What do We Mean When We Talk About Storytelling?

Storytelling is when you use a narrative to communicate your message and it’s a powerful way to breathe life into your talent attraction strategy. It creates an emotional response in your target audience and motivates them to take action towards your organization. 

When it comes to academic talent attraction, storytelling is a way to engage potential candidates and start building a relationship with them before they apply to your institution. But what makes a good story? A good story is:

Educational 

From parables to podcasts, storytelling helps us understand the world in new ways. That’s because stories make abstract concepts more concrete through examples and context.  When you want to influence your audience to start thinking in a different way, use storytelling. 

Emotional

Sharing stories is one of the ways that people connect with each other and form emotional bonds. Learning someone’s story makes you feel closer to them and creates a sense of intimacy. Using storytelling in your content marketing will help potential candidates form a deeper connection with your institution.   

Motivational

A heart-wrenching story from a disaster victim can drive you to donate to relief efforts just like a story about a company’s questionable business practices can dissuade you from buying from them. Because stories create such an emotional connection with their readers, they are powerful motivational tools for marketers.

Entertaining

At the heart of any good TV show, podcast, movie, book, or song is a compelling story. Using storytelling in your content marketing helps entertain potential candidates and hold their attention while you deliver your key messages.

Genuine

Good content marketing feels so real that the audience doesn’t notice (or doesn’t care) that it’s an ad. We find it more trustworthy, for example, when a customer tells us why they love a product than when the manufacturer tells us why their product is great. Storytelling adds a word-of-mouth feel to your marketing efforts that helps build trust with potential candidates. 

By using storytelling in your content marketing, your institution can stand out from your competitors and position itself as an attractive employer. To learn how to incorporate storytelling and content marketing into your talent attraction strategy, download our talent attraction guide.