The Importance of Storytelling

If you want people to trust you, to believe in your products, estimations, timeframes, or ideas, you need more than consistency and honesty.

People are not rational but emotional. They might look at hard evidence, but they’ll still decide based on a feeling they have about your brand, your message, or your input.

And the only way to convince them is by telling a story. A story that resonates with the individual and clearly demonstrates the values you want to communicate. A story that touches someone on an emotional level.

Yes, you can still include facts, but they shouldn’t be the star of the story. That role should be reserved for your customer.

Take the following examples:

• Our tool is built with the state of the art technology. It’s 60% faster than anything on the market. It boots up in 2.1s, with a reliability index of 99.99%.
• This tool is built for you. To help you get your job done twice as fast. To give you more time to spend with your family. Because we know that you care more about your family than about our tool. And that’s precisely how it should be.

The first example is about you and your product. The second one is about your customer, about their wants and needs.

Which one does resonate better with you? And more importantly, which one would resonate better with your customers and clients?

Originally published at https://zoranjambor.com on April 3, 2021.