Every business has a story. It’s an important part of their identity. It can shape the products they sell, the services they offer, and the way they treat their customers. A captivating story can bring in new customers or even inspire greater loyalty from existing customers. The secret is understanding how to tell your story.
Kent Whipple of Unexpected Productions’ Improv in Seattle, WA is an award-winning storyteller. He joined us as part of our new Business-to-Business webinar series to teach businesses how to tell their story. Click below to watch the recorded webinar and check out Kent’s top five tips!
Top Five Rules of Storytelling
1. Be relevant
Your story needs to be interesting to your audience. Make sure you know who you’re speaking to. Are you speaking to current customers, potential customers, both?
2. Provide structure to your story
Once upon a time…
Have a beginning, middle, and end. Structure is important. It sets the tone, the setting, and gives your audience something to follow along with. Without structure, a story can wander and be less effective. With your business, start from the beginning. What first inspired you to start on this journey?
3. Find your passion
Why must you tell this story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? Passion is inspiring. If your audience sees that you care then they will care— emotion creates action. Punctuate your story with the highs and lows.Know when to edit
4. Know when to edit
You have to have the guts to cut. If a sentence, no matter how excellent, does not illuminate your subject in some new and useful way, scratch it out. Brevity is the most challenging part of telling a good story. As an exercise, try capturing your story in two sentences.
5. Be yourself
The best stories are true. Authenticity is the most important pillar of any story.
Interested in attending another free webinar hosted by Yelp? We offer a variety of them each month. Check out our recorded webinars and our upcoming webinar schedule here. We hope to see you on one of our next webinars!
The information above is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice and may not be suitable for your circumstances. Unless stated otherwise, references to third-party links, services, or products do not constitute endorsement by Yelp.