Story Time

What’s your story?  We all have a story to tell no matter if it is small or grand. Learning through storytelling is one of the most effective and ancient ways to learn. Parables, fables, stories, and tall tales are a staple in how we learn everything from religion to how not to give a mouse a cookie. Kathy mentioned Rudyard Kipling in last week’s blog. I also am a Kipling fan. I liked this quote from him, “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”

The great thing about stories is that they make us real and authentic to others, including our customers. Laura Holloway, Founder and Chief of The Storyteller Agency says, “Storytelling is our obligation to the next generation. If all we are doing is marketing, we are doing a disservice, and not only to our profession, but to our children, and their children. Give something of meaning to your audience by inspiring, engaging, and educating them with story. Stop marketing. Start storytelling.”

Here are a few tips to tell an effective story to engage your customers:

• Focus on one problem or process that you want to share. Don’t try to solve every issue through one story.
• Invite your customers to be a part of your story. Don’t make the story all about you, find ways to engage your customers.
• Don’t be afraid to share those stories that make you cringe or the chapter that you would like to skip. Those are the stories with the most learning and inspirational potential.

Stories Make an Impact

Stories can help others learn from our journey. Over 20 years ago, my husband and I opened a restaurant in our community. One of the first things I did was create the menu. I had a blank page when we went to print so I decided to write The Pirate’s Cove story. It was a story of who we were and how we came to own the place and at the end I shared our vision for what we wanted for our family and for our customers. I was not doing this to be a marketing genius but to this day I have people tell me how much they enjoyed the story on our menu and how many times they read it while dining there. It made them feel like they were part of our dream and that they knew who we were by reading our story.

The Story of Rural

This year at the ICAHN Annual Conference, November 10^th at the I-Hotel in Champaign, our theme is The Story of Rural Health. This week I’m encouraging you to think about the story of rural health in your community; what it means and why it is important. Try your hand at writing that story. Soon we will be asking you to share stories that we can in turn share as part of the Annual Conference.  Be thinking about what rural health story you might want to share.

Stories keep the world revolving. Live yours and share yours often. That is the view from where I sit.