Personal Storytelling: What to Tell and How

The best way to add value to your content and engage people from the very start is to inject a bit of yourself to the content mix.

And the best way to do that is through your own personal stories.

But where should you start? What stories should you tell and how should you tell them to different audiences?

There are different types of stories, so your first step is figuring out which one works for you.

Story of Self

The story of self explains why you were called to do what you do. It focuses on change, and the key moments in our lives where we made important decisions that led to this great change.

Founding Stories

A founding story talks about how your business came to be and how you got to where you are today. Typically, businesses start with humble beginnings. This provides a great template for a founding story.

What You Stand For Stories

A “what you stand for” story explains what you value and care about the most. It can describe the moment you realized that you had this value, or about the time you knew this was something non-negotiable.

Personal Vision

Every story type discussed so far deals with the past or present, but a personal vision story deals with the future. This type of story paints the reader a picture of a possible, attractive and desirable state of affairs that's not yet realized.

Failure to Success Stories

A great plot arc for any story is the failure-to-success storyline. With this type of story, you tried something and failed in the past. But most importantly, you learned from this failure and kept trying.

Loss and Gain

In the Loss and Gain story, the teller had something in the past which he or she thought was fulfilling and was helping them achieve success. But something went wrong, or they had an experience that taught them it wasn't right. They lose everything but then come out of it gaining even more

Memorable Customer Stories

A memorable customer story is a story that tells of your encounter with a particular customer, who led you to have a choice point. It can be about a change you made personally or professionally in order to better meet your customer's needs

Here's an infographic that gives you a visual summary of the types of stories to tell about yourself:

However, one story won't work for all audiences.

Instead, you need to tailor your stories based on who your audience is, your current relationship with them, and what you want to achieve.

In the following slideshow, we put together some top tips for tailoring your stories to different audiences:

 Now go ahead and give it a try. Pick one type of story. Jot down the key points you want to tell. And then note how you'll change the story based on different audiences, such as your prospects, loyal customers, a potential joint venture colleague, a presentation at an event, etc.

To find out about other types of stories, and how to use Personal Storytelling in Business check out our customizable content…