Seth says:
A statement of fact is insufficient and often not even necessary to persuade someone of your point of view.
It turns out, “Just the facts, ma’am” should not be the center of your marketing plan. You can tell your reader, listener, viewer — potential donor — all the facts about how many starving, thirsty, uneducated children there are in the world, but those facts aren’t enough to move them to give.
They need a story.
We shouldn’t be surprised, really.
Jesus didn’t share with us the blueprints for the Kingdom of God or go over the top 10 reasons why He was right.
He told stories.
A story holds within it every truth and fact related to your cause and blends it with humanity. It is the humanity that touches the heart and moves people to act.
I believe this is one reason why organizations like Compassion are so successful at what they do. They’ve tucked away the statistics and connect you with another human being. A living, breathing story.
Whether you’re bringing clean water to Africa or spreading the Gospel, forget the facts and tell a story.
[via Seth Godin’s Blog]
Brian Notess says
Dude, Seth Godin totally stole my ideas.
http://rocketplantstudio.com/communicating-your-vision-stories-vs-statistics/
Eric Dye says
Had you posted this on ChurchMag, maybe we could have sued.
Just kidding 😉
(but seriously)
Marcus Williamson says
Nailed it 🙂 Story is so important and I’m so glad that the shift is happening in this generation to realize that its so important
Eric Dye says
For reals.
Josh Wagner says
A good story always gets people interested. Take TOMs. The shoes aren’t anything to jump around about. But their story (helping children get shoes) sells their product.
Eric Dye says
That’s a perfect example.