WHAT WE WANT TO COMMUNICATE vs. WHAT THEY WANT TO LISTEN

The 5 most common mistakes

One morning in 1963, Martin Luther King woke up thinking of his children, the inspiration for the speech he was going to give that day. What he said changed the history course in United States… and the world.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” he said at the end of the March for Jobs and Freedom, at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial, in Washington D.C.

Martin Luther King’s speech is full of references to the abuse of African Americans, but it is also a proposal to end this historical injustice, it expanded public awareness on civil rights. It´s so powerful that it provokes, excites, and connects. From this speech, we can extract several lessons about the importance of the storytelling technique for effective and inspiring communication that calls to action.

It´s a mistake to think that storytelling only consists of telling stories. Not only is that it´s a powerful technique of strategic communication, politics, marketing, and journalism, its main objective is to connect, tune in, empathize with key audiences, and for that, you need a good story, a story that provokes emotions and a bond with the recipient of the message. Martin Luther King had a clear objective – to generate awareness, a change of mentality – and he achieved it; he spoke to the oppressed, but he also wanted to be heard by the American elites.

Today, storytelling should be used in the communication of practically any professional activity. We like to be told stories. The key to American business and political leadership lies largely in this narrative technique. Barack Obama’s “Yes, we can” speech during his 2008 presidential campaign; and that of Steve Jobs at Stanford University in 2005, are memorable references.

In Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is an obligatory example of the proper use of this technique; his speech is full of personal anecdotes, historical references, comments from third parties, colored notes, all to introduce his key messages, generate empathy, approval or, in many cases, anger and disapproval from his detractors. We can agree or not with what he says, but what is a fact is that his speech catches and generates immediate reactions from the public. Proof of this is the high level of audience registered by his morning press conference and the impact of his words on the national public agenda.

In Latin America, more and more politicians, businessmen, and journalists are discovering its effectiveness:

• The president, governor, or mayor uses it to inform citizens what he is doing for them so that they have security, employment, and efficient public services. He proudly talks about an anecdote in which a family´s father thanks him for the support of his government so that there would be electricity in his community and “now they even have the internet”.

• The candidate builds his political profile based on the experiences and events that marked him in his personal and professional life. He presents himself as if he were any one of us, who has also suffered the consequences of bad governments and hence his decision to try to end that.

• The CEO projects leadership and empowers his collaborators with the example of how he came to occupy that position with dedication, discipline, and effort.

• The journalist publishes an article presenting the personal story of an entrepreneur who developed a stories App to read and listen to.

• The salesman tries to engage us with the history of his products and the stories of thousands of satisfied customers. We buy the story, not the product. The story makes us dream.

Building a credible, inspiring narrative that calls to action is not just about building a proper speech or writing; it is also necessary to convey emotions. Like a good movie, it must entertain, excite, and win the audience’s attention in the first few minutes.

Storytelling is not easy and communication errors are very often made. We share with you the most common:

1. Lying or being incongruous. – If the story isn´t yours, isn´t related to you, or you are making it up, sooner or later the truth will be known. You have to be congruent, it is useless to spread your story if then your actions are not in line with your speech. If people perceive you as false or not credible, you will be ruined.
   
   
2. Not connecting with your audience. A good speech is never improvised, the shorter it is, the more difficult it is to prepare and to find the correct story with the correct words. In the first few minutes, you win or lose the attention of your audience, there are rarely second chances.
   
   
3. Abusing of your story. Become a storyteller, not a gossip guy, the key is in a good balance between anecdote and quality information. What may be important to you, might be totally irrelevant for others. A simple, inspiring, and colorful story will always be better.
   
   
4. Not knowing your key audience. Get ready, study your audience, find what excites them, what they want, seek, and want to listen or learn. It´s not the same to address a group of students, employees, voters, entrepreneurs, or businessmen. The most important thing in the audience segmentation is not what separates them from others, but what unites them.
   
   
5. Losing the point of your communication. The story you are going to tell is the means, not the end. Your story has to be a “Magic Bullet” that points to the aspirations, fears, desires, and needs of your audience. What do you want to communicate? What call to action are you going to make? What impact do you hope to get from your audience?

Learn to convey emotions and not just words.