Do you want to sell something to someone?
Do you want to market a product or service?
Do you need to convey a complex idea or concept?
Are you trying to get your audience to remember something?
Do you want your audience to be able to absorb, internalise and re-use the information you’re giving them?
Do you want someone to learn something?
Then tell a story!
Stories connect. They resonate with people. They’re memorable. They attach all the links in the right order into a coherent chain.
The story is the basic building block of the sales person and the marketer. Even if you don’t need a full story to get over your message, then a metaphor makes it memorable. So does an image, or a picture.
In this hectically fast world we occupy, with woefully short attention and retention spans, people are still engaged for hours and hours reading a good book, far longer than watching a movie or TV program.
So tell a story. It works.