6 Ways to Use to the Power of Storytelling to Persuade
Storytelling the old sales tool is back
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Why Storytelling is so Persuasive
· When you read stories, your brain lights up.
· One group of neurons lights up to provide the story’s sense of space and movement.
· Motor neurons flash when the characters clutch the grips
· Neurons involved in eye movement activate
(Wylie, n.d.)
The brain is clearly deeply engaged when it consumes stories.
Storytelling is important in persuasion for many reasons.
1. Storytelling grabs and holds the audience’s attention.
2. It makes communications easier to understand.
3. Storytelling increases credibility
This seems counterintuitive but the research shows that people connect with the characters in stories. People believe that if something worked for somebody else that it will for them as well. Also, as this is a story there is no counter argument being formed in the reader/listener. Furthermore, readers are skeptical of statistics and this avoids that obstacle.
4. Mesmerize readers.
Story consumers brains act more like they are behaving than listening or reading when they are enthralled in a story.
5. Stories make messages more memorable
They are more likely to remember, act and make decisions after being told a story.
6. Get people to act
This applies not only to persuasion in selling products but also in selling ideas. A powerful profession that applies stories to persuade people would be that of the lawyer and the jury.
Stories have so much power that Og Mandino the author of The Greatest Salesmen in the World said, if you have a point, find a story.
Wylie, (n.d.) Why is storytelling important in persuasion?
Narrative is a powerful communication tool. Wylie Communications
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