The story customers tell themselves

Stories are universal. No culture has survived without them. Stories are widely recognised as an essential part of human cognitive development.

As toddlers, when we listened to someone telling a tale, we built emotional bonds with others while developing empathy, encountering common cultural touchstones of morality and ethical behaviour, and learning the ability to use language to express our thoughts and feelings.

As social animals who crave connection with others, we find that stories – whether told orally, written on paper or a screen, or conveyed on film – are our most immediate way to enter the imaginative minds of others.

Business and commerce continue to be fundamental ways we interact outside of our family. And while we may not fully realise it, stories are an inescapable part of how we communicate professionally.

The art of effective storytelling for business

Critical to an understanding of story in business is how customers tell themselves the stories that define them (their world view) and how these relate to the products and services they use.

For example, I’ve been using Apple products for several decades, and I tell myself a story like this: “I like great design and products that are easy to use, so Apple is the brand I buy.” This story I tell myself intersects perfectly with the story that Apple tells about its products.

Similarly, a mother tells herself a story: “I want the best for my family, so I buy only organic food even though I know it is more expensive.”

When the story that you tell customers matches the story that customers tell themselves, your business is in alignment. However, all too often, companies are completely out of alignment with their customers, which makes for difficult work.

It is really tough (but not impossible) to convince someone to change their world view and therefore the stories they tell themselves.

If you sell organic food but emphasise its low cost, you’re out of alignment because people accept that organic costs more. Organic being expensive is a deeply embedded aspect of people’s worldview and it’s the story they tell themselves. Since spending more on food because you care about your family doesn’t square with seeking out cheaper prices, the company that sells lower-cost organic food will encounter difficulty.

As storytellers, companies need to consider customers’ existing world view as they work on the ways they communicate to the market. To best align the stories that your organisation tells as part of its marketing and sales content, you need to first understand the stories that your customers tell themselves.

Thanks to my friend Seth Godin for alerting me to this idea many years ago. Seth has been talking about stories as a form of marketing for more than two decades.

David Meerman Scott is an internationally acclaimed marketing strategist, global keynote speaker and author. This blog was originally published on his website.

Read more from David Meerman Scott

The growing AI content pollution problem
Apple Vision Pro spatial computer launch is PR done right
No way Mastodon will kill Twitter