WHY STORYTELLING IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS
Get the Relevance, understand the Importance & share your Story!
Relevance: Going a few years back
The majority of communications people are familiar with Lasswell’s communication model.
Who Says What in Which Channel To Whom With What Effect?
Every segment of this model has a significant impact on any communication strategy. Even if this model was developed 70 years ago, it still displays the basic process of today’s communication strategies. We still do the “Who” by control analysis, the “Says what” by defining the content, the “In which channel” by determining the channel or medium and so one.
Even when we look back in time — when mass media didn’t exist — people communicated through stories. From storytelling, formal and informal skills evolved. As mass media and social media expanded, so did their influence in society, resulting in the gradual loss of storytelling skills. Storytelling is what links us to the past and connects us to the future — as well as to our humanity. That’s why people like to hear stories, and that’s also why storytelling will remain so relevant as we continue to evolve.
Importance: Some Facts
First, stories are memorable. When stories are used to communicate the same message, the information reaches a retention rate of 65 to 70%. By comparison, information that contains an image has a retention rate of just 25%. This is a remarkable difference that confirms the relevance of storytelling.
Second, details are important and pertinent. Studies show that specific information has a higher retention rate than general information. Furthermore, details can be very useful as they stitch together pieces of information into a larger message.
Third, storytelling is not an unstructured set of information with interruptions. Storytelling is about having a clear structure in mind and making the information flow. This fact is useful to make to get your message across your target group.
Lastly, humans are emotional creatures. By telling stories our emotions get involved, which helps us to better understand and store information. Indeed, the learning effect is higher if we put an information in a detailed story. When people think of their childhood, can they still remember most of the stories that they were told? I think the answer will be — in most cases — yes.
Action: Steps to tell a Story
In order to analyse the different segments relevant to today’s business, we need to go back to Lasswell’s model of communication.
1. “Who”: Who is the communicator of the story? Does this person or organisation have a credible statement and appearance? Be authentic. You don’t want people to think that this is a selling deal. Be confident in what you are telling to the world, even if it sometimes feels uncomfortable.
2. “Says What”: What is your message? Put the information in a clear structure and write it down. Define your main message and don’t lose the focus. People are not really interested in your company, brand strategy, they are interested in your motivation. Tell them your story. Tell them what gives meaning to your professional and personal life. Tell them what your company stands for and what do you personally stand for. Get your target audience emotionally involved.
3. “In which channel”: Nowadays, the existence of social media has given more importance to this model. We have so many options to share our message and we have to use social media for that. Why? Simply because there is no better way to engage with your customer. The more you interact with your community, the more chances you have of conversation and further steps. Use social media, manage and plan your social media post professionally. Reaching your community is one of the essential parts of the process of storytelling. Without audience, there is no story!
4. “To whom”: Who is your audience? Which target group do you want to reach? What kind of interest and language use has your target group? Keep in mind: Communication is always like a translation, even if you communicate in the same language. Everyone has a different perception of reality which translates into habits, dispositions and tendencies. This has a huge impact on the social world around us and on how we react to it.
5. “With What Effect”: This is the only segment of the model that is difficult to control or to know in advance. What we know is: Sharing stories maintains interpersonal connection. For example, we all share our stories with good friends and this sharing is a part of the definition of friendship. This can be extrapolated to the business world where the stronger the network, the more likely the success.
In fact, it is important that the company’s story spreads beyond its own network. Going viral is one option, but there is no recipe for making a content go viral. You cannot make your story viral on purpose, but you can look at the common factors of viral content: The Emotions of the recipients are somehow involved. The masses don’t want to hear hard facts or analytics; they want you to tell an emotional story. If there are no emotions, there is nothing to go viral about.
So, take action and share your story.
THE RELEVANCE HOUSE is a full-service blockchain marketing consulting agency for startups conducting an ICO. The focus is to guide blockchain startups in building, designing and delivering a relevant brand and story. Because only relevance has impact. We look forward to hear about your project. Contact us, we don’t bite!
