The Art and Science of Telling Stories that Sell

If You Aspire to Be a Thought Leader, Don’t Outsource Your Blogs to a Robot.

Sat, 02 Dec 2023 18:54:35 GMT

If You Aspire to Be a Thought Leader, Don’t Outsource Your Blogs to a Robot.

A few weeks ago, a friend asked me how she could tell if she was reading something written by ChatGPT. In answer, I emailed her the following product description for a bracelet I saw on Etsy:

“This bangle is a shining testament to timeless elegance, marrying traditional artisanship with avant-garde design. With a luxurious width of 4mm, this bangle graces the wrist with a gentle shimmer, making it an ideal piece for both day-to-day elegance and special soirées. For the contemporary woman who prides herself on her sartorial choices, this bangle encapsulates sophistication and modernity in equal measure. Its versatility ensures that it complements a myriad of ensembles, effortlessly transitioning from a daytime affair to an evening gala. Gentlemen, if you're on the hunt for a gift that speaks volumes of your affection and discernment, look no further. This bangle, presented in a meticulously curated gift box, promises to be a cherished treasure in any jewelry collection, echoing moments of joy and milestones celebrated.”

Even if I was able to disregard the fact that the description assumes that women can’t buy their own jewelry, reading this would still give me instant stomach cramps. The overabundance of adjectives alone would trip my “a robot wrote this” alarm.

Here’s the thing, aspiring thought leader. You’re not fooling anyone — or at least not anyone you want to impress. If you want to be an industry influencer, you’ll need to lead with the insights you've collected through your years of experience.

There is a place for AI-generated content. Leave it there.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. I love me some robots. They’re great for writing functional information, such as product descriptions (although, as I've illustrated, AI is perfectly capable of churning out crappy ones) or recipes. But there’s not an AI in the world that can take the place of your own brilliance or uniquely human vision.

After all, can you imagine ChatGPT cranking out a version of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech? What about Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise”? Plato’s “The Republic”? No, no, and no. ChatGPT couldn’t even have written Tony Robbins’ “Notes from a Friend.”

I feel confident in saying that you will never inspire, persuade, or land a decent speaking slot with generative AI.

By the way, there are AIs that detect AIs.

Schools and publications are beginning to use automated checkers, such as Originality.ai , to look for signs that a piece or a student paper was generated by AI. Note that Originality.ai refers to this as "plagiarism." I agree. Writing with AI is essentially taking someone else's work and regurgitating it. It's not much different than copying from Wikipedia or Google. (Speaking of Google, the company has begun to use ML algorithms to detect material that was generated by AI. This will undoubtedly begin to thwart the use of AI-created SEO content as a way to rank higher in search results.)

Why should schools care? Because writing = learning. Synthesizing material and putting it into words aids understanding and retention.

Writing your content with AI is a bit like buying one of those crappy landscape prints you find at Target, hanging it on your wall, and calling it "art." If you do that, I'm embarrassed for you.

That said, here are five indicators that a human can use to sniff out content written by a robot:

Conspicuous consistency. Humans vary their spoken and written rhythms, even when they’re trying to be consistent. A complete lack of variability — whether in voice or in sentence structure — is a hallmark of AI-generated copy.
Weirdly inappropriate emotional tone. Yes, there are a lot of awkward human beings out there who struggle to convey emotion. But if there’s nary an iota of authentic emotion, you’re probably reading something written by a Vulcan or a robot.
Excessive formality or hyperbolic adjectives. Harkening back to the bracelet description above, a passage I mercifully omitted read, “Rendered in gleaming 9 ct gold, its flexible mesh pattern not only exemplifies intricate detailing but also ensures a comfortable slip-on fit, adapting gracefully to your every movement.” It's excruciatingly robotic. Humans just don’t communicate that way…and if you come across one who does, run. They’re probably a serial killer.
Lack of personality . People are quirky — and usually in consistent ways. For example, I consistently overuse ellipses and crack dumb jokes when I’m nervous. At an atomic level, these “quirkiness fingerprints” (yes, I just made that up) are what we call “personality.” Even when engineers try to encode quirkiness into an AI (looking at you, Siri), it feels conspicuously forced.
Utter perfection . No matter how many times I re-read something I’ve written, I always miss something. An errant comma, a misspelling my spellchecker didn’t catch, a missing article…there’s always SOMETHING. It’s vexing. But it’s human.

To sum it all up, I see you, you purveyors of push-button prose. You know who you are. And so do I.

Why Your Corporate Stories Need an Actual Human Protagonist (Especially in Tech!)

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 23:28:37 GMT

Why Your Corporate Stories Need an Actual Human Protagonist

By Brianna Blacet, Chief Storyteller | October 10, 2023

I have worked as a technology marketer in Silicon Valley for over a decade. I’ve created a boatload of product presentations, blogs, executive communications, ads, landing pages, emails, white papers, eBooks, datasheets, videos, social-media posts, and roughly five million web pages (I may be exaggerating on that last one…but only by a little).

During that time, I’ve seen the same critical error over and over again: we keep trying to sell products . Speeds and feeds. Features.

The problem is that customers—who are actual humans, not to be confused with flat 2D personas—don’t buy products. They buy the way they think a product will make them feel .

Humans have problems. They are afraid to make mistakes. They want to feel confident in their choices. They encounter thorny internal politics. They’re overwhelmed by the sheer number of products on the market and are slow to trust the people hawking them. They want to buy products that make them heroes in the eyes of their bosses.

You can easily spend millions of dollars creating, syndicating, and marketing content. But if you overlook the “hero factor” that actually converts prospects, you’ve poured a whole lot of it down the drain.

Ask any marketer in 2023 how to stir the hearts and wallets of customers. With a smug look on their face, they’ll say “stories.” But 99% of the time, these folks are actually referring to narratives.

There’s nothing wrong with a tight, finely crafted narrative. But despite what my former manager thinks (I hope he’s not reading this!), a narrative is not a story and it won’t evoke the same emotion that a real story will. And as I’ve mentioned, we’re in the emotion business, not the product business.

What’s the difference between a narrative and a story? A human protagonist.

In my storytelling workshops, I demonstrate the difference between a narrative and a story by telling a deconstructed story. I start off with a fact. A compelling one, but just a fact, nonetheless. Next, I add a group of humans to the narrative. It ups the impact a little. Finally, I zoom in on an individual in that group. Someone relatable—a hero. And, bam! It becomes a story that provokes emotion and makes participants care. That’s the magic of stories.

Here’s an example:

The fact: I tell my kid not to go into the woods behind our house because there are wolves back there. He says “yeah, yeah, mom” without taking his eyes off the video game he’s playing and waves me away.

The fact, augmented by a group of humans : I tell my kid, “Don’t go into the woods behind our house because there are 10 wolf attacks back there every year.” He looks up with a little concern …then goes right back to playing his game.

The fact, augmented by an actual protagonist : I tell my kid, “A 5 ^th grader from your school was eaten by a wolf last week in the woods behind the house. He fought bravely. There was blood everywhere. But despite his best efforts, he lost the fight.” The kid actually pauses his game and looks up at me, slack-jawed and horrified. Then I tell him to stay the f-k out of the woods. He, with teary eyes, agrees, and means it.

(Note: my actual kid is grown and there are no wolves behind my house.)

Here’s why it makes a difference: #neuroscience

When you introduce a specific character or protagonist that your audience/readers can relate to, it kicks off a process called “mirroring” in their brains. It’s the, “hey, that person is like me” effect. It’s accompanied by a surge of oxytocin (the hormone that bonds babies to their mothers). It’s like glue.

Once you’ve successfully created this bond, you tell your story. Thus begins a process called “coupling,” where the association between the action of the story is coupled with the protagonist the listener has identified with. This is where the real power kicks in. If I tell you a great story about how I almost died skydiving, your brain will process the action as though you were actually experiencing it yourself…especially if you’ve planned a skydiving adventure for the upcoming weekend.

This is why stories are so much more impactful than data sheets. If you choose the right protagonist, then tell a good story, your prospect will CARE.

Why this is even more important in technology

If you think wolves in the back of your house are an abstract concept to a 10-year-old, try talking about security software to almost anyone. Without a good story, your customer hears, “It’s critical to protect your CI/CD blah-be-de-blah…look at this guy’s TIE…I think I’ll order a pizza for dinner….Kubernetes cluster.”

In contrast, if you tell the story about a customer just like the one you’re talking to and explain how she lost a ton of data and got fired because they didn’t protect their CI/CD pipeline, all eyes are on you. Your customer starts thinking, “uh-oh, is my pipeline secure? Am I scanning my workloads in production? OMG, I can’t get fired! My kids’ private school-tuition is due!”

Technology *can* be dry and boring. But it doesn’t have to be. If you integrate the elements of a good story, your prospects will remember you (or your website or your video, etc.), be more likely to trust you, and sign the check.

I want everyone who has read to the end of this blog to be wildly successful. I want you to preach the technology gospel far and wide and close as many deals as you can. Technology is all about solving human problems. So, let’s put the humans back into our stories of technology.

If you want to learn more about creating stories that sell (or have me write one for you), click here , email me at brianna@poweredbystories.co or check out the curriculum of my two-day storytelling workshops . Until then, stay out of the woods!

When and How to Use Personal Stories in Your Pitches

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 23:19:25 GMT

When and How to Use Personal Stories to Amplify Your Pitches

When I give storytelling workshops, salespeople are often surprised when I tell them it's beyond ok to use personal stories in their pitches. In fact, when done right, personal stories are one of the *most* powerful ways to build rapport with prospects.

After all, we are all humans. We share a multitude of universal experiences. Talking about these experiences connects us, and connection builds trust. And as we all know — whether you're buying or selling — trust (or lack thereof) can make or break your sale.

That said, it's important to curate and craft personal stories very intentionally to maximize their impact in a sales context.

Here are some factors to consider as you build your arsenal of personal stories to use with prospects and customers:

1) Choose stories wherein the main point is a metaphor for the value proposition for what you're selling. For example, say you're selling a disaster-recovery (DR) solution. It would make perfect sense to share a story about the time you lost all of your precious family photos because your hard disk crashed. Who among us hasn't had a similar, devastating experience? It's universally relatable (and the reason why I give so many of my hard-earned dollars to Dropbox every month!). Sharing that story prompts the listener to identify with you and and actually *feel* the emotions you felt when you realized your daugher's baby pictures were gone forever. From there, it's a smooth, logical transition to talking about your awesome DR solution.

2) This may seem obvious, but make sure that you have enough emotional distance from your story that you can tell it without without losing your composure. Ugly crying during PowerPoint presos is highly discouraged. ��

3) Make sure your story is authentic and that it's your story to tell . Otherwise, you risk triggering your prospect's BS meter and losing the sale.

4) Use as many specific sensory details as possible. Studies show that sensory details evoke emotion and aid retention.

5) Create a tight story arc . Ensure that your story has a beginning, middle, and end so that you stay focused and don't ramble. Keep it short.

Storytelling is an fascinating nexus of art, craft, and neuroscience. (But I'll save the neuroscience part for a different time.)

If you want to learn more about using stories to amplify your pitches, DM me! I also invite you to run your story by me if you want a impartial opinion.

Check out the curriculum of our two-day storytelling workshops here .