14 minute read
In the digital age, great storytellers still hold the power Scott Giles, Group Sales & Marketing Director, Dukes
from DUKES Insight
by Chris Knight
Storytelling in 2021 When we consider digital marketing, we sometimes go straight to thinking about technology platforms, algorithms and audience segmentation. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data enable companies and political parties to reach us with surgical precision. Sky AdSmart technology can beam a different ad into each house on the same street, based on data that predicts our propensity to buy a particular product. Google can serve up different digital ads to each member of the same family based on the devices we use and our browsing behaviour. While society grapples with the ethics of these practices, machine learning keeps getting smarter at delivering advertising messages.
Technology advances show no sign of plateauing. You might be familiar with a concept known as Moore’s Law. In 1965 computer engineer Gordon Moore predicted that the capacity of silicon chips — in other words, computer processing power — would double every two years, while the cost would halve. That’s one reason why the latest mobile phones have infinitely more processing power than early NASA spacecraft. Moore’s prediction continues to apply today, although eventually there will be a ceiling.
Yet, despite this rapid change in digital technology, great content is still at the heart of digital marketing. Social media brands will ebb and flow in popularity, but the adage coined by Bill Gates that ‘content is king’ is just as true for digital media as it was for print, television and radio.
Indeed, if we boil down the elements of digital marketing, they essentially consist of two things:
1) Finding the audience that is looking for what we offer 2) Telling them great stories
Author Seth Godin said: “Pure marketing is the generous act of helping someone solve a problem, and either we tell stories that spread, or we become irrelevant.”
The pleasure of sharing stories is a deep human desire. Ancient storytellers would gather villagers around the campfire and captivate them with myths and legends. Often the story would last for several nights. While the storytelling medium has changed over the centuries, is that campfire experience really any different to someone listening to a podcast series in 2021?
Primitive sketches on cave walls depicted the journeys and travails of early civilisations. They were a visual record of their daily observations and social structures. Today Instagram allows us to leave a modern visual legacy, in a similar vein to our ancestors.
Why are stories so meaningful? “Great stories, when told well, are memorable, impactful and personal. We are drawn like magnets to great stories”, said Matthew Luhn, Story Artist at Disney Pixar.
Stories help us remember Marketers, teachers and trainers know that storytelling is effective. When we share data and statistics without a story, most people only retain about 5% of the information when asked about it 10 minutes later. If you tell someone that same information wrapped in a story, they are 22 times more likely to remember it. Students memorising facts for exams use mnemonic devices — take the simple example of the colours of the rainbow — Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain. By adding a story element to the facts, we find it easier to remember.
Show, don’t tell In telling people about our nurseries, schools, colleges and consultancies we will be more effective if we use stories to create memorable connections. We should show, not just tell. Instead of just telling people the percentage of pupils scoring well on 11+ exams, we can talk about a specific student who thrived at the school because of the individualised teaching she received, what she went on to achieve, and how happy she was at the school.
Instead of simply telling people that the unique selling point of the school is that staff know the students personally, it is far more powerful to show this in action. I recently went on a school tour with Alistair Brownlow, the principal of Rochester Independent College. As we toured the school grounds, we came across a photography student setting up a camera shot using a reflective surface in the courtyard. Alistair greeted the student by name, engaged him in conversation about the effect he was trying to achieve and told him about an innovative photography technique that he could look up on YouTube. For a prospective parent, witnessing Alistair ‘walking the talk’ becomes the story that they will remember.
Steve Jobs said: “The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.” With a founder like Steve Jobs, a master storyteller with legendary product launches, is it any coincidence that Apple is now the most valuable company on the planet? They created a story that is worth telling, and in doing so, got millions of us to pay a premium price for their devices.
So, how do we become powerful storytellers in the digital age?
Firstly, we need to shift our thinking away from interruption advertising. Historically, there was an unspoken contract where audiences would tolerate advertising — in return for free, or subsidised content. Radio ads were tolerated because listeners got to enjoy free music. TV commercials were tolerated because they paid for enjoyable shows. Advertisers had to interrupt the content to grab attention. Madison Avenue executives used clever techniques such as
jingles and taglines to convey their client’s message and created a golden age of advertising. It was an environment where advertisers could speak to large audiences just by buying some ad slots during primetime TV or running a large print ad in a national newspaper. Stories had to be told in 30-second sound bites, or with great copywriting.
The problem with the interruption model is that the ad slots became overcrowded. Over time, advertisers had to go to extremes to grab attention. They started putting messages on billboards and buses to interrupt our journeys. Instead of just ads in our magazines, sponsored articles appear alongside editorial stories. Pre-roll advertising in movie theatres is not enough, so they push ads into movies themselves in the form of product placements. In the UK we are exposed to around 5,000 advertising messages per day.
In the internet age, our media has become even more fragmented, and the interruption model has been completely disrupted. On the internet we expect our news content to be free, we want cheap access to music and films, and we want to be able to skip ads.
So, marketing in the digital age is about a billion tiny whispers, rather than mass interruption. We must use the most popular social platforms and media channels effectively to reach our audience and we can no longer force people to pay attention.
Our challenge then is to use technology to whisper to the students and their parents, and the way we do that is to:
1. Create an authentic experience worth talking about 2. Tell stories about what we’ve created
Our schools are brimming with wonderful stories. Are we telling them well enough and often enough? Are we looking at our school from new angles? How do we make room for this in a busy school day? Sometimes the same person is left to capture everything, and we lose the richness of the whole school perspective. How can we widen participation?
As we develop a culture of positive storytelling, our community will spread our stories even wider. n
Telling tales
The Principal of Knightsbridge School, Magoo Giles, explores the role of storytelling as a powerful tool for education and connecting people
This is a story about four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was a job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. This story may be confusing but the message is clear: no one took responsibility, so nothing was accomplished.
What is a good story? What is storytelling?
Well, people love a good story, whether it's a life journey, a lesson, or a joke.
Stories teach us all about life, about ourselves, and about others. In a unique way, they help us to develop an understanding, respect, and appreciation of other cultures. They also help us build our own stories as we go along, with any luck, educating, influencing, and inspiring others. Remember, we are all different learners. 40 per cent of us are visual learners who learn through watching — videos, illustrations, diagrams; 40 per cent are auditory — lectures, discussions; and 20 per cent are kinaesthetic learners — that is, ‘hands on’. As a result, it is important to remember all three categories when telling a story. The best course I ever attended was about inclusion. The speaker was an ex-teacher who asked his audience to turn to each other and devise a lesson suitable for Roger Federer (sport and languages), the AA Man (skills), Beethoven (music), the Princess of Wales (showing my age, but an empathetic champion), William Shakespeare (English specialist), Christopher Wren (architect), and Claude Monet (artist).
After a few minutes of ideas, he said: “This is what any teacher has in their class — each with the potential to be the best in their field.” As teachers it is important not to close doors to incredibly gifted children just because they are late developers or cannot learn the way we teach. Good teachers adapt and teach children according to their way of learning. All those who are celebrated in their fields were once children and look at them now.
When it comes to a good story, it is often how you tell it that brings the learning, keeps the subject alive, and creates the immersive experience that allows different learners to engage, enjoying the dynamism and style of an entertaining tale. I always remember what my General in the British Army used to say to me, “A minute of speech takes an hour of rehearsal,” and, “If you are not good at it, keep it short and memorable.” A sound piece of advice. When it comes to, ‘What makes a good story?’, often, it’s quitting while you are ahead.
Keep the audience guessing! If the audience feels a glow and departs wanting more, then your story has been a success. Or, as one related piece of advice I live by daily suggests, ‘Remember that it is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it and remove all doubt.’
When it comes to the things in life we all hold in high esteem — our family, friends, community, country — the stories we all hold in common are important in the times that test us. Even in business, storytelling is essential to set the scene, to tell the history, to prepare the team for the future, the tough times, so that the high standards or quality of both output and delivery can be maintained. When Dukes Education started, it was important to find a way to bring different
schools and individuals together to build up trust and teamwork. Stories played a crucial role. When the leadership teams were first brought together for training, each person was asked to work out their own story and be prepared to deliver it to the rest of the group. This included Heads, Principals, Bursars. Why? Well, it helped us to work out who we are and learn to articulate our own journeys, where we have come from and what has made us who we are. My mother’s poignant, final words to me resonate with me always, “Never forget what made you who you are today!” The process was powerful. It enabled all of us to begin to connect in a way that transcended daily work life. In telling our stories and hearing those of others, we began to realise how important the tough moments are in anyone's story. It is as if good storytelling unlocks feelings. A story is a way to open up to others. They can learn about us through the power of words, often laughing, crying, and sharing time together. It creates an opportunity for understanding and empathy for each individual and his or her situation. It is a reciprocal process — a chance for each of us to share and learn why we are who we are and what qualities or standards we aspire to role-model. n
Magoo Giles is Principal of Knightsbridge School, a happy, vibrant, and community-focused school in the heart of London educating girls and boys from ages 4-16.
A small, independent school for boys and girls aged 3 - 11 in the heart of London.
The Lyceum is a non-selective school in an amazing location. We believe in providing a well-rounded education, where each and every child has the chance to shine. Discover more at www.lyceumschool.co.uk
Time to serve
As the world slowly opens up once more, it is important our students participate in some form of community service outside the school walls, says Andrew Hall, of Knightsbridge School
The phrase ‘community service’ often evokes images of people in orange jumpsuits, picking up litter on the side of the road. The fact that it is so often used as a punitive measure, may explain why many students see it that way, rather than appreciating the opportunities for enjoyment and personal growth that community service offers. The statistics are quite shocking. A census in the USA in 2018 found that ‘across every age group, volunteering has declined since 2005’, even though ‘young adults have expressed the most interest in community engagement in a half-century’. We have had over a year of closed doors and been forced to keep ourselves separate to stay safe. Isn’t this the perfect time for schools to make a positive outreach into their local communities, for the benefit of young people and those around them?
I don’t recall being offered community service opportunities when I was at school, but I do remember 20 years ago, as a fresh-faced Year 10 student in North Yorkshire, going out on my compulsory work experience placement to a local animal feed supplier. I turned up on my first day with my lunchbox and my (far too clean) steel-toe-capped boots. Little did I know, I would end up working there for the next four years on weekends and holidays. I had my first encounter with customers (apparently always right) as well as the responsibility of handling money. I spoke to members of the local community who I would never have normally met, and I worked alongside adults who were not my family. The confidence I gained from that first work experience helped me grow more independent. Sadly, when I became a teacher, I discovered that my first school in Leeds had to stop their work experience programme, as they could no longer find suitable placements for all their students. A survey of teenagers in 2018, found that, ‘83 per cent of UK teenagers would like work experience to be made a compulsory part of the school curriculum; however, over a third (37 per cent) have done no work experience at school.’ This is a story that is playing out all over the country. Could a fresh, integrated, community service programme be the key to filling this void?
Can embedding an ethos of community service throughout our schools benefit not only our young people, but the local community? It could allow our students to see the value of donating time, and not just money, to local causes.
My siblings and I would frequently be shipped off to Grandad’s farm on the edge of the North York Moors, at both harvest and lambing time. It was not just the farming trade I was learning, it was the long afternoons sat in the tractor with my Grandad, or the stolen moments eating homemade cakes with my Nana. It was time spent with a generation I would eventually
