Storytelling is a very powerful tool for conveying corporate messages in an engaging way: bringing simplicity to complex ideas, providing context for abstract concepts and quickly showing what’s in it for the audience. Only one problem – too many people have latched on to the style itself rather than the reason for its success.
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Mention storytelling to most people and they automatically revert to the tales of their childhood. Little Red Riding Hood skipping happily through the forest on her way to grandma’s house. Blah, blah, blah, big eyes, big ears, big teeth, gulp, slash, woodsman becomes a hero. The story starts with the details, working through the background to the climax.
But as we well know, audiences want instant gratification, or at least a pretty strong promise that they are going to get something out of the time they are about to invest.
This is why the inverted pyramid has become the catch cry of online, and for the most part off-line, communicators for the past decade. Get straight to the point, the message, and then provide the background, reasoning and details.
Such a direct, no-nonsense format does however have its drawbacks. It can quickly become cold, soulless, clinical.
Storytelling on the other hand is warm, emotional, human. People respond so well to stories because they can picture themselves in the exact situation. There is an obvious connection.
The perfect approach in today’s fast paced communication world is therefore a combination of the two – the personal elements of storytelling with the message first directness of the inverted pyramid progression.
Once you get the hang of it, you will wonder why you ever communicated in any other way.
See my earlier post, 4 essentials for talking WITH your online audience, for tips on bringing a human touch
to your writing
So, I understand the inverted pyramid story about Little Red Hood would be something like that below?
Subject: The Wolf is Dead!
But what about the body of the message? What it will look like?
Posted by Vladimir Pedchenko - Translation Management Blog | November 14, 2011, 5:31 pmVladimir, it will of course depend on your audience and the key message you want to send, you could for instance go with:
2 saved by hero woodsman or Wolf not to blame for elderly attack – to go for two extremes.
Irrespective of your starting point the body text is going to follow this progression, more or less. The language you use however will determine what message your audience takes away – for or against the wolf:
Woodman kills wolf to save grandma and young girl
Grandma tricked into letting wolf into home, he then eats her
Little girl concerned about grandma’s strange appearance but attacked before she could act
Luckily hero was passing by and heard screams – quick thinking saved the day
Parents hadn’t considered the dangers and little girl walking alone
LIttle girl sent to take food to grandma
It’s the story in reverse order, more or less. But the elements of the story remain intact. You still get the drama, the tension, the worry, the jubilation of the rescue, but you don’t have to wade through descriptions of trees and fences before you get to it.
Hope this helps
Posted by MichWalkden | November 14, 2011, 8:23 pmAs for story telling, the human interest angle always ‘sells’ better than the cold hard facts (see number of subscribers of various newspapers).
E.g. if there’s a collapsed building most stories will mention the people involved and how they are affected. Only at the end of the story someone will question the building quality. And write a story about the *people* of the building company.
Posted by Batavier | November 25, 2011, 10:06 am