Storytelling vs Story-travelling
One of my favorite conference dynamics happens following a rollout of a new narrative. Customers and partners come up saying "I've heard that your product is now going to be open and interoperable with X and that means we're going to be able to do Y. Is that true?" That's a sign that the message not only landed, it's evidence the story is traveling.
Narratives are not single campaigns because they accept there are storytellers beyond the person/people who constructed the narrative.
Here are five ways to test whether your story travels:
Compelling story - people are shown to have greater engagement with stories versus other information types. It illustrates a clear pain, builds familiarity with the audience, and introduces a sort of resolution or takeaway.
Answers "so what?" - no one gives a shit about a poorly told story or a product feature list. The story has to be well told and gives an insight to the world or how it works and why your audience should do something about it.
Simplicity - Emotion drives decisionmaking, not just logic. Complicated stories that require stringing together abstract concepts without examples will not keep your readers' attention. A simple story combines evidence with emotion that keeps the reader reading instead of scrolling.
Incentive structure - Who is incentivized to carry your story? Consider what stakeholders will be impacted - each has an ability to increase the story's reach, but will only do so if the incentives line up. Note: that's not just money.
Distribution audit - beyond the story itself, organizations must consider where the story is told by them or others. For example, if a story is only told in a case study PDF on your website, that story's visibility is limited to whoever gets that PDF. Written, video, audio, or audiovisual all carry a story differently.
This is a common exercise for our Narrative Ecosystem Strategy engagements at Dunham Listens. If you have a story you want to get out, reach out for help making the best use of your time and money.
A reference graphic for who you need to tell effective stories and get it out where people will see it.