Are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin.
I am a storyteller by trade. As a mother, it is embedded in my maternal job description.
I have an eight- and six-year-old to recite a tale every evening. My son is also a massive fan of when I create wild stories of his favourite characters… a personal fave includes Minecraft characters going on a tour of an Ice Cream factory… I digress.
But once we are finished reading to our children as they grow up, many of us forget how to take people on a journey of the founding, growth and evolution of whatever company they work for.
Instead, rather than consider the “beginning, middle, end” structure of the story path, they cut right to the punch and give the game away up front and push their sales message to readers, rather than hooking them in and capturing their imagination.
The importance of storytelling
Many marketers will remind those they speak to that the audience is the most important element of any successful campaign. They are, of course, correct.
Once you know who your audience is, you then need to consider how you will reach them.
The most magnetic speakers bring us into their fold by making us invest in their story – they make us feel they are talking personally to us. It is a real skill and can be powerful not only when it comes to recall, but also in engagement.
Crafting your narrative
Yet, despite this, so many people struggle when it comes to thinking about how they can create a story for themselves and their organisations. They either worry they have nothing to say (so say nothing) or will instead try to talk about EVERYTHING to “cover all bases”. So much for that story structure.
Doing this means that things can come across as a little chaotic from a communications perspective. If you work with or for a start-up or scale-up, it is even more important to not only be clear on what the story you are trying to tell is but also ensure that anyone else who might be sharing your story does so in the same way that you do.
Consistency of your story is the big thing here. By reinforcing that story, you will bring more people on the journey and boost the recall. But you must also consider how and where you tell your story.
Tailoring your story
I once worked with a burgeoning tech start-up that had five different leaders in the organisation, telling five different versions of the same story. The result was confusion and disagreement about who was telling the “right” story and limited customer engagement.
Certainly not the ideal in a challenging selling environment.
To avoid this, along with being clear with your team on the story that you want to tell, you need to select which elements of the story you will tell different people. And then all tell the same story.
For example, if speaking to investors, you need to focus more on the business opportunity; for customers, it will be about the benefits that your organisation will bring to them; whereas for employees, it will be about how you will be able to support their professional goals.
Finding your voice
At the core of it though, your story must be authentic. It needs to resonate with whomever you are speaking to – if you can’t engage with them, then anything you say will fall on deaf ears. From bringing in anecdotal examples to showing how you have helped an organisation succeed, then this is something to think about carefully.
Your choice of language is also important here – too much jargon and you risk alienating a cross-section of your audience. Equally, too casual and it might not make the point you were hoping for.
The best advice? Tell your story like you and not someone who you feel you should sound like. When you do that, you’ll be able to speak to your audience in a way that makes them invest in you and your organisation from the outset and ready to listen intently. After all, people buy from people. Once they are invested in you and your story, job’s a good’un.
Now…. back to the story about the Ender Dragon’s new flavour of ice cream that it just created….
If brass neck can help you with your story, set up a call with us here: https://www.brassneckhq.com/set-up-a-free-chat or drop us an email at: hello@brassneckhq.com
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