a one-size-fits-all approach, your story probably won’t resonate with anyone.
Sleep on it. Editing anything is always better done with fresh eyes and minds.
Don’t aim for perfection. I assume (and truly hope) you’re not publishing this story on a tombstone, so don’t stress too much over this and worry about making this perfect. Practise, get feedback, see what stories people respond better to, and like anything in the design/tech word — always iterate!