Persuasion has always been an important piece and dates all the way back to Aristotle (founding father of communication theory), I personally feel it is more important than data and credibility.

We are living in a time with more connection than ever before yet we are all so disconnected it seems. Our thirst for a great story runs deep in our DNA as human beings and since the beginning of time stories have been told to help plant ideas, trigger emotion in the listener and move groups of people for great causes and horrible causes.

I remember first reading about the importance of story in Aristotle’s work where he outlined the 3 keys to persuasion which are (Ethos-credibility, Logos -logic so stats and data & Pathos-Emotion)

Now what’s crazy is that even in the Webster’s dictionary, for the definition of persuasion there is 0 mention of emotion. Fact is you cannot persuade using logic alone, any great copy writer will tell you that.

Stories have been used since the beginning of time to persuade, break down walls, influence, excite and inspire!

Stories are also featured as 1 of the 9 secrets to powerful public speaking used by the world’s top Ted Talks!

Dale Carnegie believed in the power of stories and said that the great truths of the world are often times couched in stories, “the ideas I stand for are not mine, I borrowed them from Socrates, I swiped them from Chesterfield, I stole them from Jesus and I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?”

Bryan Stevenson who got the longest standing ovation in Ted Talk history told 65% stories and talked for 5 minutes before introducing his first statistic or data point in his Ted Talk. His talk was rated as one of the most persuasive on Ted.com , having people like Ben Affleck talk about it and reference it.

Stevenson says stories are the best way to break down resistance and get people listening!

Tim Ferriss uses stories in ALL of his New York Times best selling books!

Pastors and preachers use personal story to anchor in their Sunday sermons, stories are used everywhere to influence and persuade us! The movies are a multibillion dollar a year industry and all it is is stories! EVERY best selling Hollywood movie uses a specific story lining process called the Hero’s journey.

I want to really drive home the point with some recent science findings using fMRI machines. See in the last 10 years we have found out more about the human brain then all our combined years as humans.

Several new pieces have been published by Neuroscience institutes all over the world, I will reference one done by Arin Hanson of Princeton…

She witnessed the listeners brain and speakers brain mirrored each other’s temporal responses while hooked up to brain scanning tools.

The same parts of the brain showed activation during the story, that signifies a deep connection. Pretty crazy right!

Our brains are more active when we hear stories, see when you go through a slide show presentation with bullet points etc it only activates the part of the brain that is responsible for learning, when we hear a story it activates the whole brain (language, sensory, visual and motor areas)

Ok I think you get it, storytelling is SUPER important!

Million dollar personas and billion dollar brands are built on stories, stories is who we are as a people!

Here is the deal though…

• Most people think they have no story
• They are not interesting enough
• That they could never tell stories as good as _______
• That stories are inappropriate for their market or business
• Or they flat out have no idea how to do it

 

Fact is McDonald’s is now showing you the farmer who grew the potatoes that made the french fries you are eating so there is a way to do it with ANY business or niche.

That is where I come in, to help pull out the story in your brand or product to really get people excited, listening and ultimately buy!