1. The document discusses how storytelling is an essential part of brand building and content marketing. It explains that stories elicit emotional and chemical responses in our brains through the release of oxytocin and cortisol. Oxytocin promotes bonding and trust, while cortisol increases focus. 2. It provides tips for using storytelling effectively in business communication and marketing. It recommends making the product or brand the hero of the story, creating tension that the product or brand can then resolve, and telling the brand's story in a compelling way by highlighting successes and people. 3. In conclusion, the document notes that storytelling has been used for entertainment and sharing knowledge throughout human history. The ability of stories to connect

1. STORIES
B Y C H A R L F . M I J N H A R D T
H O W T O T E L L
B E T T E R B U S I N E S S

2. FOREWORD

3. Some of my very best memories from when I was a kid involve my dad
lying in bed with me and reading me stories.
My dad was fascinated with Scandinavia and Nordic lore (a fascination
which I inherited from him), and he would regale 7-year-old Charl
with Icelandic epics and Swedish sagas.
Through the words of these anonymous narrators and my dad’s
incredible talent for storytelling, I was transported to the vast, icy
plains of ancient Scandinavia. I faced off with marauding Vikings,
vicious bears and mythical beasts. I made thousand mile treks across
frozen, unforgiving landscapes to do battle with cruel and
bloodthirsty kings.
My childhood wasn’t always happy, mostly because my parents were
constantly fighting. But these night-time escapes with my dad made
everything okay; they provided a different reality where the good guy
always won despite the odds being against him.

4. Today, storytelling is an essential component of brand building and content
marketers are tapping into people’s inborn love for a good narrative.
While it was initially thought that stories elicited a purely emotional response,
recent studies have revealed that stories affect us on a chemical level as well.
According to an article published in the Harvard Business Review, our brains
release cortisol and oxytocin in response to certain kinds of narratives, specifically
those that are character-driven and packed with emotional content.
Dubbed the “cuddle hormone”, oxytocin promotes bonding between people and
has been shown to facilitate trust and acceptance. In fact, oxytocin is often
administered to women during childbirth to help with bonding as well as milk
production.
This explains why I felt closest to my dad during story time, and why I felt safe
even when things at home weren’t great. I was tripping balls on pure, uncut
narrative goodness!
Cortisol, on the other hand, is the hormone that our brains release when we
experience stress, and promotes focus and attention (because when you’re about
to step on a pissed off rattle snake, you best focus on what the hell you’re doing!).
Good storytelling, therefore, offsets the focusing, attention-grabbing effect of the
cortisol with the warm, fuzzy feelings associated with oxytocin.

5. SO HOW DOES STORYTELLING
FIT INTO THE CONTENT
MARKETING/BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION MIX?

6. It’s actually quite simple: stories – or, at least, certain
kinds of stories – enable us to connect with each other.
The release of oxytocin makes us more empathetic,
more receptive to messages and more likely to
cooperate with others.
You don’t have to be a neurobiologist to understand
how these emotional responses can be tapped to
convince your audience to respond to your content,
and Claremont Graduate University professor Paul J.
Zak even advises keynote speakers to start their
presentations with a good narrative to grab their
audience’s attention via the aforementioned chemical
responses.

7. 1. READ
VORACIOUSLY
.If you don’t have time to read,
you don’t have the time — or
the tools — to write. Simple as
that. (Stephen King)
1. MAKE YOUR PRODUCT
OR BRAND THE HERO
There’s a good reason why
superhero movies consistently
dominate at the box office.
The struggle between good
and evil, light and darkness,
the Dionysian and the
Apollonian is as old as time,
and we are neurologically
programmed to root for the
good guy (even if the villains
are often way cooler).

8. By positioning your product or brand as the
hero that saves the day, you are much more
likely to elicit a positive emotional response –
that may lead to purchasing behavior – from
your audience.
Alternatively, craft a scenario in which the
prospective client becomes the hero and
solves a problem.

9. 2. CREATE TENSION AND
THEN SOLVE IT
If you paid attention during high
school English class, you’ll
remember that every story
contains a tension or crisis that
must lead to resolution.
Use real people in your
advertising, give them names and
personalities and highlight their
pain points.

10. By creating a compelling, character-
driven and emotion-heavy narrative with
a relatable stress point (it doesn’t need
to be relatable to the entire population,
only to your target audience), you’ll grab
your audience’s attention with a cortisol-
injection.
Then, once you have their attention, you
can resolve the tension (let the good guy
win) – cue the touchy feely hormone.

11. 3. TELL YOUR BRAND’S
STORY IN A COMPELLING
WAY
Every brand has a story,
including a hero and/or
heroine (for example the
founder, CEO or a product
specialist or sales guru) a
setting (another prerequisite
for a story) and a narrative arc.
Photo by wild vibez on
Unsplash

12. Emphasize the people that
have made, and continue to
make, your organization
great. Promote success
stories, punt customer
testimonials and trace the
brand’s road to glory.

13. CONCLUSION

14. More and more businesses are realizing the
value of compelling storytelling as an integral
part of the brand communications and
marketing mix. Storytelling is engrained in our
DNA and has been around as a form of
entertainment and as a means of passing
along ideas, knowledge and traditions since
the dawn of humankind. The fact that stories
are able to connect people and resonate with
us not only on an emotional level, but on a
biochemical level, is rock solid proof of the
power of a strong narrative.
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