Transcript
[00:00:05.360] - Imogen
Hello and welcome to Dear Comms, the coffee break podcast where we tackle your biggest corporate comms challenges. I'm Imogen
[00:00:13.660] - Amanda
and I'm Amanda. We're here to give you practical, no-nonsense advice so you can focus on the things that will really drive influence, engagement, and impact.
[00:00:23.870] - Imogen
And welcome to the third in our exploration of storytelling, and I'm going to let you start writing. Now, so sort of, so you've done the prep, you understand the science, and now we're going to actually look at what goes into a story.
[00:00:42.190] - Amanda
And I guess, imagine, this is the part that most people rush to, the, the straight to once upon a time, if you like, without any of the prep. And that's usually why it falls as fast as it does. I think it's easy to overcomplicate storytelling when you strip it all back. Really, we're talking about a simple structure, aren't we, for a great story. So today, we're gonna break down the 6 key elements of a great story and give you a story arc that will work for any corporate story.
[00:01:13.590] - Imogen
And don't be worried when we say story arc, it is not complex at all. But if we start with the 6 key elements, and for me, without these 6 things, you don't actually really have a story. They're not in any order, they're not even explicit in the story, but they are referenced and they are there. So the first one is character. Every story needs some form of a personal element to it. It needs to have some form of central character. Now that could be a hero, your traditional hero character, or it could be a villain, or if you're going to be complex, It could be both of them.
[00:01:56.740] - Amanda
[Speaker:KARA] Yeah, and then there's the context. What is the landscape we're stepping into? Is it noisy? Are people distracted, under pressure, short on time? This isn't just a setting for your hero. It's really about servicing the pressures your audiences recognized instantly. That's when they sort of lean into the story. It's what gives your story relevance. It roots it in reality.
[00:02:25.530] - Imogen
Yeah, before we start any story, we really have to know where we are in the story. So, as you say, it's not just about where our audience is, but it's actually about where our characters are and where this story is being set. Once we know where we are, we can then know where we're going to, because there needs to be movement. There needs to be something happening in your story. So, there needs to be some kind of a plot or a quest, you know, where are we going to?
[00:02:53.360] - Amanda
Yeah, that's usually the goal, isn't it? Follow me, we're going somewhere. You're taking people on a journey. There's usually conflict, not in a drama for drama's sake kind of way, but a tension, a blocker, a risk, or a frustration. You know, the frictional challenge in a way gives you forward motion. If you don't have that, people tend to stay quite passive. And in corporate storytelling, That's the enemy of action. So without a challenge, there's no reason for your audience to keep listening. We're sort of in that meh territory, and in corporate comms, meh might as well be silence, I think.
[00:03:31.010] - Imogen
Yeah, it's some kind of tension or conflict will help us care, won't it? It'll help us care. Like, why should we be listening or doing anything about this story?
[00:03:40.390] - Amanda
You connect with it, don't you? I mean, if you are watching people on the street and there's a fight going on, you kind of lean in and you're curious. But if everybody's going about their normal business, business, you know, so do you. So, yeah, we like a bit of friction.
[00:03:55.160] - Imogen
I have visions of you out the front window with binoculars watching your neighbors, waiting for the fight to happen.
[00:04:01.560] - Amanda
You'd be surprised what bins can do.
[00:04:04.860] - Imogen
I have no doubt. We've got a conflict, we've got a plot, a quest, character. We know where we are and what the situation is. So now we need some form of a secret weapon. And I think people kind of roll their eyes when I say secret weapon, and I don't mean a magic wand. I really mean something that the hero has that the villain doesn't have, and it's something that you use to overcome conflict or to step up to challenge. So, what is it that the hero has in abundance that the villain doesn't?
[00:04:43.360] - Amanda
It doesn't have to be flashy. It could be an insight, it could be a unique strength, it could be a new product. It's just something that flips the odds. The final ingredient of the story is resolution. So, what's changed? What did we learn? What looks different now? And why should anybody care?
[00:05:03.280] - Imogen
And if you think about any well-known story, they actually all have these elements. So, when I'm thinking about it, I think The Lion King is a pretty good example to use, partly because most people know the story. So, your character in The Lion King, you've got Simba, who's the hero, and you've got Scar, who's your villain. Your situation, we're in Africa, Simba's in a safe place, and it's all about to change or change is coming. The conflict is very clear. Mufasa dies, Simba is exiled, and Scar is now leader of all and is the thing to be overcome. Your secret weapon is not literal here, but your secret weapon in this story is friendship, teamwork, courage. Timon, Pumbaa, and Simba have. And then, of course, your resolution is that kind of hero transformed. Simba grows up, becomes this wonderful lion, and sort of balance is restored. And if you think about any story that you hear, you are going to find those 6 elements.
[00:06:15.120] - Amanda
It feels complete, doesn't it? And if you don't have those elements, it's probably not a story. It's probably a status update in disguise, I think. Now, I know that's harsh but true, but you can't call it a story just because it's written in flowing language and written well. I think, Imogen, I think the biggest mistake you see a lot when you're helping companies with this is that companies tend to try and cast themselves as the hero, don't they?
[00:06:44.710] - Imogen
Yes, either themselves or the product. They want to put themselves as that kind of hero character, and they are incredibly disappointed when I tell them that they're not the hero of their own story. Your hero has to be someone that your audience can relate to. It could be your audience, but it should be someone that they can see themselves in, or that they have knowledge of, or that they care about.
[00:07:14.600] - Amanda
You're not Frodo, you're Gandalf. Or if Lord of the Rings isn't your thing, you're Jiminy Cricket, and that's probably dating me. You're not the main character, you're the guide, you're the voice of reason, wisdom, encouragement. You're not walking the path, you're helping light the way. That trusted voice helps your audience become the hero of their own story. And that does work.
[00:07:38.630] - Imogen
Yeah, and the role of that, your company or your product, if you're thinking, well, where do I fit into that story, the role of the company or the product actually sits within that magic weapon bucket. So, it's not the hero, but you as a company or a product are something that will help that hero overcome that conflict. So, once you know what those 6 elements are, you need to then sort of wrangle them into some form of sense to make it into a story. And it's not kind of once upon a time, But there is a framework and an order in which I use a lot, which helps you get there. And once you know it and once you are comfortable with this framework, you can start playing around with the order. But for me, I would start with setting the scene. So this is your situational piece. This is where we are now. This is about building urgency, creating high stakes, reminding your audience that change has to happen. Because the fact is, you can't sell a solution, whether that's a new strategy, a new product, a new way of working, you can't sell that solution to someone if they don't think they've got a problem.
[00:08:59.920] - Amanda
They call it the burning platform, that creating a sense of urgency that something needs to happen, I think. Yeah. Once you've set all of that, you need to bring in the conflict, and that's normally in the form of your villain. Remember, it doesn't have to be a person. It can be a mindset, a system, a rival competitor. At this point of the story, you're inviting the audience to come along with you, to fight alongside, uh, with you.
[00:09:27.220] - Imogen
It's starting to put in— into place that sense of common ground, and you, you then make that more explicit when you talk about your quest. Which is your vision for the future. This is, I like to call it the promised land. Like, what does success look like? You know where you are, you know you have to change, you've brought in your conflict. So now we need to show people where we want to go. And that builds a little bit of tension, that builds attention from where they are to where they want to be. And that conflict or that villain is standing in the way. And again, Just to reiterate, this is not about your product, this is not your message, not your company yet. This is about helping your audience understand that they can't reach this promised land without some form of help.
[00:10:16.820] - Amanda
And then we have the magic weapon, and that's where it comes in. And as we've discussed before, this is a tool used by the hero to overcome the villain and reach the promised land, fulfilling the quest.
[00:10:29.550] - Imogen
And this is where all your company stuff comes in, all your product stuff comes in, all your message that you want to share. This is about if we change the way we work to this way, if we take on this new strategy, if you need a new product, here it is kind of thing. But you can't just say it. And I think this is where there is always a gap on corporate storytelling is one, businesses feel that they're the hero of their own story, which they're not. And then secondly, they don't prove to their audience that they can actually help them overcome the villain. So, you need to have some form of sort of evidence section, I guess, where you are showing real examples about how the magic weapon, your company, your product, the message, how that actually works.
[00:11:21.300] - Amanda
Do you think it's because people have got into that storytelling mode and think they don't need the data and the evidence that backs it up?
[00:11:28.550] - Imogen
It's a little bit like that, and I think it's also they feel— I don't know, maybe they don't like bringing in real people's stories. They think it's a bit contrived. They think that the magic weapon speaks for itself, and so therefore, why would they need evidence? I think there are lots of things going on there. But the fact is, you need to be credible. You can't just say this will work, believe me. You have to show.
[00:11:56.100] - Amanda
Yeah, you need evidence, don't you? You need proof. And that, you know, that's your stats, your testimonials, could be pilots of something that you've done. I guess that's what makes your magic weapon feel real.
[00:12:10.130] - Imogen
Yeah.
[00:12:10.690] - Amanda
Now, once you've proved it, you've got to land the ending and you've got to make it matter and bring people with you. So you need a good conclusion to bring about that resolution.
[00:12:20.220] - Imogen
Yeah, we need to have that kind of beginning, middle, and end that we spoke about. And when it comes to corporate stories, that end tends to be a call to action. So join us, change with us, believe in this, etc.
[00:12:34.910] - Amanda
Yeah, this structure, which we'll add in the show notes, um, will help you, uh, bring that way of writing to any corporate story. So I'm going to give Imogen a little bit of a challenge. We didn't discuss this, but can you give us, um, an example that isn't The Lion King?
[00:12:54.810] - Imogen
What? You don't like my Lion King example?
[00:12:57.220] - Amanda
Well, I love The Lion King, but I'm imagining people sitting there listening to this thinking, "That's not gonna work for me." Right. Thanks for that.
[00:13:06.870] - Imogen
That's okay. Okay, so let's take a really boring corporate example, and possibly not boring for the people telling the story. But okay, let's look at data management system. We know that companies bring in new data management systems the whole time, and it can be very hard to get people to shift and change their ways of working. So, if we were going to put that into some form of corporate story arc, okay, so we start with the setting the scene, the situation. We are living in a world of Data chaos, teams struggling to find reliable, consistent data. It takes loads of time, et cetera. And you kind of build out on where we are. You then need to introduce your villain or your conflict. And in this case, it wouldn't be a person as such, but it would be disconnect. So, your enemy, your villain would be inefficiency. You know, you're wasting time, wasting money, it's having an impact on the credibility of the business because no one can find what they need. So, your quest is therefore going to be this world where every team has access to real-life data, to instant insight, this place of fast decisions and and less time chasing numbers.
[00:14:39.720]
So, how are we going to help our hero, who is your employee in this story, how are we going to get our hero to get to this mythical world of wonderful data? And it's your magic weapon, ta-da, it's this new wonderful data management system. It's not tech, it's the freedom for us to focus on what matters, et cetera. I think your evidence is pretty clear here. You're going to have pilots that you would have run. So, let's hear from the pilot teams. Let's see how much, what they've reported, like how much less time have they spent? How much more information have they got? You know, finance teams modeling in minutes, not days, that kind of, that kind of stuff. And then your conclusion, that call to action is, you know, you're part of the success, you're part of this transformation. And find out more on how you can move to whatever the new data management system.
[00:15:34.840] - Amanda
There you are, you see, you did it.
[00:15:37.790] - Imogen
Yeah. Yeah.
[00:15:38.750] - Amanda
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:15:40.680] - Imogen
We got there.
[00:15:41.160] - Amanda
Yeah, we got there. So, this is your 5-minute challenge to everybody who's listening. Take one project, one message that you're working on right now, and map it against that arc. Give it a go.
[00:15:54.010] - Imogen
Yeah, have a look. Do you have a hero? Is it the right hero? Or is the hero you, the business, or the product? In which case, it's the wrong hero. You know, what's the villain? What's the weapon? Have you got all of those elements?
[00:16:08.070] - Amanda
By doing this, I think you're going to quickly see whether you have a story or just another announcement. And I think this story arc, this way of thinking about corporate stories, will help you spot what's missing almost immediately.
[00:16:21.480] - Imogen
And every corporate story, you know, will will start and end in the same way. It's with someone real, it's with a problem that has to be fixed, and it's about offering some form of a promise or vision or promised land that people can believe in.
[00:16:38.610] - Amanda
Just remember though, you're the guide, not the star. Your job is to help shape the story so that the real hero shines through. Because if you're helping your audience win, your story's gonna win and connect too.
[00:16:52.720] - Imogen
And that's it for this episode. Next time we're going to be looking at the type of stories that are out there, where we can find them, and how we connect what kind of story we're telling with the objective that we have.
[00:17:06.360] - Amanda
In the meantime, if you've got a story of your own and you're in need of the DIRCOM's magic weapon, please get in touch. Bye for now.
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