What is Storytelling?
We are all surrounded by stories. Storytelling is an art to conjure up images of telling tales around a campfire or pretentious events. To be persuade a prospect through storytelling can work as an essential tool to create awareness for your brand and make it more relatable.
Telling stories has the power to touch people’s emotions. Stories can also help you convey information in a manner that can be remembered and persuade the audience to take action. This idea holds for both written and spoken stories, as well as one that contains data.
A Story is Built with Five Stages:
- Exposition– Beginning of the story by introducing the main characters and settings.
- Rising Action– A series of conflicts the character faces.
- Climax– It is the most exciting part when we learn the outcome.
- Action– Events leading to the end wrap up the story.
- Resolution– The phase when the story ends.
Why is it Required
- Stories can also influence the decision making of the audience.
- Stories to help the audience to gain experience.
- Moreover, emotional relations with the audience can make them think of your idea.
- Using metaphors helps to engage the audience.
- Stories can also activate and improve the engagement of the brain that controls senses.
Some Practical Ways to Engage and Persuade the Audience via Storytelling
People’s minds are conceptualized to revert to storytelling. It has been more than 40,800 years since humans have been communicating through stories. Our 65% of conversations are built up through our everyday life’s personal stories.
The 2 main ways to attract an audience include:
- Persuading them
- Engaging them
Persuasion
Stories can be told by creating experiences. This way will help to influence the decision making of the audience. Expertise will also help the audience to analyze the cause and effect relationship. One can change the audience’s decision by thinking that your idea is their idea through emotional relations.
You can narrate your story in such a way that it is an experiment. The insula is a part of our brain that helps us emotionally relate to experiences such as inspiration, pain, joy, and fear. Moreover, it will help the audience to have a better perception and knowledge of your idea. It will lead to fair decision making.
Engagement
Engaging your audience is an essential tool to persuade them. Use metaphors, as these will enhance the audience’s perception. If the story is more vivid, it will automatically be more engaging. Stories can activate and improve the engagement part of the brain that controls the senses. Moreover, it will help people to conceive a better picture of our idea in their minds and help the audience to visualize the story. Engagement with the audience is necessary as it generates interest and will make them curious to know about the results.
Avoid these in Storytelling:
- Please don’t use a lot of facts as it will make the audience lose their interest
- Meaningless points
- Be offensive
- Overcomplicate; keep it simple
- Make your story a sales pitch
