How to use storytelling effectively in your company
Storytelling has become a definitive tool for businesses around the world in recent years, as technology has changed not only the way in which we communicate with each other, but the way that companies communicate with us. The digital age has revolutionised the marketing and advertising industries, and the audiences to whom advertisers pitch have learnt a new way of understanding products and markets. The effects of these changes are such that traditional forms of advertising have become dominated by the necessity for storytelling too.
WHAT IS STORYTELLING IN THE BUSINESS CONTEXT?
Core to the concept of storytelling in the business context is the construction of a narrative about the business that permeates every element of marketing strategy. The brand no longer consists of simply a logo, motto and suggestive design cues. Modern brands are constructed through the storytelling process to create a single consistent message across the many diverse channels that exist for the marketer. Brands are now constructed to represent the values of their clients, and of their employees. Particularly in the startup and technology industries, these two groups have become so similar that they are in fact largely interchangeable, or at least sufficiently indistinct as to allow the creation of an incredibly strong narrative synergy between them. This narrative synergy is the fuel that companies (especially high-growth startups) need in order to get the best out of their staff. Staff engagement is becoming more and more influential in shaping the hiring policies of companies, for as automation starts eating into ‘white collar’ jobs, more and more jobs become focussed less on efficiency in simple administrative tasks, and more on their creative aspects. As computation removes yet more jobs from the company roster, and a new generation of Millennial workers begin dominating the workplace, employee engagement is now critical to both staff retention and efficiency. Millennials have been seen to be both much more likely to switch jobs sooner and much more likely to prioritise intellectual rewards over monetary considerations.
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WHY STORYTELLING HAS BECOME A CRUCIAL BUSINESS STRATEGY TOOL?
The reasons for this shift are many, however it is clear that the Millennial generation is now both inculcated with, and itself creating, a new business world. The traditions of storytelling go back thousands of years, and are fundamental to the development of civilisation and our species. Before the written word, and indeed for most people throughout human history, storytelling has been the singular method for the sharing and exchange of information. Our brains are hardwired to respond positively to stories; they are natural triggers for in-built release of a neurochemical molecule called Oxytocin. The molecule, which has been proven to be synthesised during the experience of compelling narratives, has the knock-on effect of encouraging feelings of trust and reciprocity.
Obviously it is the advertiser’s dream to be able to switch on their audience’s “trust” mechanisms when trying to impress their brand upon them. The value of trust-based brand awareness cannot be overstated, particularly when the stated goal is to build relationships between corporate entity and individual users. The story allows the corporate entity to speak directly to the minds of their audience and encourage favourable understanding of their “purpose” as a company and their featured products. Storytelling is the neuroscientific button which a company can create value both for its paying customers and its staff. Creating a narrative structure around the corporate entity is literally, not metaphorically, creating the positive association of the company in the minds of the people who interact with it. Defining and expressing the “purpose” of the company through stories creates a shared story in the minds of the users and the staff.
One in which the staff are doing something altruistic and beneficial for their customers, thereby incentivising them to work hard and do better “for the sake of the customer,” and the customers are incentivised to utilise the service or product because they “believe” in that shared purpose or ideal. The propensity is much, much greater for the individual to exchange their hard-earned money with a company in whom them trust, or with a company in whose purpose they believe. Similarly the willingness of the employee to put in the extra hours, and to give that extra bit of value to the business is massively increased (especially in Millennials) with their own positive narrative associations between corporate purpose and their individual purpose in life.
DEVELOPING THE MODEL
When constructing your business story, it is important and useful to understand the relationships you wish to develop, and the common structures of storytelling. Developing a story arc for you business is much like developing a story arc or plotline in a classic narrative context. Think about the stories that you know and love, from literature, films, television and your life, what makes a great story?
It is important that you (the business) and the people who represent it, whether that’s employees or the actors in a piece of video advertising, are providing a shared language with which you relate to the audience, rather than displaying your superiority over them. The stories you tell are starting a conversation with your audience that you hope to continue for a long time to come.
There is no greater way of engaging an audience that to make them feel. Emotional engagement is absolutely key to the process of developing trust and managing that ongoing bond. One of my favourite examples of (humourous, in this instance) emotional engagement is the VW Superbowl commercial from 2011 which includes the Holy Advertising Trinity of Kids, Dogs and Pop Culture References.
The best stories create a balance of the following elements; context, character, conversation and conflict. There are a number of ways of constructing stories, many of which can be found online, and modern businesses would do well to research these process before approaching the execution of any marketing strategy, or indeed any structural or directional changes to their business. Above all, the story needs to be: Simple, Emotive, Truthful, and Relatable. Without those elements, the modern user, being significantly more cynical than the 20th Century consumer, will see straight through the marketers’ jargon. Similarly the prospective employee won’t have to look far to find evidence of a disconnect between a company’s stated purpose, and its real one. Companies experiencing the highest staff turnover now can often trace their HR shortfalls to this very disconnect.
Investing into the development the ideas that will become your company’s story will require a very reasonable investment of your time, and can pay enormous dividends in securing the future value of your company, the core value proposition to your customers, and the ongoing effectiveness of you and your colleagues.
This disconnect is never more rapidly or obviously shown than in the startup world, where the lack of corporate structures places the users, founders and employees in extremely close proximity. Without sufficient alignment of the business’ core ideals, its values and the way that it generates value for its users, a startup will be defined not by its success, but rather by its wasted opportunity. Similarly in the larger corporate world, there is a significant brain-drain towards companies to which customers and employees can relate. The stories that define these companies are the ones that tie together the disparate thoughts and values of the individuals who constitute them. Their stories create a single, cogent narrative to which all its founders, employees, evangelists, early-adopters, and late-to-the-party users can relate and engage.
Tom Loan.
