Why storytelling is crucial in your strategy.
The other day I was shopping at a local store where I live.
Since it’s a small town, people are often curious and ask me many questions about what I do for living.
Working in the digital field, I’m kinda of a ‘mystery’ for my fellow citizens, but I always take the chance to explain in depth what I do for living and this conversation is often an input for an interchange of interesting points of view.
The other day, on my way to buy fruit and vegetables, I stopped to talk to the owner of the small shop, a pleasant man in his sixties who has been working for years with his wife here in Tuscany.
Right in the middle of the conversation he stopped and asked me: I got the video and advertisement part Alessandra but, what is this word, Storytelling, I don’t understand. And what is it for?
I answered: Massimo, storytelling is the breakthrough for companies now
but it’s nothing new, it has been there forever!
It’s so important because it can change the world and the perception of if, it can build next generation leaders, and, above all, it affects the brain, increasing the neural activity.
Massimo came back: “Ok, very interesting, but I still don’t understand, how could I explain this for example to my grandchildren?
And I replied: “You already do”.
Massimo: “How come?”
Now I’ll stop the dialogue between me and Massimo to talk directly with you, reader, and share what was the focal point of the conversation.
You see, Massimo has three children and he now has two beautiful nephews.
Every person that has dealt with kids at least once in life, knows children’s hunger for stories: they seem to never get tired of them.
They constantly ask for new stories or the same one read again again and again.
Children narrative is also a crucial tool for training and education.
Established that, let’s pretend that the client is like a child beginning life’s adventures, in this case its customer journey, so, inspired by a pedagogy perspective,
here are 5 reasons why storytelling is crucial:
1 Stories help to create a reassuring reality
In our case, stories offer, through narration, the solution to a problem, and this thanks to the product or service offered. The parallel reality you’ll experience will let you extend on someone else the struggle and the resolution of the customer ‘adventure’, thus creating a reassuring reality after.
2 They allow you to invest in quality time
No one likes to waste time, and being part of a story makes you feel like you didn’t throw away a single minute reading or watching a sterile commercial.
Storytelling is, in fact, an enriching experience.
3 They help you to deal better with the difficulties of life
This point is strictly connected to the solution of a problem. The product or service offered has the possibility of ranging and showing itself in all its entirety and grandeur. This is thanks to the creation of a conflict, within the narrative, which is then resolved; in short, the classic “happy ending”.
4 They make you experience the ‘monsters’
Disagreement and indecision are no longer insurmountable problems. Stories always take their cue from life’s difficulties, sometimes magnifying them, sometimes creating fantastic worlds, but they always end up with an important teaching that opens up new space for
the imagination. The viewer has the opportunity to project the difficulties of his journey as a product or service consumer into the protagonist of the narration, thus detaching himself from this stress, being able to face the challenges of today’s buyer/user more lightly.
5 They let you know yourself and your inner world better
The key words here are empathy and identification.
No matter how fantastic the story is, the viewer must always feel immersed in the story to empathize with the character and experience and overcome new and complex emotions. He or She must dive into the story to the point of allowing him or her to face old, dormant emotions or to explore new ones. This is the part that will make the story truly memorable.
In conclusion, as I did now with the pedagogical example, storytelling must relate to reality in a simple, immediate and immersive way, to reach the hearts and brains of each of us. When choosing an expert storyteller, a company must look for a professional gifted with great creativity for an effective, easy to deliver, storytelling.
Alessandra Ravelli
