A story people will listen to

Welcome back!

Last time, I said, perhaps you don’t need to tell an authentic story. Maybe you just want to tell one that people will listen to? Well, there’s a challenge with that. And to solve it, you need to let go of your ego, big businesses. Let’s all take a collective cleansing breath.

Now, I’m going to say it out loud. The reason large businesses are successful is because they’re kind of selfish. Often they were created because of an idea, which is them: ‘Let’s create a global marketplace and technology giant that will redefine commerce and cloud services.’ I mean come on, that’ll pump anyone’s tires.

To raise money, they had to talk about themselves. To sell products, they tend to talk about themselves. They’re really good at it. But your average person—the ones most businesses want to speak to—doesn’t care.

Do you see the conundrum?

Stories:

Good storytelling brings ideas to life.

The world is a scary place and we use stories to make sense of it. Stories create order, comfort and control—that's why they're good for kids. And clients. They are used everywhere: politics, news, products, services, presentations, digital digests from Geriatric Millennials. Everywhere!

They are both visible and invisible. They build empathy and create action. Storytelling hooks the imagination and evokes emotions. It helps illustrate facts and influences opinion. Stories are tools for learning; they teach cause and effect. We use them to explain things to ourselves and each other. They simplify models of human behavior, transmit culture, hold attention and aid memory.

It's WAY easier to remember something if it’s told to you as a story.

They’re so important that when my son was young, we did a lot of traveling. As neurotic new parents we had a massive fear that the two books we were able to cart about various continents weren’t nearly enough reading for him. We were convinced we were stunting his development.

Anyway, tough love, real talk: Businesses aren’t good at telling stories, but often it’s the only way to get our attention.

Universal ideas:

Crafting a story to meet the diverse needs of a broad target audience at any one moment in time is challenging. You cannot bake in messages for each group hidden at different parts; it doesn’t work. To make everyone listen, we must present universal ideas that speak to all audiences at once.

If you read E01 you’ll have seen the phrase ‘people care about what they already care about.’ So, to make them hear you, you must tell an audience a story that mirrors their experience. Remember this—I’ll say it again differently.

Tell an audience a story about themselves.

A story about an aspirational idea that exists between you and your audience—one that is there because of shared interest. Give it context for them, make it current and compelling.

Very few people grasp this.

Wealthsimple offers low-cost investing, crypto trading, and smart spending tools. Its Magazine is designed to demystify money and help you understand how it works—not tell you about Wealthsimple.

Google is in the business of selling information, and Google’s Think Quarterly covers the future of marketing—not solely Google’s place in it.

In everything we do, it’s the ebbs and flows in emotional energy that encourage the audience to connect with our stories and come with us on the journey.

Identify what your audience is always interested in, whether they’re in buyer mode or not.

Ultrasound machines or the joy of seeing happy, healthy babies? LED lightbulbs or the promise of sustainable and safe cities? Efficient audits or the freedom of time and peace of mind they offer? Hello former clients. 👋

Listen up, there's been a massive move from product to purpose, correct?

Why?

Because of what you’ve just read—a final desperate attempt from the big businesses of the world to connect with you and me.

When done well, it works really effectively. But do it badly, and it comes off as inauthentic almost every time… maybe authenticity really is important no matter what. 🤯

Our son is doing great, by the way—he’s six now, perfectly intelligent and fairly well-adjusted. And I still read to him every night.

As you were.

MrMcK.

Read - The Article Group are a wonderful bunch of writers who I stumbled upon and who shaped a lot of my thinking on this topic. Go deep with their think pieces and find the bits I stole.