How to Approach Corporate Storytelling as a Purpose-Driven Business or Organization
5 Professional Communicators Share Their Storytelling Tips
Businesses and organizations with a clear social or environmental purpose have a leg up when it comes to corporate communication. Public pressure on companies to speak out about social causes has increased dramatically over the past several years, and many major companies have struggled to put together evidence of their corporate social responsibility (aka CSR).
By contrast, purpose-driven businesses and nonprofits have thrived among this public pressure because their CSR practices are an inherent part of their company framework and come from an authentic place.
However, many of these companies and organizations operate under the false assumption that simply releasing information about their purpose and CSR initiatives is enough to get potential customers, investors, or donors to notice them. Unfortunately, in practice, this is rarely enough.
In a crowded marketplace, where your audience is used to getting bombarded with formulaic marketing tactics, you need to appeal to people on a deeper level to build lasting connections with your brand.
One of the best ways to do this is through effective storytelling. According to the Harvard Business Review, storytelling not only helps create a sense of familiarity and trust with your audience members, it also improves their ability to remember key information. Whatever medium you use to tell your story — video, audio, graphics, articles, etc. —a great corporate storytelling campaign starts with the right approach.
Here are five experienced marketing, social impact, and communications professionals’ opinions on the right approach to corporate storytelling for purpose-driven initiatives.
Trovon C. Williams
SVP of Marketing and Communications, NAACP
Twitter, Instagram: @trovon_williams
“We can’t hold an audience’s attention with content that only speaks to internal audiences anymore. Start afresh if purpose-driven communication ends with ‘checking the box.’ A tale that is authentic, educational, and available in numerous formats will always be well-received. We have unprecedented access to content and technology. But this can overwhelm our audience, leaving them afraid or numb to its importance and influence. We must present a compelling CSR story in the same way we must build and market a new product: carefully planned phases, specified milestones, and absolute buy-in to its fulfillment.”
Tobias Deml
Co-Founder, Prodigium Pictures
Co-Founder, Head of Content and Impact, SIE Society
Instagram: @tobiasdeml
“If your marketing is not authentic, people will be able to tell. Media literacy is at an all-time historic high, and people understand how media works, how information works, what they’re seeing, and who’s talking. Even with all the misinformation out there in recent years, people are very educated on what brands are doing, and whether or not a brand’s messaging reflects their actual policies and practices.
“As customers become more savvy, authenticity goes deeper and deeper and deeper. Nonprofits usually have an easier time with this, because they already have a mission embedded in the entire functioning of the organization, but for-profit businesses that have good CSR practices and a clear social purpose are well-positioned too.
“What businesses need to avoid is superficial greenwashing or pink washing or any type of purpose washing in general. People can tell when your messaging is superficial, and it affects ROI. It affects everything. I think authenticity has become an essential function of good marketing.”
Hiroki Kamada
Co-Founder / Film Director, Prodigium Pictures
Instagram: @prodigium.hiroki
“People learn emotionally, they don’t just take in information at face value. They form memories emotionally too. When you’re making a video, you have to keep in mind that there’s a difference between the content of the information and the context or story you’re using to convey the information. Storytelling adds flavor, texture, feelings, tones, all of that to the information you are trying to get across. At Prodigium, we say that we ‘turn facts into feelings.’ It’s actually scientifically proven that feelings are what convert information and facts into action, and action on the part of your audience should always be the end goal of your marketing campaigns.”
Tessa Byford
Producer/Business Development US, Prodigium Pictures
Instagram: @tessanne21
“When it comes to cause marketing, the most important thing is to really listen to the client, because they know who their demographic and audience is. It’s very important that marketers never veer off of that, and that you always stay true to what the client’s look is, and what their audience will resonate with. Nobody knows an organization better than the people who work within it every day. When we step in as marketers, what we’re really doing is using our storytelling and production skills to help translate the client’s mission and vision into a video or larger campaign.
“Also, we always want to make sure that our marketing is empathetic, and that we’re not just saying something to say something or make ourselves or the client look good. Good marketing always comes from a genuine place.”
Frank Connelly
Head of Corporate Social Responsibility Division at Social Impact Entertainment Society; Producer; Former Public Interest Lawyer
“From a CSR perspective, storytelling has always been a component of stakeholder engagement. Over the past decade, this has taken on a whole new dimension as consumers increasingly demand that brands authentically express their position on social and environmental issues and impacts. This same trend has been occurring in the talent market, where job applicants are weighing their decision of where to work based on whether their values align with their employers.
“In an effort to satisfy these demands, brands have moved away from the standard corporate video in favor of longer form storytelling. Longer formats provide the necessary space to fully explore the complexity of issues and authentically describe the brand’s support of their chosen initiative. Whether a feature length documentary, or a series of shorts, CSR storytelling has proven its ability to move and motivate. Creative storytellers often look within to find the ‘heroes’ in a company’s ranks, and focus on how these employees make a positive difference in the world. All of these changes in company communication and behavior harkens a new age of business ethics that make the conventional corporation an obvious leftover of a bygone era. The singular goal of shareholder profit is simply incongruent with stakeholder demand for three bottom line accountability. Look forward to the emergence of more benefit corporations and public benefit corporations with full license to express their CSR values far and wide through all forms of storytelling.”
Thibault Duchemin
CEO and Co-Founder, Ava
Twitter: @AvaScribe, @t_duchemin
“We’ve been enjoying telling and listening to stories since the dawn of time. Today, more than ever, being able to connect pressing issues with the services or products you’re promoting, and delivering this with an emotional approach, is critical. This doesn’t mean ignoring the rationale that makes your initiative great. This means thinking beyond your organization and connecting much more deeply to the hearts of the audience you’re serving to see how your story is part of their story. In the fierce competition for consideration of your communications, you’ll be judged on the why of your actions more than ever. So as a leader, it is your job to be ahead of the curve in your communication stories — and demonstrate a coherence in both integrity and authenticity.”
More Resources
If you want to learn more about effective corporate storytelling and social impact entertainment, check out resources available at SIE Society. You can also download Prodigium Pictures’ free Launch Video Impact Guide here or visit Insights from the frontlines of Social Impact Entertainment to learn more about the basics of storytelling in a marketing video context.
B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
