What is Storytelling for Impact?

In this weeks episode of the Moonshine Moonshot series Mike Hill and Sue Collins are breaking down impact storytelling, specifically visual storytelling, and giving you tips on how to craft yours.

They‘re talking about impact, unpacking what that means and how you can leverage storytelling to get folks taking the action you need them to take.

So, what is storytelling for impact?  

Ok, so it’s probably not a burning question but it just might be one you’re curious about.

Time and again we speak to people that have a really important mission or a great business but they just can’t find the right way to get their message across. Working out where to start and what platform to use is really confusing.  There are so many options with everything from blogs, podcasting, websites, social media and traditional advertising.  And some even freak out “Ah, storytelling, sounds like a creative thing.”

Not to mention the icky idea of being in front of a camera.  

Here’s a secret, if you can craft a great story it won’t matter which platform you choose because it will work on all of them and people will love it.

It will engage them, intrigue them and you can end with a call to action that takes them to the next step in joining your tribe.  

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Moonshine Moonshot Podcast. We're going to be unpacking what the seemingly impossible is and how to make it possible. We're also going to be talking about impact, what is impact and how we make that happen.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

How do we move humanity forward? What's the best way? We're going to be talking about visual stories today, which is really exciting. And how do you get to your moonshot? And what the hell is a moonshot anyway? So, you know, a moonshot is a seemingly impossible goal that you can get to, like putting man on the moon. So we're going to unpack some of the ways that we've found uh work well, uh, starting with visual storytelling. So, what is visual storytelling?

SPEAKER_00 0:42

What is visual storytelling? So, I'm Sue Collins, and this is Mike Hill, for anyone who doesn't know us. Uh, and we run Moonshine Agency and we specialise in um storytelling essentially for um for impact. So I'll let you start, Mike, with that big question. What do you think about this?

SPEAKER_01 0:58

But you totally dodge that. You totally dodge that question. What is visual storytelling? It's pretty obvious, right? It's stories and we use visuals and we wrap it around. And why is it so important to use visuals when you're telling stories? Well, uh it's because of the way we're consuming content these days. So I love to sit down and read a good book, but it doesn't happen all that often. But geez, do I consume a lot of visual stories in my life? Uh, whether it be on my phone and my device, iPad, my computer right throughout the day, uh through TV, um, and you know, other media uh that is basically visual. The visuals are so important to getting your story to cut through. So part of that has to do with how our brains are actually designed to process visuals.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Yeah, that's right. I mean, there's a whole lot of science um around this and um neuroscientists and all sorts of statistics like the brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster. 60 times. Which is extraordinary. And um, you know, 90% of um visual communication is retained at a higher rate, something like 90%. Sorry, I've mucked up that statistic totally, but um if there they're pretty extraordinary differences between the way the brain processes visual communication versus written or just oral.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Yeah, you know, like it's um don't say oral, you know, too fast too many times in a row, you could get in a lot of trouble. But it's about you know, like why do visuals cut through so quickly? And I think part of it is self-evident when you really break it down. Uh, you've got these things like, you know, blink theory, you know, that you can, you know, know something about someone or about uh someone who's communicating to you in, you know, in a blink of the eye. Uh and I think it really goes back to the way that we've evolved and the types of animals that we actually are, because when you think about it, uh it takes quite a number of years for children to learn how to you know to speak. Uh and it takes twice that long for most people to be able to get a basic level of you know literacy, the ability to read. Yet we're visual from the moment we're born. Like pretty much, you know, babies come out and they're visually engaged with the world. So our brains are fundamentally designed to process visuals as the first protocol.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Yeah, yeah, that's that's really interesting. And I mean, I mean, obviously, we work in video production, so um, we're gonna champion visual communication always, of course. We are biased, but um, for exactly those reasons you said, it's actually the way humans are wired, it's just the way we do things, it's the way we um connect, and you know, you don't necessarily have to understand a language to be able to communicate with somebody visually because drawings, pictures, facial expressions, that there's just so many ways to communicate. It doesn't have to actually be spoken word.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

And it's it's not the only important thing, you know, written documents are really important for some things, you know, like uh particularly in terms of the academic rigour that can be applied. Often these aren't broadly consumed pieces of communication, but they're really important. Um, and of course, you know, uh novel writing and creative writing is an amazing art form. Uh, not only that, uh the kind of the way the internet works really does rely on written word as well, uh, in terms of how keywords are processed and SEO and how things uh you know appear online through search. So the written word's important and it's even more valuable when it's tied to a visual story, in my opinion. So if you have a great visual story that's underpinned by a transcript, a written transcript that is optimized for key phrases, you know, suddenly this, you know, you got the best of both. You know, you've got something that can exist as a written document or a written blog online, uh, and you've also got that visual story that cuts through. And there are other benefits to visual stories as well as the immediate cut through, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Yeah, yeah. I I mean, just thinking about it as humans and storytelling, um, just zooming right out. I mean, there was an incredible discovery they were talking about on the news a couple of weeks ago where they found what they believed to be the oldest cave painting depicting storytelling, and it was something like 45,000 years old.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Like and it was sci-fi, how good is that? A sci-fi story from 40,000 years ago, you know, awesome. Uh so the thing is, you know, we're really imaginative, and the reasons that stories stick is because it's really the way that we've connected with one another since caveman times. You know, it goes right back to those days, you know, in terms of, you know, you want to get someone to remember something, tell it like a story. And we see this, you know, this rich, you know, rich articulation of this through Australia's Aboriginal Indigenous culture. You know, you've got this amazing dream time, dreaming stories. And that's our experience, but that, you know, I'm sure is reflected through ancient civilizations everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Yeah, that's right. And so even if you're trying to um convey a really factual idea, as soon as you wrap it up in a story, instantly people are far more likely to be interested and actually engage with you on what that story is. So I consume a huge amount of um factual literature, um, and I rarely read anything fiction these days. But the ones that really connect with me are a lot of the ones are biographies. So they might be a, for example, it could be a business book, but it's filled with personal stories and experiences to highlight uh the example or the information that's being shared, and they're the bits in the books that really grab me, and they're the bits that I really get engaged in and that I really want to continue reading the book because or listening to the book or whatever it is to know more because it's that story component. Where if it was just a textbook, I probably wouldn't connect with it in anywhere near the same way. It'd be a really functional I need information, therefore I have to consume this.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Yeah, and how long can you smash out a textbook? Like some people do it, but they're freaks. You know, most of us can't just like tuck into a textbook for longer than you know a short period of time if they even go there at all because they're so intimidating because there's no visuals. Yeah. I think you know, we see in our line of business doing um, you know, a lot of films in particular around things like health issues. You know, health is you know often this area that you know has a lot of messaging like don't do this, do that, you know. So, you know, don't smoke, don't drink, you know, don't consume too much sugar, do exercise, you know. The thing is to really bring that to life, you need a story, you need a way to engage and empathize because people don't love being told what to do in that didactic way. But if you get those messages through a story and a relatable character, they can really stick much better.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Yeah, yeah. And I think there's a real art to storytelling, but I also think it's an interesting uh thing in that you don't have to have any skill or experience at all to be able to tell an amazing story. So it's totally accessible to everybody as well. That you don't have to have, you know, any kind of qualification to be an amazing storyteller. You can be a musician, you can be a um a script writer, uh, an author, uh uh you can be writing a thesis, but use amazing anecdotes and stories to really, you know, get your point across.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

So humans are amazing storytellers, and everyone's got this gift, you know. Uh but some people freak out, oh storytelling sounds like a creative thing, you know, and you go, no, it's just about having a beginning, middle, and end, the characters and some kind of through line. I mean, everyone can stitch that together, and we all do. It's just about what do we tell stories about to one another.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Yeah, that's right. And so, how do you how do you, if you you're working in an area like we are, um, in in film production or video production or um marketing or any kind of communications, that's where storytelling I think becomes really critical.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Um anything at all that requires the person that you're communicating with to retain, to remember the information, to care about the information that you're delivering for. That's pretty broad, you know. Like if you're trying to communicate to anyone and you need them to remember and care about it, you need to use storytelling. And if you want to make that even doubly powerful, make it a visual story because that cuts through even better.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Yeah, that's right. So if we were gonna tell um the folks who are listening to this how to tell a good story, is there kind of a methodology we can give them to kind of? I mean, it needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. Is there more to it than that?

SPEAKER_01 10:25

There are so many different ways to tell a story, and I think it really comes down to strategic communications planning in terms of answering that question effectively, and that is more nuanced, and we've got another podcast that really addresses this art, you know, of creating a strategy for communication. So, no, I don't think there is a one formula for telling a great story, but I think it's something that we should all embrace because we know intuitively it works, it works best in almost all walks of life in terms of how we can connect with people. Stories have been the way we connect with one another forever. So let's keep using that gift that we have. Um, you know, there are plenty of animals that don't have this gift, and I'm really glad that we do.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Yeah, so I guess the the big takeaway for our audience today is um if you can engage storytelling in your work, whatever line of work that you're in, you're probably going to find that the people you're communicating with are going to be far more likely to A, listen, because they'll be interested, um, and B retain the information that you're trying to give them.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

And add a visual to it, you know. What's the old saying? You know, an image is worth a thousand words. I think you've said that it's worth 60,000 words, you know, like that's how much better they work. So find a great image, you know, add your story to it, and you're on the right track.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

You're on the right track, absolutely. So um I hope you've enjoyed today's podcast. Um, we have got another podcast, as Mike said, that's all about how to actually map out a story and um communicate or what's the strategy behind telling a good communications project. So uh please go and explore that if you're wanting to know more. Um, and we'd love it if you could write leave us a review. And the other thing that would be really helpful for us too is to send in questions. We'd love to know what you want to know more about so that we can talk specifically to the questions and um interests that you have. So please stay in touch.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Look forward to hearing from you.