Where you tell your story is as important and the story you tell

Over the past several months I have worked with a number of individuals and agencies to create and tell stories that have real impact with target audiences. Creating the right story, one that resonates with the needs and desires of the audience rather than simply bludgeoning them with your messages and points of view is at the heart of what I do. Often, I am working with digital agencies that are using data to precisely define that audience in order to deliver a finely tuned piece of marketing information, and this is an approach that has proven very successful. Combining the data science of audience identification with the art of storytelling is a powerful tool.

But there is another element in the mix – finding the right channel to reach the audience, and here I think there is a need to consider more than the basic data or reach and engagement with a particular media channel. The formats that work in different channels can have a big impact on how you tell a story and even on what story you tell. The reach of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc can be a huge draw for the corporate communicator simply because of the large and easily segmented audiences they reach. But the formats that play well on these channels are not always the best to tell complex stories.

To take a topical (and controversial) example; Billy Vunipola’s recent ill-conceived entry into the furore around Israel Folau’s homophobic comments, shows the limitations of some channels of communications. By trying to distil a complex argument based on his own strongly held beliefs, into a short tweet, Vunipola ended up being offensive. I don’t know him, but I doubt that was the intent. Rather, the desire to react, and to try and say something meaningful in a short form, overtook the capacity to fully explain a belief.

Many corporate communications flounder in the same way. Trying to convey too much, or to explain complex issues using the shortest of content, simply because they drive engagement with a target audience, is a trap to avoid.

In fact, what is needed more often is the space to structure and expand a cohesive argument. This does not mean long articles – there is real skill in making a cogent argument in a few hundred words. But reducing everything to a few sentences only creates misunderstanding, offence and poor dialogue.

So where should brands and individuals look to tell their stories?

Owned platforms, including websites, blogs and your own presentations and speeches are often underestimated channels to reach your target audiences. Here you can control the message almost entirely, and give yourself the space to lay out the whole argument. Having a structure, creating narrative flow and drama are important to maximise the impact of content in these channels as they are elsewhere. Just because the platform is owned does not mean the content can be any less compelling, authoritative or honest.

Shared platforms, such as LinkedIn and Medium, are increasingly powerful at reaching targeted (especially professional) audiences with complex messages. Being part of the right groups, creating helpful #tags and leveraging network connections can all help your content to be seen, digested and understood by the right people. In the right circumstances Facebook can also be used in this way although content is only shared with ‘fans’ or ‘friends’ rather than a wider audience.

Earned media, coverage in newspapers, magazines and editorial websites delivered by telling your story in a convincing way to professional journalists, is still hugely powerful. Not only are you leveraging the reach of the publication to a defined audience, but you are benefiting from the brand and the implicit endorsement of an independent writer. Now, I need to be clear on this. I am not suggesting that an article or mention by any journalist or media outlet should be seen as an endorsement of your or your products – but what it does say is that your story, opinion or insight, has been regarded as being of interest and relevance to the media’s audience – and that does give it power.

Which is why it is still so important to create narratives and corporate stories that will capture the interest of media. Although readership of ‘traditional’ media continues to fall, and more and more people get news, opinion and information from social media – the power of a good piece of coverage to drive that social conversation is still unsurpassed.

So, my advice to create stories that have real relevance and are most likely to cut through with media. Creating stories that work for traditional media will ensure that you are not only telling great stories but are articulating them as comprehensive and complete arguments. Not only will this help secure media coverage that can then drive wider social sharing, but even if you use them on owned and shared channels alone, they will be more compelling and a better read.

Five mistakes that kill engagement in corporate narratives

We all know the power of a good story. Instinctively, we like to tell and hear stories. They are our most natural way of sharing information, of entertaining and being entertained. And most of use are actually pretty good at telling stories. We all know people who have real flair, who can captivate a room, inject real drama or use comedy to win us over – but most of us are pretty good in our own ways at sharing our experiences with friends and family, around kitchen tables, watercoolers and bars. So, why is it that when people try to create corporate stories they so often get it wrong?  

Too many corporate stories become turgid, undifferentiated and dull. Certainly, the stakes are often higher; it’s not just the opinion of your mates that could be impacted, but share prices, reputation and sales. Corporate communicators have to take care in communicating precisely, honestly and with authority – but that does not mean they can’t tell a good story that really engages the audience. In fact, I’d argue that unless they are doing so they are still risking share price, reputation and sales. To succeed in today’s noisy and contested communications environment demands a great story and a great story teller.

So, what lets intelligent and capable individuals down when they are creating corporate stories? There are a range of mistakes that I have seen again and again even from very senior spokespeople. These mistakes undercut stories and prevent people from creating engagement with an audience. The top five mistakes I see again and again are;

• too much jargon;
• inward-focus;
• complexity;
• lack of structure
• and too much information.

Jargon – As is often noted, but worth reiterating, technology business in particular use far too much jargon. Company or industry shorthand, acronyms and technical terms are really useful for internal conversation when all parties have a shared understanding of their meaning. But they are poison to a good story. At best audiences are confused or distracted as they try to work out what you mean. At worst they think they do know what you mean and take entirely the wrong information away from the story.

Inward focus – In some ways related to jargon; if your story is too heavily focused on your experiences, your thought-processes and decision making it will seem distant, irrelevant, cold and potentially self-serving. Remember, most people will not care about your business in the way that you do. Assuming that the audiences understands or cares about the problems and challenges that you believe you are solving is also dangerous. It may be fundamentally important to you to provide home owners with one-click access to insurance (for example) – but your audience has not been on that journey with you and may not agree.

Complexity – The average reading age of the UK population is 9 years – that is to say they understand the words, phrases and constructions commonly understood by a nine-year-old child. You might believe that your audience will to be above average – at least when you are speaking to investors, partners and other business people – but keeping language simple benefits all audiences. The UK’s best-selling newspaper – The Sun –writes for a reading age of 8, and even the Guardian pitches its articles at a reading age of 14. Too many corporate narratives lose their audience to fancy words and clever phrasing.

No structure – Audiences need structure and signposts. They like to know where they are and what to expect. Too often corporate presentations become laundry-lists of features or streams of consciousness that are really hard to follow and have no obvious direction. At their worst they become completely unstructured jumbles of opinion, facts, solutions and features thrown in as they occur to the spokesperson. Knowing from the outset what you are going to say – and ensuring that the audiences has this signposted to them, can help even the most wide-ranging narrative.

Too much information – This may sound counter-intuitive, but I think perhaps the most common cause of failure in corporate narratives is simply trying to say too much in one go. We only have capacity to remember so much at one time. Providing too much information at once risks overwhelming the audience and forcing it to make its own decision as to what to take away.

You need to be especially careful with figures. Most people find it harder to remember figures without context, so too many charts, graphs and numbers can end up confusing people. Some facts and figures, presented well and linked to specific parts of a story, can add a great deal, but too many quickly drown and audience and obscure the key messages you want to share.

There is also a danger in ‘kitchen-sinking’ presentations – throwing in every last fact or story. Not only does this create overly-long presentations, but there is always the risk that it all becomes a bit undifferentiated and detracts from the core messages you want to share.

Being aware of these pitfalls is the first step in avoiding them. Properly planning corporate narratives as engaging stories with drama, character and resolution will have a huge positive impact and significantly improve engagement with your story and recall of your messages. Finally, adequate preparation is crucial. Ensuring that your spokespeople are familiar and confident with the material so that they feel comfortable will help them deliver it as a human rather than a stilted corporate drone.

So try to remember the joy of storytelling and bring some of it to your next corporate presentation.