Traditionally, Africans have revered good stories and storytellers, as have most past and present peoples around the world who are rooted in oral cultures and traditions. They have created amazing works from time to preserve/promote our culture, inspire and motivate.

They are being celebrated so much today. Take the likes of Chinua Achebe, Kofi Awonoor, Ama Ata Aidoo, Teju Cole, Alain Mabanckou, Chibundu Onuzo, Tope Folarin, Christie Watson, Wole Soyinka, Chika Unigwe, Chimamanda Adichie, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Makuoma wa Ngugi, Wainaina Binyavanga, Chinelo Okparanta, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Noviolet Bulawayo, Lola Shoneyin, Taiye Selasie, Siddhartha Mitter, Victor Ehikhamenor, Wana Udobang, Ikhide Ikheloa and many more.

Organisational Stories

Organizations use stories to create and develop their image in the market place, build their brand and make their advertising campaigns more memorable. ‘The essence of a good brand is a good story’. – Tony Cram

The Nigerian breweries for instance have created an excellent story along with series of TV commercials for one of its beverage brand ‘Gulder’. For years they have kept on with the ‘Gulder Ultimate Search’ reality TV show, a story telling of tradition, history and conquests.

Creating series of epic, captivating and thrilling story lines which helps the brand stay relevant and fresh in the competitive market and on people’s minds. If you search ‘Gulder’ on Google, ‘Gulder Ultimate Search: The 10th Symbol’ comes out tops. On the highways you see billboards with the tagline ‘Touch Respect’. Using storytelling in business life is all about making something memorable to create differentiation and also begin an emotional connection with others. Many of the best known brands in Nigeria are excellent at telling a compelling story. Take for instance the Guiness brand with its ‘1759 – Time to be friends’ and ‘Udeme’ ad, Gtbank’s ‘Soccer Lady or Inter Galactic’, MTN’s ‘I don port ad with Saka the comedian, Indomie noodles ‘Mama too good’ ad, Pepsi ad with Tiwa Savage and Wizkid competing for a can of Pepsi, the Cowbell ‘oyo-yo’ ad with one the best voiced jingle in recent times. An amazing recent one is the ‘Robots dancing skelewu’ in MTN’s Caller Tunez video ad.

They are all deliberately telling a story and creating a directive to go with it. As result, they have a more emotional connection with their customers. As well as having a clear and compelling story they also have clear values connected to their story.

Storytelling, relationship building and influence

The art of storytelling as we have seen affects relationship building and influencing at two levels. The first is the interpersonal level; the second is the company or organizational level. At interpersonal level we need to be able to relate and connect emotionally through the use of stories, analogies and metaphors. Stories not only deepen the emotional connection, they also are memorable – that is to say, sticky.

At company level, organizations use stories to try to connect with us every day and try to influence us. Thus when we understand this process, we can create stories in order to better both our internal and external customers.

So what is your organization’s story? How does your organization connect emotionally to its clients and its employees for that matter? What is your personal story and what are you communicating? And if you think you are not trying to communicate, think again! Others are aware of you, and if you are not telling them your story, they are definitely creating a story when they see and hear you. If you don’t tell them your story, they will invent one for you anyway, and be sure it won’t be as positive or as accurate as your own.

‘If you don’t tell them a story, they are making it up for themselves’.

The implications for your influencing and your relationships are clear. What stories are you telling about yourself, your department, your product, your service, your brand, your company? It is a well known fact that compelling stories lead to compelling facts.

Good stories paint a picture of a desired state or future. They tell you about the roots of the company or product, its background and where it’s coming from. These stories are what differentiate the company from their competitors. Stories can range from low cost word of mouth stories through multi-million naira brand campaigns.

The message needs to be clear. Look back to the history of your company, the values, the founders or any key present day value. Remember that stories can be explicit or implicit. Tell us what you do better or differently. If you create an explicit story, make sure its connected to reality which is the match up to the story. And if it doesn’t, and that the story is just a story with no link to reality, you will loses influence, relationships, credibility and customers.

Implicit stories can be positive or negative and they are the ones customers tell about you. If they are negative, make sure you do something about it. Hiding bad stories away and pretending they don’t exist is not a very good thing to do. Always build on these stories and make people aware of both internally and externally.

The future for influencing others lies in making a distinction between your products/service and those of the competition. One of the keys of doing this is to tell or invent a story.

- See more at: http://thebusinessaim.com/the-art-of-story-telling-ii-its-usefulness-to-people-brands-and-businesses/#sthash.lQIt2zpw.dpuf