Have you noticed how EVERYONE is a storyteller these days? Have you been grinding your teeth and biting your tongue at the endless references to 'the narrative'? It's time to restore some sanity to storytelling.
by James Morton
The football pundits broke me.
As England stumbled their way through the Euros football tournament this summer, so the old players on TV began asking what story the team was trying to tell us with their tactics.
Sorry?
That’s Harry Kane up front, not Harry Potter.
Somehow, somewhere, we seem to have got storytelling mixed up with, well, just about everything.
Storywashing is everywhere.
Want to sound interesting, erudite and on-trend?
Slap the term ‘story’ or ‘narrative’ into your sentence and you’re halfway there, it seems.
Well we’re not going to take it any more. It’s time for comms to rise up and reclaim the story.
In the age of ChatGTP and friends, storytelling skills have never been a more valuable commodity.
Stories are the delivery tool for emotion and, for now, that gives us one-up on AI.
David Lee, Chief Creative Officer for web-building giants Squarespace, even argues creativity and storytelling might be the only jobs we have left in the future, if AI gets its way.
The overuse and abuse of storytelling and narrative also cuts deep into one of our other comms insecurities - the ‘anyone can do it’ mentality.
We have to fight hard to establish our expertise and grow trust and respect for our skills. Anyone brandishing the term ‘story’ without a licence is essentially sending us the message (again): “It’s not rocket science, is it?”
Let’s just be clear on one thing.
Comms do not have exclusivity over stories. Comms professionals are not the only competent storytellers.
There are leaders who are truly fantastic storytellers. There are customer service advisors who can spin a yarn with the best of them.
But knowing how to spot a story?
Dig up and develop a story?
Deploy a story and shape a narrative for the greatest impact? (check out supreme examples from Tower Hamlets and this summer’s Southport incident)
Yeah, we’re claiming those.
You only need only look at Brian’s ‘I’ve tweaked it a bit’ version of that press release to understand. Why is the most interesting bit at the end now, BRIAN?
I almost guarantee that in the next week or two you will be asked by someone: “What’s the narrative on this?”
Take a long, hard look at what they are actually referring to.
Do they mean key message? Not a story.
Do they mean a fact or figure? Not a story.
Key messages and facts can help us build a story but they are not the story. Sorry Finance Director.
Facts tell. Stories sell.
Comms can craft our messages and facts into something emotive, something persuasive, something goddam powerful.
We instinctively know that a great narrative is more relatable and will cut through more than any dry strategy.
And we understand that stories are arguably the sharpest knife in our comms toolkit when it comes to delivering strategic objectives and outcomes. D’you see, BRIAN?
The skills and abilities we offer our organisations are myriad and multiple. Storytelling is the one of the absolute GOATs - timeless, impactful, irresistible.
We can connect with residents and staff. We can help move them to action. We can build trust and present a human face.
So stand up and be counted, comms. Let’s reclaim the story together.
Viva la revolution.
Turn The Page is a story-led communications consultancy. Say hi to James Morton on LinkedIn.
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