Use story telling principles to help write and promote your content

Everyone understands stories. We are drawn in by them. Stories are an effective tool when you’re presenting content to your employer to endorse your work or when you’re enticing your desirable audience to use your product. The author Erin Kissane mentions three storytelling techniques that can help you cultivate a narrative from your content.

The first technique is called “The inverted pyramid.”  You place the most important information at the beginning, then insert the second most important information, and so on. An ineffective story contains unnecessary detail that drives the reader away from the plot. The inverted pyramid helps storytellers concentrate on the central thick of their story. Moreover, if there is an overload of information, then cut down your content (read the takeaway about clear, concise, and consistent content for more).

The second technique is the 5 Ws and H. You most likely learned this technique in elementary school. 5 Ws and H stand for who, what, when, where, why, and how. Although the 5Ws seem rudimentary, there is a reason why teachers always teach the 5Ws in school. The 5Ws helps you formulate the basics of the narrative. A story can’t thrive without the 5Ws present.

The third technique is called “show, don’t tell”. This is one of my favorite writing techniques. In creative writing, “show, don’t tell” means showing a character’s emotions or struggles implicitly through the description. In content strategy, this entails showing statistics, case studies, personal narratives, and demonstrating actions instead of simply stating your information.