Storytelling as a Communication Strategy

Have you ever been so deeply immersed in a narrative as you read a book or watched a film that, for a moment, you found yourself transported into the story? That is the power of storytelling. Stories have the unique ability to capture and maintain people’s attention, increase empathetic listening, and convey new perspectives (Christiano & Neimand, 2018). To gain our audience’s attention, increase engagement, and move the needle toward meaningful change, we need to adopt storytelling into our project messaging strategy.

Increasing Audience Engagement

If our goal is to attract audiences to our message, we need to understand what compels them to invest their attention, emotion, and action. We need to go beyond simply sharing messages, to telling interesting and captivating stories. Think about certain narratives that have attracted you to a brand or cause. Did the messages include relatable characters, vivid language and imagery, and empathy? After reading or listening, did you find yourself more connected to the message, cause, or brand itself? Were you able to easily absorb and remember the content? This is storytelling’s influence on the human mind, and it is what we must leverage as a strategy to engage audiences in our work. Stories give us a chance to intentionally connect audiences to our purpose, mission, and vision and get them to support our cause (Passon, 2019).

Tool for Social Change

Storytelling is the best tool we have for getting people to care about issues (Christiano & Neimand, 2018). Research shows that stories can change people’s behaviors when they are transported into and connect with the story (Falk, 2021). For this reason, understanding how to effectively use stories to communicate with our audiences can provide valuable results if what we need is for them to take action. Stories can give audiences a meaningful glimpse into our work, motivate them to care about and emotionally connect with the cause, and influence them to act (Falk, 2021). Being intentional is the key to success. As we think about how to craft stories with intention, it is important to lean on curating meaningful experiences and creating positive impact. We want audiences to remember our stories and feel encouraged to support our cause.

Telling Stories for Change

Stories have the unique ability to emotionally connect audiences to our cause, change people’s beliefs and behaviors, and promote social change (Falk, 2021). Providing ways for audiences to engage with our work and cause through storytelling initiatives can contribute to greater success. To gain our audience’s attention, increase engagement, and move the needle toward meaningful change, we need to adopt storytelling into our project messaging strategy.

References

Christiano, A., & Neimand, A. (2018). The Science of What Makes People Care. Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR). Retrieved from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_science_of_what_makes_people_care.

Falk, E. (2021, June 27). Op-Ed: Why storytelling is an important tool for social change. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-06-27/stories-brain-science-memory-social-change

Passon, B. (2019, March 22). The Power of Storytelling for Behavior Change and Business. American Journal of Health Promotion. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0890117119825525d