Initial Thoughts on the Concept of Story

“The secret of eloquence lies in believing passionately in what you’re talking about.” – Jon Steel, The Perfect Pitch.

Since the dawn of time, humans have felt compelled to be a social creature. We connect and live together. We break bread together. We clearly have a strong innate desire to be relational, to find ways to make deeper connections with our loved ones and those around us. Over time, the oral tradition of storytelling gave way to the printing press, which in turn gave way to the digital age. Indeed, many believe that the Creator of the universe did so to experience relationship and be an active participant in the story of all our lives.

This desire to be involved in a story–to tell our own stories and our organizations’ stories– inevitably led to what we now call marketing, communication, public relations, and advertising. At its essence, all those forms of communication is telling a story: the story of how your nonprofit helps the homeless, how your hospital helps those in pain, how your financial services help to provide peace of mind and comfort, or how your production of plastics provides needed parts for the growing of food.

The elements of what makes up a good story have been the same throughout the millennium. The specifics that are said or related in a way that either make or break the story have not changed – think of them as the ‘physics of story.’

The question of why certain messaging connects or fails to connect is something I’ve given considerable thought to. In the coming months, I would like to share with you my opinions, along with some facts, market research, and case studies, on how organizations tend to either succeed or fail at communicating their message. And specifically, how the rising use of video can help to tell a purposeful visual narrative and play a more progressive role in telling your stories.