How to engage and convince your audience

A lot of times, especially when it comes to business, we separate the idea of storytelling from business endeavors. Storytelling is like this fun thing that maybe you do around the dinner table while business is about making money and finding ways to do that more effectively.

The truth is, the best storytellers almost always excel in the business world. There are a lot of reasons for that but the most prominent is that we as humans are designed to communicate and consume information in the format of a story.

As humans, we respond to stories. It’s fundamental to who we are and how we’ve communicated forever. From cave walls to religious texts to modern cultural and societal movements, we explain our points of view by sharing stories that teach a lesson along the way.

While all the different channels and mediums change, storytelling does not.

It’s crazy then—especially in the business world—that we try to communicate so many concepts in non-storytelling ways.

  • We want to be more efficient, so we write things down in a brochure
  • We make very specific product videos
  • We put out social feeds that are jam-packed full of product benefits

None of those have any storytelling equity whatsoever, so what you want to do to close more business is wrap the facts you are trying to communicate in a story.

This is the class “show, don’t tell” technique. Instead of running down a monotonous list of facts, illustrate your points, paint a picture, describe a scene that will allow your audience to see this world they’ve tied themselves up in and how your product will set them free.

A lot of times we as marketers get so stuck on the facts that we forget we are talking to humans about needs they have outside of the business world.

A landscaping company, for example, is not actually selling better seed or a healthier bud, for the most part. Occasionally, there will be a customer who really cares about that, so you are selling that. A lot of times, however, you’re selling their need to be liked, their need to be socially accepted, their need to be loved, or approached by their neighbors and respected so that is the need that you actually need to address in your marketing. You can’t do that if you’re just talking about product benefits. Instead, you need to address them with a story.

My challenge to you

In the next piece of content you create, before you get into the facts or product benefits, tell a story. When you’re giving your product story, wrap the facts of your message with a story, both on the front end and on the back.

  1. Tell a story that engages their interest and relates to them on a human level
  2. Introduce what it is that you’re trying to say
  3. Relate it back to your story at the end

You need to leverage storytelling to engage and then persuade or close the audience.