Telling the Right Story is Key – Business Leaders are Influenced by Compelling Stories Rather than Facts
As designers, storytelling is a key part of our role. Each of our products has a story behind how and why it was developed. We use storytelling to help our clients understand our process and how we can help them with their business objectives.
Today, more and more business leaders are swinging from looking only at the facts, figures, and rational logic to make decisions, and, rather, are being influenced by compelling stories. More often than not, the facts are less memorable than the stories.
We came across an article (How To Tell A Great Story) that explains how to use storytelling to your advantage. In addition, the book Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath provided insight to this concept as well. A few keys points from both the book and article are:
1. Start With A Message
Decide what’s most important about your message; pick one core idea that’s most important to share, and build your story around that idea.
2. Decide What Is Counterintuitive About Your Central Message
Think about what’s counterintuitive about your central message, and use this surprise to capture your audience’s attention.
3. Make Things Concrete
Describe details that can be visualized by your audience.
4. Establish Credibility
This is especially important for gaining long-term client relationships. You need to earn the trust and respect of the client by supporting your story with facts.
5. Show the Emotional Side of the Story
Stories attach emotions to things that happen – making them easier to remember and connect with.
6. Introduce a Challenge and Overcome It
Business leaders like to hear how you overcame a challenge in the past. It helps them understand how your thought process works and how this will be of advantage to them as challenges arise.
At Beyond Design, we design products every day that provide meaning in someone’s life. We always consider our audience and choose a framework, and projects, that will best resonate with them. Our project stories help define who we are and how our process works.
If you would like to learn more about our work, please click here. For a closer look at one of our case studies [Aero Pakmat], download it below.
Feel free to drop us a note here if you’re interested in meeting in person to hear more about our work and how we can help your business prosper.
Top
