Telling stories is something I’ve enjoyed ever since I can remember. Growing up, stories were shared everywhere in my life—at the dinner table, in school presentations, while roasting s’mores around a campfire, and the list goes on. I’ve always appreciated being able to experience the world through others’ perspectives, and I equally enjoy returning the favor.
From a young age, my mom would remind me to get to the point or risk losing everyone’s interest. Although it pained me to hear that, it ultimately improved my ability to highlight details that resonate with people and leave out ones that don’t.
These days, this advice is more relevant and harder to follow than ever. With an infinite amount of content to consume and compete against, people simply don’t have the time to waste on stories that are not meaningful to them.
With this advice in mind, I found that personally relatable details keep people’s attention. Emotions resonate more strongly than cold hard facts ever could. That’s part of what makes us human. I’ve found that this principle heavily applies to the field of marketing.
My Path to Human
Since there are only so many concrete details you can share about a given product or service before readers lose interest, it’s wise to appeal to value propositions that resonate with human emotions. This is where storytelling comes in.
You can see it on display in all kinds of marketing efforts, from search engine advertisements, social media posts, emails, web pages, white papers, etc.
Each of these is a small piece of a larger mosaic that makes up the story a company is telling about itself. If you’re a business owner, ask yourself what’s more appealing—A dull, cold, hard fact mosaic full of white, black, and gray? Or would you more thoroughly enjoy a colorful mosaic filled with personal testimonies, emotional appeals, and a mission people can get behind? I know which one I’d choose.
When looking for the right company to work for, I knew I wanted to see a clear value for the human side of things. This is why working for Human, a company that operates by Human-First principles, was an obvious choice.
I couldn’t be more excited to use my talent for storytelling for Human Marketing clients.
If you ever have any questions or need help, do not hesitate to contact me at josh@human.marketing. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn.
