How To: Enhance Your Storytelling Skills
To have a successful business, you need to be telling your brand story and the types of stories your audience wants to hear in order to engage and inform.
- The aim of every business should be to earn customer trust and this comes from effective storytelling that engages and informs.
- There are a number of ways to achieve this - as listed and explained below - but the end result will create a two-way conversation with your audience, which presents your brand as relatable and captivating.
First and foremost, if you own a business, you are the representative of that brand. So, it goes without saying that it is your responsibility to let others know what this brand stands for and what it represents. Only you can tell this, and storytelling is where it starts and ends.
Once you begin doing this, your audience will see you as a brand that is relatable, which will earn you their trust, and then you can take this further by telling other stories. This is only attainable if you are an authentic storyteller, do not be afraid to present your vulnerable side, and showcase your originality and great content.
Vulnerability needs to be part of your arsenal.
This is probably the most valuable tip you can receive, as the ability to execute this will mean you are letting your audience in, and bridging the gap between both parties in order to create a deeper and real connection.
You need to be willing to get personal. Discuss the struggles, pains and successes it took to get your business to where it is today. This will humanise you, again allowing your audience to build a lasting connection.
Be sure to create different types of content.
It is no good just telling your story once, you want it to stay with your audience, and that will only happen if you remind them. But you don’t want to be repetitive - avoid this by using the many platforms you have available to you like Instagram, video, and podcasts, etc. Think Gary Vay-Ner-Chuck (Instagram @garyvee) who, alongside his team, is able to create 30+ pieces of content from a single keynote, just by adapating it for different mediums: articles, podcasts, GIFs, memes, etc.
Let the personality of your business shine.
If you run your business very robotically, your audience will see right through this, and you will never be able to tell an effective story. Your audience is human, and they will only relate and connect to a humanised brand. The premise of a story is to be compelling, rich in detail, and most of all, engaging - this goes back to point number 2, be sure to create different types of content.
Repetition will get you nowhere, innovation, on the other hand, will kickstart your storytelling potential.
Tell the stories your audience wants to hear.
This is where user-behaviour analytics and data come into play. Look at the sources where you gain traffic from, what is working? What isn’t working? Really spend time figuring this out because then, not only will you tell great stories, but you can tell stories your audience actually want to hear.
The more you are able to personalise your stories, the more it will resonate to the audience.
Use what makes you unique to your advantage.
Here, you need to focus on the parts of your business that has made an impact on your audience. Don’t rely on cliches, identify what makes you different as a business, because this will speak through your stories and separate you from your competitors.
Last but not least, share stories that you can only tell.
These should be stories that have a powerful, moral or valued message, as these are the kind of stories that will entertain and inspire your audience.
Your stories should have ups and downs so that you take your audience on a rollercoaster journey - just make sure you end on a high and you will have a captivated, inspired and connected audience.
Adidas Runners: Shakira Akabusi
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