Do you remember when you were a kid how much you loved stories? Either someone telling them to you or you reading them?
Do you remember how you were captivated, losing sense of time and traveling in your mind?
Do you still love stories? Those good stories that make you lose track of time and forget about everything around you and the sometimes tough reality of life?
Humans are social beings that from the beginning of everything, loved to gather together around the fire when it was dark outside and danger was around every corner, and tell each other stories. It was a way to entertain them, a way to reassure them, a way to be and feel part of a community, a way to tell what they saw during the day, what others saw, a way to try to explain inexplicable things, a way to prevent others from doing risky things. And a way to make one’s imagination working.
At the beginning, before writing appeared, it was word to mouth stories. Then, primitive drawings, then cuneiform forms and the first written texts, all with the will to transmit something, most of the times a story, an important event. Few of them passed the proof of time and we see them as myths, legends, things too old for us to understand that it might have been real.
In the Middle Ages in Europe, the story teller was an important person in the community. The majority of people then didn’t know how to read. And that person was a mean to learn what was happening around but also to be cautious. At that time, times were hard and dark in terms of knowledge.
By the way, did you know that fairy tales were initially a way to prevent people from some types of other people or events? They were a kind of initiation ritual to learn about the mysteries of life and are full of metaphors that are not really “children-wise”.
But why is it that important to tell stories in the business sphere, are you going to ask me…
Everybody is talking about storytelling the past time, as if it is a miracle way to solve any issues and increase sales…
Yes, it is indeed important to tell stories to your clients because your clients are humans. In a sense that they like stories. As I mentioned above:
Enjoying stories is part of our human brain set, mostly part of our DNA.
You like stories, right? And so do your clients and prospects.
As you, they like to be captivated, moved, surprised.
They like to imagine, to travel in their mind.
They like to learn new things.
They like to be transported in totally unknown places, to be able to identify themselves to the hero of the story.
They like happy endings with a lot of actions and sudden developments.
They like to dream, to project themselves into better situations than the ones they might experimenting in real life.
And this is what they want now from a brand too: a good story with lots of actions and unexpected developments through which the hero will successfully go thanks to the help of a mentor.
Think about Star Wars, Master Yoda, Luke Skywalker and Dark Vador.
In all the articles and videos I could read about storytelling, Star Wars was always mentioned as one of the best examples with schemes to apply to any kind of story.
So now, the ball is in your camp! Take your favorite pen, grab a notebook! Or open your computer and start writing the story of your brand.
Make your audiences dream.
Make them the hero of your story who goes through difficult moments but who can overcome them thanks to you, your brand and its unique differenciation point.
At your stories… Go!
Looking forward to read yours :)
Cath @MyMarketingToolbox
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