Business storytelling receives bad press—and with reason. Many business stories fail because they push products, rely on jargon and clichés, or are untethered from the business and its objectives. Such stories inevitably fall flat and contribute to the ever-increasing content glut.
Those facts, however, do not diminish good business storytelling’s impact. It can build a business and fulfill its aims. The secret to success lies in drafting a storytelling map. It defines boundaries and gives shape to every story.
A storytelling map’s cartography points are easy to remember. They employ the age-old journalism guidelines of who, what, when, where, why, and how.
1. Define the Why
The “why” resuscitates the business; that is, it’s the heartbeat. Without it, stories fall prey to Dr. Frankenstein. Answering why one is in a particular business or sells a certain product or service is critical. It gives a framework for all stories, be they ones about the company’s history or ones generated by customers.
2. Establish the Who
Establishing the “who,” or the audience, demands specificity. Businesses must define their customers in concrete terms. “Millennial” or “baby boomers” doesn’t suffice. More information is needed. Businesses should ask questions like these.
- Who’s in the audience?
- How old are they?
- What interests them?
- Where do they live?
- What do they do for work?
- How do they spend their leisure time?
- Are they NFL or golf fans?
- Outdoors or indoors?
- Early or late adopters of technology?
- What compels them to buy?
- How do they prefer to make purchases?
3. Determine the What
The “what” relates to differentiating a business from the competition. Not every business is a unicorn or innovative, but some quality sets them apart. It could be attention to detail, which leads to customizable solutions. It might be customer service, humor, or a validated commitment to quality. As with the “who,” the “what” requires concreteness. If a business is innovative, it must prove the claim—and preferably with words other than “innovative.”
4. Find Locations to Tell Stories
The “where” and “how” tend to intermingle, mostly because the “where” influences the “how.” Stories told on Instagram, for instance, should follow best practices for visual storytelling. Ones on LinkedIn need to address business needs. The professional network usually isn’t the place to broadcast news better suited to Facebook.
5. Decide on Timing
Story locations influence timing, but the general rule is consistency. Business storytelling needs a rhythm to be successful. It a) keeps the business committed to the tactic, and b) raises expectations in the minds of readers, newsletter subscribers, and social network fans and followers.
As with most rules, the “when” has exceptions. Some content stays evergreen. It can be published at almost any time of the year without needing extensive revisions for the next three.
Other stories tie into quarterly trends and marketing objectives and should be published in alignment with the broader strategy. Still others rely on seasonal trends or bubbling topics on the interwebz, such as those surrounding the Olympics, Labor Day, or NaNoWriMo. These stories have short shelf lives and need to be published quickly in order to leverage the larger online conversation.
With those five-ish elements, businesses can create a storytelling map that guides existing and future content initiatives. It can do that because it’s amorphous. While constant, it’s fluid, dynamic. It can shift as new customer data becomes available, social networks rise or die, or the company shifts in a different direction.
Want to learn more about storytelling for your business? Set up an appointment with me today.