What do a joke, a fable, a poem, a lecture, and a commercial all have in common? They tell a story. Like a book you can’t put down (hopefully), these pleasures in life should be looked at as the textbook for how to create compelling stories in business.
Ad agencies learned this long ago. The formula to a great ad is to tell a great story. Advertising is a vehicle for marketing communication used to encourage, persuade, or manipulate targets to make a move – whether to change behavior or motivate behavior it is meant to drive consumers. In business, when we present either internally or externally within our companies, why don’t we treat the circumstance the same way? Obviously we don’t want to manipulate others, but we want to drive behavior towards a desired outcome.
In an Adage article discussing 2014 superbowl ads, the analysts noted that, “The winners had one thing in common: a strong narrative . . .”. At work, is this not the same? Those who dominate their pitches or sell in their ideas to top level management create robust narratives that string you along and bring you to a conclusion. We should all use this as best practice. We should look at how comedians develop their content, or philanthropists, or ad executive. We need to get inspired, develop the content, and revise until we can tell the best story we can.
Humans are natural storytellers. In the HBR article, The Irrestible Power of Storytelling, blogger Harrison Monarth, hits the nail on the head by stating, “People are attracted to stories . . . because we’re social creatures and we relate to other people.” Business is about building relationships – with consumers, with customers, with coworkers. Storytelling is a natural outlet to connect and get others to relate to what you are talking about.
Whether you are in finance, marketing, supply chain, or any other function, the next time you are asked to present, try thinking of your presentation as building a story.
Get inspired. Develop the content. Revise