Storytelling Principles

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Hey friends 👋 ,

Happy Monday and welcome to the sixteenth issue of Through the Noise!

Josh Wolfe, the Co-Founder of Lux Capital said:

They are the people that recruit talent. They are the people that raise money. They are the people that garner attention and win deals and that is what makes the venture capital business.

To be a world-leading founder, investor or persuader, you've got to be a world-leading storyteller

In today's piece, we'll break down how you can be exactly that.

It’s time to strap in and enjoy.

Read time: 4 minutes

10 Storytelling Principles

1. Start with "Why"

• Nobody cares what you can do

• Everybody cares what you can do for them

• Leading with Why draws the attention of the people you can help

2. Tailor to the listener

• Clearly define who your audience is

• Employees, customers or investors

• Ask yourself "What do they want?"

• Adjust your message appropriately

3. Pass the "So What?" test

• "We make", "We do" or "We supply" doesn't get customers

• Talk about what you do? Your customer will think "so what"

• Talk about how you do it? Your customer will think "so what"

• Instead, talk about why it matters to them

4. Keep it simple

• Complexity creates friction

• Make your message simple enough to grasp & get excited about

• Limit yourself to a story you can tell in a few seconds

• Tell it from memory

5. Layer in emotion

• It's not what you say, it's not what you do

• It's how you make them feel

• Your story needs to drive the listener to action

• Change the way they feel, change the way they act

6. Make it a highlight reel

• People remember a random sample of the information you tell

• Don't pack your story with every selling point

• Stick to a simple message that you repeat in different ways

• Few things to remember → audience will remember what matters

7. Anchoring

• The pain from a loss is much worse than the pleasure from a win

• Anchor your listeners reference point to persuade with ownership

• Let them see the product/service in action

• They will have to suffer a loss if they do not buy

8. Framing

• Use the collective first person

• Speak as if they've already made the decision to buy

• "You'll have benefit ABC" or "We will solve problem XYZ"

• People don't like giving something up

9. Speak directly to your audience

• The internet has commoditised the reporting of facts

• Have personality on social media to grab attention

• Context your story on a human level, non an institutional level

10. Humanise your brand

• Humans crave genuine connection with one another

• Broadcast messages on a human-to-human level

• Narrow the focus and up the quality of content you produce

What would you add to this list? 

Through the Noise Podcast

We've upped the pod to two episodes per week now. (I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I do recording them!)

Since last week, we had:

• Evgenia Plotnikova (General Partner at Dawn Capital) on How to Build a Career in VC

• Tim Suchanek (Co-Founder and CTO of Stellate) on The Explosion of Data

I'm always on the hunt for my next killer guest. If you know anyone who'd fit the bill– an exceptional founder or funder– let me know (reply to this email / DM me).

Catch the next episode wherever you listen to podcasts.

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That’s all for today friends!

As always feel free to reply to this email or reach out @thealexbanks as I’d love to hear your feedback.

Alex