As a child, I loved to write stories. I would pen and post to my long-suffering aunts and grandmother for their literary pleasure! In Grade 5 I started a newspaper with my best friend. It was called The Behnever Browse – a combination of our two surnames - and we sold it for 50 cents a copy to people in our street. We didn’t become media moguls but we both ended up in wordy careers. My friend became a lawyer and I went into marketing and public relations.
I guess the desire to communicate ideas and solve problems through the written word drew us to our chosen professions. As I gained experience, I learned the true power of storytelling as a marketing tool. You see, the very act of telling a story makes people trust you more. A good story allows the reader to empathise with the characters. This is why it works so well if you are trying to sell an idea, a product, or a service.
Last year, thanks to some referrals, I found myself accidentally becoming an expert in writing for the financial planning niche. Truth be told, I am no financial genius. This got me thinking. How am I going to tackle this content? I don’t know anything about superannuation, life insurance or estate planning! Many of us find this stuff boring or too complex. We become overwhelmed by the idea of numbers, spreadsheets, and tax. It is easy to stick our heads in the sand and hope it will all look after itself somehow.
These are the very people that my clients were trying to reach. The likelihood of these folk reading a technical article on investment options or superannuation funds was slim. How were we going to engage them? Then epiphany struck. Financial planning and money matters have some very human impacts. I started asking my clients to tell me some stories about their clients. What happens when you don’t have a Will? Tell me a story about how you helped someone with their retirement planning. Why is it important to have a buy-sell agreement in place if you are in a business partnership?
And this is where it got interesting. The implications of getting the right advice are real! I became fascinated by the stories my clients were telling me – each of them unique. We started telling them on the company blog (names were always changed to protect privacy). Some of them were heartbreaking and some of them were genuinely inspiring. One of these clients has developed a library of these stories as printed collateral and PDFs and he shares the relevant ones with potential new clients. They are such a great tool for demonstrating how he can solve their problems and provide value.
And in the process, I have gained a newfound interest and appreciation for money matters. But I had to be lured in by the human story first.
Every organisation has a story to tell. We are all doing business with humans. Storytelling can bring your brand to life. It builds trust, connects on an emotional level, and makes people want to do business with you.
Do you need help? Get in touch.
If you would like to learn more about the science behind storytelling listen to this TED Talk.