The Emotion of Storytelling

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There is a Key ingredient of storytelling we need to talk about. Emotion.

If you want to use your story to build your business, your brand, your influence, or have a greater impact … you’ve got to do one thing: Make people feel something!

Stories that make us feel something, make us take action with our money!!

Yet all too often, we leave this piece of the puzzle out …. and then wonder why our stories aren’t connecting with our audience. 

You have to use emotional language to spark a feeling….to get your audience to sit up in their chair and take notice.

We can add emotion into our stories in a variety of ways.

VIDEO — Video is one of the most powerful tools of visual storytelling because you can add in so many subliminal elements like music and graphics that aid in the story telling.

PICTURES — You can capture so much emotion and storytelling in a single picture without saying or writing a single word. We all know what happy, sad, frustrated, angry, joyful, excited look like! 

EMOTIONAL LANGUAGE —If you are relying solely on words to tell your story,  you should be using descriptive words that describe the feelings you want your audience to feel.

Far too often, businesses and brands rely on their products and services — or black & white data — to do the heavy lifting in their storytelling, when what they need to be doing is focusing on the emotional dividends and high-powered results the experience brings.

Take a look at the following examples of brands, businesses, organizations who are doing an excellent job of incorporating emotion into their storytelling. 

Charity:water
Airbnb
Warby Parker (watch the video. Does it make you want a new pair of glasses?) 

If you are ever stuck on this…. try asking yourself the question “How does this make me feel?”

Emotions drive us into taking action because we are emotional creatures. Our emotions are what set us apart as humans. Tapping into language and visuals that evoke strong emotions is what makes for compelling storytelling.

Are you using emotion in your storytelling? Tell me! Leave me a short Voice message right here on the side-bar of this page.  I’d love to hear from you!!

Remember:
Stories that make us feel something make us take action with our money.