A major outcome of the interconnected, hypercompetitive world is the need for enterprises to communicate brilliantly with customers, workforces, shareholders and other influencers. More than that, in the absence of the old internally-focused feudal hierarchies the need increasingly is to communicate concepts, ideas and capabilities rather than curt instructions. It's matter of engaging hearts and minds. Nowhere is this more true than in B2B enterprises where the imperative is to create customer value devised through consultative selling processes that lead to measurable solutions. Here, intellectual and emotional engagement are crucial.
Given this situation, it is odd that swathes of businesses have, over the past ten years, ground down their communications to a lowest common denominator of bullet-pointed, jargon-loaded non-thought, on the pretext that businesspeople don’t read. Yes, there are honorable exceptions, but far too many corporate communications – including many white papers – really are dull.
So, this is a plea for better written corporate communications: outputs that treat intended readers with respect rather than assuming that they either will not or cannot read. And, here, we focus on one particular aspect of compelling communication – Storytelling.
Help yourself to your free copy of The Business of Storytelling – thoughts and ideas to show how complex ideas can be communicated in interesting, compelling ways.
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