The concepts, ideas and definitions behind great business storytelling. Personal, opinionated and practical — because stories that work in business need more than theory.
A
Multiple plotlines expose different sides of the same theme and keep things moving.
The hidden and unknowable mental processes that mold our attention and decision-making.
Build your story piece by piece. Waiting for perfect means you never ship.
The repetition of the beginning sounds of words.
The invisible network of stories, values and associations through which we experience our 'reality'.
Common patterns or characters that appear in stories.
Without attention, there can be no communication, BUT attention is far from sufficient.
The brain fills in what you leave out. Give hints, let readers construct the story.
Six techniques for deepening the resonance and emotional power of your story.
B
The story behind the story that builds trust and draws people into your world.
A word I coined to describe the fatuousness of most marketing.
The simplest way to see that reality is built in the brain.
In his book, The Brain, neuroscientist, David Eagleman says: "...
Using stories to build emotional connection between customers and your brand.
A template that establishes who your story is for and what they need to believe.
C
My favourite technique – used to add gravitas, meaning and resonance to your story.
Layering in the elements that will later trigger callbacks.
The unknown world between where we are and where we want to be.
The man who made Campbell's Hero's Journey practical for Hollywood and storytellers.
A word or phrase that has lost its original power or meaning through excessive repetition.
One of Robert Cialdini's seven principles of Influence.
The third requirement of effective (business storytelling).
Copy that's engineered to sell RIGHT NOW.
The foundational messages about a brand, business or founders that are woven through the Storyverse.
The strategic summation of the value you deliver for your customers.
Your mind may jump to James Bond and the seconds ticking down on the bomb ...
The non-interactive exposition scenes in a video games.
D
Neuroscientist who proved the brain constructs reality from narrative, not observation.
The section of the story that comes after the climax.
Author of StoryBrand. You're the mentor, not the hero. Your customer is the protagonist.
E
This week's must use tactic that works for everyone regardless of product, market or context.
In a business, we need our stories to embody the challenges, contexts and feelings of our audience.
If you want to get anywhere – with your story or your business – you need to execute consistently.
My friend Sally – a creative writing lecturer – taught me this wonderfully evocative phrase.
Background context that supports or explains the story.
F
You know what this is and you may have a favourite ...
Hinting at something that's coming.
My description for the 'story' our brains construct to help us make sense of the world around us.
G
According to some we evolved speech in order to gossip (tell stories) about our fellow humans.
Using the principles of brand and storytelling to gently attract the best prospects toward you.
H
Joseph Campbell's universal story structure from 1949. The foundation of modern storytelling.
A mental shortcut that allows humans to substitute a hard question with an easier one.
What do you know.
I
Where we want to be. The destination that pulls us through the struggle.
Our brains are storytelling machines, but they're built that way in the service of survival.
Starting a story in the midst of unfolding action, where tension already exists.
Worth a moment to highlight Robert Cialdini's seminal book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.
The body's unconscious check of how we feel right now. The baseline of emotion.
J
Social psychologist who proved the human mind is a story processor, not a logic processor.
The mythologist whose Hero's Journey changed how we understand transformation in stories.
Use the reader's own imagination to do the heavy lifting. Less detail, richer vision.
Placing two things next to each other.
K
One of the fathers of Behavioural Economics (with Amos Tversky).
The protagonist in my thriller series.
L
In business storytelling, this may be the Leader Legend, Origin or Founding Story/Stories.
Neuroscientist who proved emotions are predictions your brain makes, not hard-wired.
M
Author of The Elements of Eloquence. Shakespeare's secret was rhetorical technique and alliteration.
A strategic story, up to 500 words, designed to build attention, connection and trust.
N
The overarching arc that connects all the smaller stories into one coherent whole.
No discernable personality.
O
The opposite of chaos.
The seed story that explains the business, brand, product or service.
P
Content that affects our perception or experience of a story despite not being part of it.
Breaking expectations to capture attention. What's unexpected actually gets noticed.
Why some words sound beautiful and others feel harsh. Tolkien understood this.
The mechanics that create the effect: selection, focus, and the removal of friction.
The use of aggressive/passive aggressive tactics to pressure customers into buying.
The seventh of Robert Cialdini's influence principles, introduced in his book Pre-Suasion.
A story must flow forward in causally connected events, each building on the last.
The implicit promise that a storyteller makes to their audience.
The character we identify with and root for within the story.
R
The more people have to lose, the more dramatic and emotionally resonant the story.
One of Robert Cialdini's seven principles of Influence.
Where your story overlaps with your audience's story. The only way they'll listen.
S
A rockstar in the marketing world.
Don't describe a character. Demonstrate who they are through what they actually do.
The proof that stories work: identical objects worth 2,700% more with stories attached.
The older I get, the more power I see in simplicity.
Humans are herd animals who seek to be accepted by 'in-groups' at whatever level.
Show the elements and let your audience tell the story to themselves.
You know what this is.
The twelve-beat scaffolding for telling origin stories based on the Hero's Journey.
Dan Harmon's simplified Hero's Journey: eight beats for television storytelling.
This is how I think about selling.
My regular newsletter.
When we use the insights of story structure to create kick-ass products and services.
The interconnected stories a brand or business tells about itself and what it stands for.
Copy that's written to build attention, connection and trust ... to sell over time.
Business stories exist on a spectrum from Strategic to Tactical.
The gap between where we are and where we want to be. Tension seeks resolution.
In a nutshell ...
T
From 11 million bits per second to roughly four conscious thoughts. Getting through is hard.
A moment of deliberate slowness—pausing to build tension before the beat that matters most.
The voice in your head that will do anything to stop you doing the work.
A framework for assessing the depth of your storytelling work.
The increasingly common practice of telling a story across multiple mediums.
The process through which an audience is transported into the world of the story.
Things in threes. Creates completion and inevitability. Brain finds it deeply satisfying.
The moment when a character abandons their mask to reveal their true self.
U
Where we are right now and why it's not enough. The starting tension of every story.
V
A foundation of emotion, Valence is how pleasant or unpleasant our bodies are feeling at any moment.
The gap between who you are and who you pretend to be. Being real is powerful.
W
The wider process of building your interconnected web of stories, ideas, concepts, and insights.