How to Improve Business With Storytelling
For thousands of years, stories have been almost everywhere.
They were on cave walls back when cave walls were our actual walls.
They were exchanged around fires when fire was humanity’s most recent innovation, not the iPhone.
They were told to explain human emotions, morals, planets, the oceans…all before something called the scientific method came along (but hey who doesn’t still love some Poseidon, Aphrodite and Zeus talk?!).
Just like today, they inspired children while also teaching them valuable life lessons.
Centuries went on and the presence of stories just kept expanding, into Renaissance artwork, the novel, still photography, Charlie Chaplin films, concept albums and of course the Desperate Housewives series.
This attachment to story was best described by The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood, who said “You’re never going to kill storytelling because it’s built into the human plan. We come with it.”
And this is why it’s so shocking that it took until the early 21st century for storytelling to become an integral part of business. It’s not nearly as present as it should be (and will be), but businesses that want dominant branding, sales and engagement are beginning to harness the immense power of stories.
The problem? They’re likely not telling the right one.
“You’re never going to kill storytelling because it’s built into the human plan. We come with it.”
Stories Schmories, What’s the Big Deal?
It’s understandable to be skeptical of storytelling’s impact in business upon first hearing it. Phrases like “Customers just want to know what I do” and “I don’t know how to tell stories” are 100% valid as instinctive replies. It’s just that with a deeper analysis, highlighting what you do becomes even more powerful through a storytelling lens. And everyone knows how to tell stories; we just need reframed thinking and loads of practice.
But to really grasp the power of storytelling, you have to focus on the ends over the means. Stories affect us more than facts because we always respond to emotion over thought.
Think of it like this; you could read an “About Us” page on a business website, absorb the company Wikipedia page, maybe even dig into some quarterly reports or social media accounts. Or you could watch a single tender moment on NBC’s Shark Tank. What moves you more?
The point isn’t feeling doomed if you lack stories like Amber Leong’s. The point is to see what stories do to us over facts.
So, what do they need to even be about? What should I tell the world about myself or the business I run?
Next to Nothing
Amber was prompted to talk about herself, so it was fine and outright beautiful that she did. But notice how she does not spend one syllable talking about herself on her Circadian Optics website.
Everyone drives and is driven by their own story. That is not to call people inherently selfish, because maybe that story involves helping other people, running nonprofits, cleaning energy, saving species and so on. But all that virtue is still the person’s story, not the story of the friend, cause, animal or planet.
Customers’ own stories are vastly more important than the story about the business they are considering. If a business wants to successfully employ storytelling, it must detail not just what it does, but how the business improves the life of the protagonist (the main character, the customer!). Keeping the customer as the central figure keeps their attention.
If you’re having trouble visualizing this, sit with these two very basic examples:
At Nancy’s Nails, we offer the best manicures and pedicures in New York.
At Nancy’s Nails, your dream nails are our dream job.
Notice how a simple “you” alters the tone and focus. The subject of the sentence is inherently most important to our brains, so it’s vital businesses know the right one.
“Keeping the customer as the central figure keeps their attention.”
Giving Form
Jean-Luc Godard, widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers in history, once said “Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.”
Jean-Luc could sure make a flick, but boy oh boy would he have dominated the business world. See, if nothing else, binding your business to a story welcomes two other things humans always respond to on a deeply intuitive level: consistency and cohesion.
Do the greatest chefs in the world take a bunch of individual, delicious ingredients and just assume they would be excellent when combined in a crock pot? No, they take what ingredients will be the most cohesive as one single, final product.
For them a dish, for you a story.
When you deliver consistent copy, ads and engagement, it forms a structure, almost a pattern - and we humans looooove patterns. What’s better, the structure reinforces what’s most valuable to your audience; how their story benefits from you becoming a part of it.
Keep Things Short, Sweet, Simple
What follows will be the most drastic departure from the storytelling we find in other, more familiar mediums.
In movies, confusion can be intriguing (2001: A Space Odyssey). In books, mystery can be enthralling (any Stephen King). In songs, metaphors can be epic (“Hotel California”). However, confusion, mystery and metaphor in business can be a one-way ticket to doom.
Most data shows people spend only a few seconds on a webpage, and even less on each social media post they scroll through. If readers even sniff confusion within those precious seconds, they’re out.
Make no mistake, this introduces a difficult part of infusing your business with storytelling; getting the writing right. You don’t want to be dull, but you don’t want to confuse. You want to inform, but you don’t want to ramble. It’s a tricky balance, but the payoff is gigantic.
Have Fun
Whether it’s the putting green in the coffee room, casual Friday attire or Twitter campaigns from mega-corporations, business is now more predicated on fun than in eras past.
Embracing storytelling isn’t just impactful for readers or a form of keeping up with the Joneses; if done right it’s a full-fledged blast. There is an array of storytelling techniques, formulas, templates and programs out there that a business could utilize. Almost all of them will teach, reframe, inspire, form partnerships and bring a lot of fun and laughter. Storytelling in business is a truly beautiful, world-shifting innovation.
Having fun is also a massive in-house reason that businesses should pick up storytelling. Employees these days are less and less enthusiastic about simply “working” for companies. They would generally prefer to support a cause, join a culture, participate in a movement or just genuinely change something. Weaving your business into a story is fun and exciting, but to those working with you, it can be empowering.
“Storytelling done right is a full-fledged blast”
Stories Are Going Nowhere
Margaret Atwood would agree that getting your business acquainted with storytelling is an investment. Story is likely to define the future of branding, engagement, and employment. But just getting in early doesn’t mean the hard work is done. Picking the right template or program, aligning it with your specific goals, executing it, and always improving means the work won’t end. But if you successfully check all of those boxes, the resulting boom won’t end either.
If you are interested in Iliad Media Group’s highly effective, proven storytelling for your business, we’d be thrilled to hear from you.
