As far back as humans have been able to speak, the tradition of storytelling has formed a significant part of our culture. Today, even though we no longer speak face-to-face with all of our audience members, we still tell stories.
However, not every storyteller is a master. Some of us spend inordinate amounts of hours reading, researching, training and taking short courses with the intention of becoming masters in the field.
Throughout all of this, some communicators have managed to find lesser-known methods of increasing their storytelling impact. Here, 12 experts from Forbes Communications Council speak about the more obscure techniques they have adopted to raise their storytelling prowess to the next level.
1. Read The Masters
It may not be groundbreaking advice but the more you read, the better you write. Sign up for an account at your local library and commit to reading one book by a masterful storyteller each week. You'll find copywriting inspiration in the way the great writers frame a narrative, present ideas and create tension that you can apply to your own professional work. - Melissa Kandel, little word studio
2. Focus On The Human Impact
Think about the human impact of whatever your message is. Most people can relate to and are more likely to remember a story that included a situation that they can understand. In the IT world, that means thinking about how the technology will improve the way that the client does business or the way that their customers interact with them or the way that their employees do their jobs. - Niamh Whelan-Reiter, Avanade
3. Put A Face And A Name To A Statistic
Start your statistical article with one individual's story, then broaden the scope to universal facts and figures. This draws the reader from the personal tale to the overarching theme with an embedded emotional reaction. By putting a face and a name to a statistic, you can persuade your readers to feel a particular emotional response to your findings. - Jeff Grover, Best Company
4. Start By Editing Your Own Work
Writing an intriguing story begins with understanding your plot and characters in the simplest of ways. Practice the art of editing your own work. Take out anything that is unnecessary in your story. Strip it to the bones. If you have a solid framework after that, you have something that others can understand and buy into. - Kassi Cox Whale, Ident Solutions
5. Take Phone Calls With Customers
Taking calls with your customers can be incredibly helpful. Ask them to tell you the story of how what pain point brought them to your product or service. What's going on in their lives? I haven't seen too many companies that are willing to spend dozens of hours on informational interviews with customers. - Joseph Rauch, Public Goods
6. Harness The Power Of Personal Storytelling
The best way to ramp up storytelling skills is by actually telling personal stories in front of an audience. Telling personal stories comes more naturally, and if you practice, you get a better feel of how to connect with your audience and how to create a story arc that resonates. You can then apply these skills in any business context. - Jennifer Kyriakakis, MATRIXX Software
7. Seek Out A Framework
There is a science behind good storytelling, which is something screenwriters are very familiar with. The same approach they follow to write movies can be applied to writing content for marketing. Following one of these frameworks is a great way to improve your storytelling skills. Donald Miller's StoryBrand is one example and a great place to start if you aren't familiar with story mechanics. - Scott Schoeneberger, BlueWater Technologies Group, Inc.
8. Know What Emotion You Want To Elicit
Personally, when I am storytelling, I have to find what emotion this particular story is going to hit on most. Once I know what emotion I am dealing with, I can enhance the part of the story around that or, within a design, I can emphasize the piece of design that best demonstrates the emotion. - Sarah Lero, Peerless Products Inc
9. Identify A Goal And Work Backward
When storytelling in a corporate environment, it is so important that you identify the end goal of the story. Storytelling to drive sales is going to be much different than storytelling from a thought leadership standpoint. Aligning your storytelling strategy to a goal or call to action is the best way to maximize the impact. - Charlie Terenzio, Newswire
10. Get Into Cooking
In exploring the world’s wealth of cuisine, you’ll discover the stories behind foods and the traditions that have persisted along with them. Any dish you eat is the product of a long story told over generations, from its preparation to its spices to its place in a culture. Learning to appreciate those narratives has informed my storytelling immensely (plus, it’s delicious!). - Seema Kumar, servicechannel.com
11. Work With Kids On Stories
Working with kids on their stories, telling them stories and listening to theirs is a great way to ramp up our own skills -- you get honest and instant feedback to your stories. Their imagination and enthusiasm is contagious and I always come back with learning much more than they probably did! - Jyoti Khan, Tata Communications
12. Get Familiar With Improv Comedy
Spoken word poetry and improv comedy are both powerful tools for building one’s storytelling skills. Being on the stage delivering a poem or spontaneous scene encourages you to search for the perfect word or phrase to keep listeners engaged and curious about what comes next -- much like in a marketing campaign. - Marija Zivanovic-Smith, NCR Corporation
