Do you wish you were a better storyteller? Though most of us will never be described as a great storyteller, we can certainly improve upon our storytelling in a business setting.
This skill is involved in day-to-day business more than you may realize. A few common examples are:
- Company websites
- LinkedIn and other profiles and posts
- Powerpoint presentations
- Pitch decks
- Project proposals
- Data presentations
You may think it comes down to whether or not you are able to hold your audience’s attention? While this is partially true, there are methods we can all use to do more than that – to actually connect with our audience, both intellectually and emotionally.
Here are 4 tips to help you improve your storytelling:
Be Strategic – Present to others with your end goal in mind. Who is your audience and why should they care about what you are saying? What action are you hoping they will take based on your current communication?
Be Visual – So you are not an artist. You can still use visual maps, icons, symbols, color, and more to enhance your story. Peter Durand, University of Chicago communications instructor and AlphaChimp founder, recommends including this element whenever possible to improve clarity and in order to be more memorable. He says with the advent of so many tools to assist us these days, “We are all creators now.”
Even when you or members of your team don’t have this skillset, AI is now making the visual much more accessible than ever before. Try feeding specific visual instructions into Midjourney.com and let AI create images on the fly for your next story. As an alternative, hire a virtual assistant to help you with visuals.
Be Succinct – Brevity is important. Long rambling stories may be fun around a campfire, but not so much in a business setting. Edit and refine your story until each word counts. When you need to tell someone what time it is, be sure you don’t tell them how to build a clock instead.
Be Compelling – If possible, directly or indirectly remind the audience how your topic of the day relates to your overall business purpose or mission. This will help them connect with your current message like nothing else will. Share how this current topic moves the company forward toward its ultimate goal, even if it’s in a very small way.
Overall, learn to recognize a storytelling opportunity when it presents itself and try these 4 tips to maximize your impact. The good news is that this is one of those life skills that you can’t help but get better at through practice.
At Small Biz Brands, we enjoy helping business owners put their best foot forward with sound marketing strategy and captivating content. Reach out to hello@smallbizbrands.com if we can help or find more content on our website here.
