My wife often reminds me that I have a bad memory. It’s unfortunately true that I have trouble recalling details from this project or quotes from that movie and on and on the list continues.
Call it genetics or lack of focus or whatever you wish, but it’s also important to note this important truth: Our lives are increasingly cluttered. We live in very, very noisy world—and I’m not just talking about audible noise. Marketing messages are everywhere, and with our busy world of social media and smart phones, I truly think our brains simply take in more information than they were designed to hold.
So what’s a poor church communicator to do? How do we get our messages out into the world in a way that is memorable and effective?
Stories.
To be honest, I’m a little sick of “story” as the marketing buzzword it has turned into in recent years. I bet just about everyone at your church is pushing you to tell more stories. It might be turning into a little bit of a cliche these days, but you also can’t argue with the facts.
Our brains remember stories. We’re drawn in to conflict and we’re wired to pursue closure. A well-crafted story forces us to focus and block out the rest of the noise around us competing for our attention.
Every church has stories to tell, so go find them, and tell them well.
This Month’s Resources
- A webinar with Joe Porter exploring step-by-step how to do video storytelling.
- Joe’s complete video interview checklist.
- How to tell unlimited stories on a limited budget.
- Marketing, storytelling, and how you’re doing it wrong (but don’t worry—you can do it right!).
- Reaching the masses with Instagram stories.
- How to capture, tell, and repurpose powerful stories.
- Storytelling: No video? No problem.
- How to help someone share their story.
- How to catalog stories.
- FREE BOOK DOWNLOAD! Become a better storyteller in 30 days learning from The Original Storyteller by Robert Carnes.
- And, of course, our awesome social graphics.
See the Resources
Check out this month’s storytelling resources, and if you’re not a member of Courageous Storytellers, consider joining.
