4 Keys To Brand Storytelling Success

The most empowering aspect of storytelling is that we all have the ability to do it. Whether you're a small business owner, content churning influencer, citizen journalist, or aspiring novelist, the tools you need to write impactful stories are all inside of you. You don't need an agency or a team of researchers to get started on your brand storytelling or that project summary you've been putting off. Trust me. You got this. 

For for past seven months, I've been posting storytelling tips on my Instragam—specifically written with aspiring writers and entrepreneurs in mind. Here are four of them in no particular order. 

1. You don’t need anyone’s permission to step into your power and tell your story, irrespective of how big or small you think it is.

The truth is there is no story that’s too small to be told. You don’t need anyone’s permission to go against the grain of popular opinion, speak up on behalf of your own moral integrity, or be loud for those who are unjustly kept silenced. And you don’t need anyone’s permission to let your story simmer, as you quietly collect data, develop your own insights, and craft narratives that aren’t regurgitated concepts blasting across social media or being mansplained to you at dinner parties.

Writing your story and your ideas down isn’t just good for your neurological health and your personal growth, the art (the work and release) might end up breaking someone’s heart wide open, or making someone feel seen, or giving someone that ounce of courage needed to tell their own story. Your life and your stories are gifts. Thank you for reading mine and the stories I tell for others. When you’re ready to share yours I’m here.

2. Before you begin writing, gather more than enough data, insights, interviews, and angles. 

If you don’t the fear of scarcity may creep in during the writing process. Jot all of your “more than enough” material down. Then step away from the screen...for as long as you need to clear your head before you begin shaping the story. Meditate on how you want to feel while crafting your piece. Then step away again, and go outside. 

Rewrites, edits, second, third and fourth drafts aren’t signs that you’re lacking. They’re proof that you’re growing. Remember to breathe and zoom out. Look how far you’ve come since your first draft, and enjoy the view. Celebrating your progress is part of the process.

3.  Stay in your vision and your planning.

There are typically five main areas of focus that we, as humans and creators, revel in. They are:

-Vision
-Planning
-Details
-Problems
-Drama

When building anything in our lives—a story, a business, a community, a relationship, a house—it’s so easy to get caught up in the details. After all, details are important. There’s beauty and nuance in details. Details quench our senses when oblivion leaves us feeling dehumanized. But when we focus only on the details, we often snowball into stressing about problems or we create drama, which equals distraction.

Write out all the details you need to swim in your story in the deep end. Wiggle around in there for as long as it takes to feel that you’ve captured the intricacies of the message you want to share. And then get out. Go back to the diving board, and get a lay of the land and the water. Go back to your vision and planning. That’s what inspired you to do any of this in the first place. 

4. Travel far. Travel wide. Most of all, travel deeper.

The world is opening back up! And hopefully, many of us are able to travel again. Some of the greatest writing inspiration I’ve ever stumbled upon came to me when I was traveling in a foreign land with no other choice but to be present, stretched beyond my edges.

We can’t all travel far and wide all the time. Some of us aren’t able to physically travel beyond our own town. But we all are able to travel deeper, deeper within our local communities. We’re all able to let our curiosity guide us to the stories in our own neighborhoods, whether that be to small business owners, artists, entrepreneurs, activists, teachers, students, or just someone intriguing we see in the coffee shop every morning. We all have the ability to travel deeper within ourselves. The more curious we get about ourselves, our own motivations and our own triggers, the more curious, loving, and empathetic we become with everyone around us. And irrespective of any fear-mongering headlines or sensationalism, every great story is driven by empathy.