Storytelling is currently a magic word in marketing. Whether in advertising, social media or public relations, the magic word is used everywhere - and as is so often the case with commonly used terms, many use it and only very few can do anything with it. So it's time to shed some light on the matter.

1. images create emotions

Right off the bat, storytelling is nothing new, but was used thousands of years ago by our fur-clad ancestors as they sat around the warming campfire telling their tales of a dangerous mammoth hunt in the bitterly cold, Ice Age tundra. You may have noticed, the last sentence sets up images in our brains: fur-clad ancestors, warming campfires, dangerous mammoth hunting, and bitterly cold Ice Age tundra.

2. stringent actions are better learned

It is also a fact that the brain learns best when a story follows a linear and comprehensible plot:  So, the hunters decided to go hunting the night before, checked their spears in the morning, said goodbye to women and children before leaving the cave, explored the difficult terrain, then discovered the mammoths and so on. For those who, like me, have not yet lived in the Ice Age, it's actually quite a plausible story. If our brain receives knowledge in the form of stories, several areas of the brain are addressed, which anchor the new information more intensively and permanently - according to the findings of brain research.

3. everyday experiences are an anchor

The story of the mammoth hunt also sounds plausible because it corresponds in many parts to the everyday experiences of a city dweller at the beginning of the 21st century: The employee wanted to go back to the office the next day, in the morning he checked whether the contents of the briefcase fit and said goodbye to his wife and children. Ultimately, the content is identical between the story from the Stone Age and the one from the 21st century. Sorry again for the accumulation of stereotypes.

4. excessive demand versus boredom

For this to work, however, the story must be easy to follow. If the story contains a complicated web of plot lines, conflicts, and characters, it confuses and forces you to think. From an information-theoretical point of view, excessive demand is nothing other than the opposite of boredom. The task of the storyteller is to find the optimal balance between complexity and simplicity for a story in order to appeal to a target group in the long term.

5. marketing needs heroes

In marketing, stories should convey the message of a  brand. In doing so, a successful and memorable story should tie into the needs and desires of the potential customer and use them as a tool for themselves.  And the good stories have not changed over the millennia. A hero - whether a successful product or company - has created or done something unique that has never existed before. Whether it's Odysseus with Homer or Dietrich Matschitz with Red Bull,  success is sexy - especially when it can be personified. Both the story of Ulysses and that of Dietrich Mateschitz are similar in structure: they begin with a challenge that is resolved as a result of a change. In the end, the hero has created something that no one has achieved before - and as the saying goes, "The winner takes it all."  Great brands and unique entrepreneurial personalities therefore always have all kinds of stories to tell - namely the tension between success and possible failure.

6. become a storyteller

Now it's up to you to become a good storyteller. How? Try to remember which stories, books, movies or commercials you remembered or are particularly exciting to you and think about why. And try to understand the dramaturgy. So start right now!