Storytelling – A Pretty Strong Influence…

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…  pretty hard to beat a line like that from the Star Wars series of films to start off a story! And yet, all through history there have been a slew of well told stories that have engaged the readers and shared the mission of an organization or helped to launch a cause. In fact, I would suggest that a well written and passionate story can be one of the strongest ways to market your organization.

To help share this concept, we recently hosted a seminar entitled “Storytelling for Successful Marketing,”  and while we have been presenting seminars with timely topics for nearly ten years now, this particular one has easily attracted the most attention so far. The interest and engagement by attendees I believe, really helps reinforce the concept.

So what can a good story do to help promote your organization? Well similar to the differences between push and pull marketing, a good story can do much to engage the reader into learning about your organization from someone other than just yourself. Typically the “storyteller” is someone whom either had a direct experience with your organization’s product or service, or could share how their life’s circumstances were impacted by your organization. Now, it is not just you telling others about yourself, but rather someone else sharing their experience. It is far more natural for us to believe what others have to say, rather than the “crafted marketing message!”

Beyond this concept though, within our seminar we also touched on the importance of an honest, sincere and compelling story. One that speaks from the heart and is passionate. Another strong way to enhance the written word is through images. Either with the use of photographic images, illustrations, or even video, one can create a strong visual that adds yet another layer of personal involvement/attachment.

To make your story even more impactful, we also have a variety of media formats to utilize in distributing the message. Whether through in person gatherings, the written word, online digital distribution or a very powerful option of social media, the concept of sharing the message is much more real now. Even the ability to update  the “ending” to a story or communicate the results of a campaign built around the story can become a strong marketing component.

If you are looking for new marketing strategies for your organization, the concept of storytelling is definitely one to consider. Whether it be in the form of short testimonials or an in-depth, detailed recap of a personal experience, the benefit can be a much more personal relationship with your clients and/or donors.

We all have a story to tell… what is yours?

And to receive a free copy of the seminar presentation,  click here: http://www.clgraphics.com/storytellingdownload/landing.html