How a story a little at a time saved a Kingdom?
By: Dennis Seda
Tags: Copywriting, Storytelling, Copywriting Tips

Stories and human existence go hand in hand. We have been telling stories all of our lives. Before the existence of the written word we passed down traditions, culture, and beliefs through word of mouth.

Human beings are social creatures. There is a saying that loneliness can kill you faster than drugs and alcohol. It is true that we need human connection to bring value to this thing we call, life.

We need stories and they need us.

Storytelling is an unnoticed skill. How do I know? Well, it is not like we can put it on our resume or our LinkedIn Profile. As far as I know, there is no Assessment on LinkedIn for Storytelling.

The only time I can think of Storytelling as a valued skill is in social events.

It is that classic scenario, where a friend says, hey, tell everyone that story.

So we value the story for its social value and connection to human beings.

We often refer to stories of others in times of difficulty as sources of inspiration.

Here is one example of such a story.

In the story of 1001 Arabian Nights. King Shahiyar takes a virgin each night as his wife and then has her killed the next morning.

The Vizier has two daughters, Shahrazad and Dunyazad. As a result he was greatly concerned for their safety.

Shahrazad, seeing her father’s concern, speaks to him. When she realizes what his concerns are about. Shahrazad decides to marry the King.

Shahrazad puts together a plan to stay alive past the first night with the King.

Before we go any further in the story.

Allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Dennis Seda. I am a self-help copywriter helping public speakers advertise and market themselves.

I have been learning advertising and marketing for the last 3 years. I have also trained under Josh T. Boswell and Sandy Franks.

As a result, I know a few things about how to tell a story.

So, what is the big secret with storytelling?

What is that one thing that if you knew about it, it would make all the difference in the world?

Well, the big secret to telling a great story.

Is.

Always leave them wanting more.

Now, before you blow a gasket, telling me. That’s it! That’s it. This is the big secret. Well, full transparency is it is a little more complicated than that.

Here are 3 distinct actions we can take to make our stories more compelling.

Emotional Connection

For public speakers, they know that if they can’t make an emotional connection with the audience.

The audience will filter out what the speaker is saying as white noise. Why is that? As humans, we are constantly being bombarded with new information. Each new piece of information has to be filtered through our brains. As a result what we deem as not important is stopped.

As a public speaker it is critical that you create that emotional connection. The story is going to need to hit some nerve deep in a person’s gut. In order to wake them up out of a situation he or she is living in.

Is this something they have heard before?

As part of filtering out information. We as humans determine whether information is new or old. As a result, new information is more likely to catch our eye because it is something we were not aware of.

Human beings being naturally curious. We want to know more about something that is new and mysterious.

Before telling a story ask yourself is this story unique. Will this story be enough to catch the hearts and minds of those listening.

Is this story going to outlast me?

This action is not valued. We never think about whether the story we are telling is going to outlast us. Why is that important?

Well, for one, if a story is good. It most certainly will out last you.

It will live beyond us. Beyond our short existence on the planet.

The most important part of this action is that the story will impact the lives of future generations!

Which means a greater impact on the world!