Social Impact Measurement Needs A Dose Of Storytelling
Why Storytelling?
“All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town” says Leo Tolstoy. Each social good brand is akin to an unique piece of literature- one that has its own distinct language and holds special appeal for its fans and its story either follows the road taken by the entrepreneur or the socio-economic context he tries to change as an outsider. As marketers and entrepreneurs you can author the story your brand conveys. That storytelling is the most effective way to market a brand is now a well-accepted concept. However the million dollar question is what kind of story you need to craft for your brand.
Impact Stories
An Impact story primarily narrates the positive change in the lives of the people brought about by the intervention of your social enterprise. This intervention is in form of a product or a service designed for a specific context. Generally, protagonist of such a story is an individual who represents the community impacted by you or the story may have multiple characters relevant to the context.
Takeway: An Impact story should leave behind a proof of social good fostered by your social enterprise. Thus this story indicates to its audience what the true barometer of social good is for your organization- something beyond numbers in a boardroom.
Featured Story
Cause Stories
A Cause story primarily defines a social problem in a specific context and narrates how your social enterprise is trying to address it. The way in which your organization solves the problem, through product innovation, mass awareness or charity services, grants an unique flavour to the story and conveys your vision of a better tomorrow.
Takeaway: Audience of a cause story need to understand the magnitude of the social problem and should get more informed about it. Better still, they should feel motivated to participate appropriately in the efforts to respond to the problem by joining your cause.
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Product Stories
A Product story primarily explains the functions & features of your social innovation, be it a product or a service. The focus of such a story includes the need for your product, how it’s made and how it benefits its target customers.
Takeaway: A product is an embodiment of your passion. However it’s incumbent on you to have your audience appreciate the benefit and the promise of your innovation in positively impacting people’s lives.
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Personal Stories
A Personal story primarily portrays the journey you undertook to be where you are today. It is a personal account of your trials and tribulations as a person and an entrepreneur and conveys your vision of making an impact on the world you live in. You are the protagonist here.
Takeaway: People admire passionate changemakers and do-gooders. It’s our primal need to feel inspired by someone and we relate better to that person if there is earthiness to his story and lessons to be learned from it.
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Conclusion
Storytelling is a very useful craft to have when building your brand or conveying its vision to its followers. What matters most is whether the story tells them what they want to hear.
All the Images and Videos are a copyright of Rohan Potdar
Rohan
Chief Visual Storyteller @ One Life, One Passion & Chief Blogger @ Creatively UnsettledAn Engineer and MBA by training but a storyteller by choice.I am passionate about telling real, positive & meaningful stories of social good.I am also a zealous writer, a thinker, a continuous learner and a hands-on dad! Riding on a country-side road and sleeping under the stars is my rush. I had been featured in ’15 Inspired Young Indians Who Chose Their Dreams Over Stability’ by Homegrown- A youth media company powered by an online content platform.rohan@rohanpotdar.com
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