Perhaps you know this from your own experience. It's three in the morning and you can't sleep, so you turn on your TV (that is if you still have such an antique in your home). And then you come across some movie. You don't know what it is or what it's about. At this point, it's just a scrum of poor actors with ridiculous lines and probably fighting (if it really is 3 AM) some terribly looking CGI aliens.
But you still keep watching. Because the story, doesn't matter how poor, pulled you in. From the dawn of time, people are interested in stories. From ancient myths and legends to the latest toilet paper commercial. Because when something is at least a bit coherent, our brain processes it much more easier.
Eye-catching Story Works
That's why we find stories today even on places we would't expect them to be. Not only in books, movies, or TV shows, but also in commercials or in otherwise uninteresting study subjects. If you simply want to catch someone's interest even before they know what it's about, you can achieve this with the power of storytelling.
Stories simply sell and you can use your own for the benefit of your project. But first you need to realise what you want to present to your readers and what is the thing that interests you in your work. Good and at the same time personal story is the key to everything.
Personal Idea from Real Life
A great example of such a griping story is an exhaustive article from Michal Sobel named The idea of giving up is scarier than the idea it will kill me: How the post-it for 3 millions came to life? This article tells basically a sad story in a comedic way about two startup guys who tried to develop an intriguing idea nine times and they nine times failed.
Michal's article maybe not have a happy ending, but it is held on by the persistence of the main two heroes, the mentioned comedic treatment, and the "real life" aura. Moreover the article focuses on a theme that nobody really commented on in a larger scale on Czech Internet.
Combining all that, this article caught the attention of literally tens of thousands of readers. Michal published it on January the 15th and promoted it with one tweet and one Facebook status. And by March the 28th, the article has been read by over 20 thousand people.
Sell to Others the Thing You Love
The point of telling stories is of course not just in coming up with an idea that will suddenly bring masses of people to your door. You can find a story in anything. You can write about what interesting people you meat through your work, what beautiful places you have visited in your spare time, or what is the process of your work when focusing on a project.
The same way that the storytelling isn't limited to only one theme, it isn't limited to just one form. If you express yourself better with photos or drawings (for example with comics), more than by writing, there is no reason why not to tell your story in this manner.
If you however prefer the writing form, but you are not much of a writer yourself, don't worry. If you describe to us in details the idea you want to put into words, we will gladly do it for you.
And if you will be able to turn the thing you love or that interests you into an intriguing story (in any form), you will be able to sell to your customers not only your project, but also your honest relationship with it. And that is how you differentiate yourself from others that your customer might change you for.
