Is Storytelling limited to Marketing? Let’s analyze.

Photo by Lina Kivaka from Pexels

I was merrily introduced to the word ‘stories’ in the context of marketing when I read what Seth Godin had to say about the shifting pattern on consumer psychology “People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories and magic”. I was not sure when he came up with this line of thought, but I discovered Godin’s timeless marketing maxim seven years ago. Onwards, the three words — relations, stories and magic — firmly glued to my marketing mind. I was particularly intrigued with the word ‘stories’ over the other two as I found the later to have its roots since the beginning of marketing. However, probing a little further, I realized I was into stories without knowing it actually. It was a moment of epiphany; I smiled at my self-discovery as a storyteller. I was drafting narratives for different subsets of marketing — corporate branding, leadership communication, external communication, sales collaterals, event creatives and so on. Every time, I had to think of what to tell and how to communicate to succeed in striking a chord with the audience.

Having evolved from a blue-eyed marketing aspirant to a mid-career professional who is specialized in a few areas of marketing, my world view has expanded. I now tend to devour on multiple subjects outside the periphery of marketing to cull-out ideas, sharpen my acumen and further develop myself as a better human being (my theory — only a good human being can become a great professional). As I continue to discern the world around me, I often start to contemplate if storytelling is strictly limited to marketing? I have my reservation, though. I present two varied cases here, one is fictional, and another one is a real-life incident, to evaluate the theory in question.

Case 1 (Fictional):

“How we treat a person during the darkest moment of their lives is a benchmark of humanity. When a prisoner is torn from their home and put into a cage, it is not just the prisoner that suffers. Their entire family is institutionalized. The current system disproportionately impacts on the lives of poor people, people of colour, people experiencing mental health issues. It is a system that is manifestly unjust and which has profound constitutional implications. Nowhere in the supreme court’s precedence do they sanction discrimination based on race or class”.

The above rhetoric was the opening statement, thoughtfully, written by a lawyer character in the American thriller television series ‘How to get away with Murder’. The fierce lawyer wanted to convey her version of the truth and defend her client against the highest court of law in the country. All I noticed was that the lawyer character (surely inspired from real-life) was a persuasive communicator. So, should lawyers be appreciated as storytellers?

Case 2 (Real-life):

“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here and I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet, you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you? You’ve stolen my dreams, my childhood with your empty words and yet I am one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you?”

This is Greta Thunberg’s speech at the 2019 UN climate action summit in New York. The young schoolgirl from Sweden expressed her angst and disappointment and questioned the people of the world and their callousness towards global warming crisis. While I can’t, simply, reduce her gut-wrenching speech as storytelling, she succeeded in conveying her message to the world. So in my earnest view, Greta is one of a kind storyteller.

The scenarios that I laid out here are not related to the mainstream business world. Yet, I see storytelling in different flavours. I am sure if you get a little closer to different professions or notice people from different walks of life, you’re likely to find how they employ stories to achieve a positive outcome. Then, why the concept of ‘storytelling’ is primarily owned and even trumpeted by marketers?

I would attribute it to the frequency and the volume of stories that a marketer create on a day. For us, marketers, every bits and pieces that come our way is an opportunity to tell stories about products, services, people and experiences. And we strive to do it, fantastically!

We are happy storytellers.