A researcher’s guide to storytelling
Editor's note: Ted Frank is a storyteller at Backstories Studio, a San Francisco research deliverables company.
I recently received a frantic e-mail from a client who said her boss wants all researchers and strategists “to raise their level of storytelling. Now!”
“I don’t even know what that means,” she wrote. “I don’t think he does either. No one does. But we still have to do it. It’s total garbage!”
I agree with her. And I’m a storyteller.
There are many reasons for the buzz and I agree with many of those as well. Most opinions lean toward clients needing relief from all the data that overwhelms and paralyzes them. With the title of their book, Drinking from the Fire Hose, Christopher Frank and Paul Magnone struck the right metaphor for the client’s data analysis experience. Researchers want that hose pressure to be eased so they can actually savor and digest their insights. Through storytelling, they hope to find that.
Unfortunately though, storytelling, like most other buzzwords in their heyday, is in that hype period where everyone’s talking about it yet no one’s really saying anything substantial about how to effectively tell an insights story or how it can help clients and further goals.
That’s what this article is all about.
Done right, stories can accomplish a great deal more than just turning down the fire hose so clients can understand their data. They can also help connect with clients emotionally and make them believe in the insights enough to move forward and inspire their teams.
Just look at how movies affect us. They make us question our beliefs, even cry. Movies make us admire and sometimes emulate their heroes, quoting dialogue years later – and all in about the same amount of time as the average consumer insights presentation. Yes, they are different but that doesn’t mean you can’t borrow some movie techniques and work them into your reports. It’s actually easier than you might imagine and combining them will absolutely provide the understandability of the low-pressure hose and the memorability and emotional power of a movie. In other words, the story your clients are really looking for.
But enough of my buzz. Let’s start with some real understanding:
There are three main ways you can deliver a story in the consumer insights world:
Storytelling is what most are attempting to do right now: turning insights into a narrative and delivering it orally, usually with some slides to help. With good storytelling, the intimacy and sincerity created can make it the most effective method of all. But you have to be an amazing storyteller to pull it off. Also, because it relies on a storyteller, it’s not very portable or spreadable.
Story-showing is letting characters, scenery, music and symbols do the storytelling for you. It’s what you get when you go to the movies but can also be delivered in a well-done deliverable, like a video. Because it’s an offering clients can put on their computers and pass on, it’s also inherently more portable and spreadable throughout a corporation.
Story-staging is when you craft an experience that emotionally impresses your clients in a way that allows them to form their own story. You see this in interactive exhibits, workshops and ideations, but it is rare that they make the impact they could. Successful story-staging can be so effective that your clients not only get it but they actually embody the insights so the next step of moving to action feels natural for them. Of the three types of storytelling, it has the potential to be the most powerful but also takes the most thought. Story-staging usually works best when you only have one or two points to make. There are some fine examples of story-staging in the Heath brothers’ book Switch (my favorite is Jon Stegner’s gloves on page 12, which is actually brought in from another book, The Heart of Change by John Kotter and Dan Cohen).
Have a plan
Before you start your story, it helps to have a plan. And like marketing, that plan starts with understanding the rational and emotional needs of the clients and stakeholders you’re trying to move; deciding what key impressions and messages you want them to come away with; and delivering the story in a way that feeds their senses and leaves them fulfilled but always wanting more.
As I said, it’s a lot like marketing. In fact, successful storytelling employs a lot of the tools you use every day. For example, segmentation to discern the difference in the learning style of a CMO who needs you to cut to the chase from that of an ad agency that needs an experience emotional enough to build empathy with consumers and feel their aspirations without telling them what to do. And then of course there are the needs of the project. Do the clients and stakeholders you are presenting to need to explore, define, make a decision? Thoughtfully considering the ways your audience members naturally learn and use your insights will help you decide the right kind of story to tell.
Like any brand positioning, it helps to decide what you want the client to take away – not what you’re going to tell them but what you want them to say to someone who asks later. What they say will likely be only two or three pieces of information or impressions. After all, there is only so much we can remember and even less we can pass on. Deciding ahead of time what you would like those takeaways to be will help guide your story.
Finally, delivering those takeaways in a way that engages the senses can truly create the transformative experience you’re looking for. Hearing the word “cookies” is one thing. Seeing a photo of them with chocolate oozing out of them is another. And smelling them fresh out of the oven? There’s no comparison. Sensory techniques heighten the experience along with your credibility because you’re telling, showing and sharing, so the onus is not all on you to create the impression. The aroma will do it all. That said, you can still pique the imaginative senses simply with the written or spoken word.
Map out stories
Like professional screenwriters, storytellers find it immensely helpful to map out stories. Figure 1 is an example of how we mapped out a sample video on our Web site (www.backstoriesstudio.com/stratfull.html). The video details a fictitious strategy for Verizon (like you, we cannot show any of the real work we do).
Every map is different but they should all use both emotional and rational means to build the insights into a rallying cause – one that clients and stakeholders clearly understand, believe in and want to solve. Then we show them the door through which they can enter the story.
In talking with client-side insights professionals and stakeholders over the years, I’ve learned that the door is as common and vital a need as is protection from the fire hose. The clients want to make insight-driven decisions but before they can do that with confidence and passion, they need to be walked to the door.
Amplify your impact
Whether you are telling, showing or staging a story, there are some common techniques that can amplify your impact exponentially. None come easy at first but with rehearsal and experience, they can become second nature.
Experiential
Your audience wants to be transported away from the conference room and into the world of your story. But they will need help to fire up their emotions and imagination.
Telling
Lay out the scenes, characters and actions in the most simple, visual and familiar way (either through common experience or metaphor). Attention to detail is key. For a terrific example, listen how Garrison Keillor lays out Lake Wobegon and all its inhabitants. Tell me if you can’t smell and taste the rhubarb pie. Using gestures, voices and inflection can also keep your clients engaged and in your world. I’m not suggesting you become a comedian but watching how comedians and other performers use these tools to tell stories can be eye-opening – and funny.
Showing
Images that show instead of tell can bring the audience closer to what you want to say – at lightning speed. The word “fish” can evoke visions of anything from a goldfish in a bowl to a shark in the ocean to a plate of teriyaki salmon. Showing the fish you’re talking about will eliminate that ambiguity. Showing also creates a more conclusive and lasting impression. If a respondent for your TV remote-control project says, “I fumble with the buttons because there are so many of them,” shooting a video of them spending two whole minutes trying to locate the mute key will make your clients feel the consumer’s frustration much more effectively than only talking about it.
Staging
Even more than watching consumers fumble, you could set up a line of TV sets, chairs and coffee tables with a remote on each table – one from every model in your competitive set. Then ask executives to sit down and race to see who can find and record the next episode of Modern Family or search for a movie with Natalie Portman. Within 30 seconds, they’ll feel it more deeply.
Characters
In insights and strategy, characters are usually the respondents or personas. Either way, they are terrific vehicles for making your story accessible, easy to follow, memorable and sharable. They can also be used to differentiate one point from another. Hollywood does this very well. Screenwriters create character webs to map out character traits. They then look for opportunities to accentuate them. For instance, a “good” character can make an “evil” character seem more evil just by juxtaposing them. You can do the same thing with segmentation work and amplify both differences and commonalities.
Telling
Finding human examples of each of your points will personify them and make you more credible. I learned this once when having to relay bad news to a client who wanted feedback on their company’s ground lunch meat. We had to say, “Consumers told us over and over again that it looked like dog food.” It was that overwhelming. Although we gave many suggestions on how to fix it, they never hired us again. So from now on, any significant point I make comes with characters to back me up.
Showing
Similarly, nothing will communicate faster and with more credibility than having someone exemplify your insight. This is why on our map in Figure 1 you’ll find both “bring in heroes” and “show heroes in action.” Having heroes that show their experiences and needs gives clients someone they can feel for, stirs up their own emotions and stimulates their desire to help.
Staging
With this method the client can even become the character. Look for ways to bring them into the consumer experience so that it becomes their experience as well. This can be a demonstration like with the TV remotes or a game where they role-play. We’ve also found success by giving clients smartphone apps right after a presentation so they can explore and manage situations like the consumers in the project, all the while competing against their teammates for greater understanding.
Symbols
Like characters, symbols are a vehicle for quick recall. And every important character should have a symbol. Circular glasses immediately conjure up images of John Lennon. And who doesn’t flinch when they see that creepy mask from Halloween? It doesn’t have to be evocative (but is more powerful if it is), just prominent and repeated enough to make the connection.
Telling
Simply holding a symbol up as you speak, setting it down and coming back to it later can bring your audience right to that spot where you left off.
Showing
Similarly, showing the symbol on its own and then with the character will reinforce its impact and connection. Having the symbol show up in other materials or giving your clients an actual set will further cement its messages.
Staging
Giving clients the ability to hold and interact with the symbol takes it further and can sometimes help them form their own organic connection to it.
Tension
The key to drawing and holding clients into your story is managing the push and pull. It’s what brings you to tears and sends your heart racing, makes you angry or joyous. For this reason, tension is one of storytellers’ favorite tools. Since it and its components can be used similarly in each form, I will describe each one.
Suspense
Leaving gaps in your story is what sucks us all in. It breaks our trance and presents us with an uneasy void that we must fill. Will they? Won’t they? What happens next? Sometimes accomplished with a simple pause, the audience members become like children at Christmas. The key, however, is all in the setup, which is why we don’t put our door at the beginning of our map. You have to take the client there first.
Pace
Just like suspense, managing the pace of your story can drive emotions. A fast pace excites us or makes us fearful or overwhelmed. A slow pace can create feelings of intimacy or frustration or provide a nice break. You’ll find pace affecting you in movies, songs and even sports. It’s why the pitcher and batter are so crucial to the drama of baseball.
Music
Nothing helps me control pace and evoke emotion as powerfully as music. It’s like a direct flight to the heart and the quickest way to bind everyone in the audience. We use music in four main ways: we use expansive, medium-paced music when we want to open up a new idea or introduce a person; we use slow, heartfelt music when we want clients to emotionally bond; we use meandering or confining music when we want to evoke uneasiness or frustration; and we use driving beats and strums when we want to inspire and build excitement. The Verizon mapping video features examples of these music types: expansive when we introduce Max (4:35); confining when he fumbles with his iPod in the car (6:03); and driving when we go in-depth into Project Flow (9:30).
Framing
In story-showing media, like video or photos, you can see this as a zoom or a punch in. For an example, check out the phone call Max has with his wife in the sample video (8:34). We punched into this face to help viewers feel his embarrassment. But you can also use the framing technique in storytelling and story-staging by proximity to the audience. It’s why politicians go into the crowd when they want to be heartfelt but stand back when they want to be heroic.
Wanting more
There are, of course, many more storytelling techniques and hopefully, as the axiom goes, I’ve left you wanting more. Try these to start and see what the real buzz is all about. Even if you only incorporate a few techniques you should see a big leap in the reception your stories get and in your relationship with your clients. It’s also a whole lot of fun.
References
Drinking from the Fire Hose: Making Smarter Decisions Without Drowning in Information by Christopher J. Frank and Paul Magnone (Portfolio, 2011).
Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath (Crown Business, 2010).
The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations by John P. Kotter and Dan S. Cohen (Harvard Business School Press 2002).