Building effective narratives

Building effective narratives

Notes

goals

• reaching people we need to find
• developing a clear narrative
• Getting over pre-existing bias and misinformation
• How to keep core of story without toning down message too much
• Dealing with alternative facts
• We walked through "Example core messages"
  • https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b8SqlEoSng7MoOgGnaxs2tDzuDZ1k1KbjyqhPLsgSnI/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.adsshqm5anyn
• important tactic: tailor message to specific audience segments
• Madlib
  • At (organization name), we know that you want (feeling you don't want > feeling related to a net need). In order to do that, you need (character want that will make them feel what they want to feel). The problem is (external problem-ojbjective reality), which makes you feel (internal problem). We believe ("that you deserve", "that you ought to have...") which is why we (establish your authority).
• suggestion: proactively building trust rather than waiting until it's needed.

MV facilitated a session with several folks, asking what their organization is, what their goals are, what they've tried. Then together we developed our core messages.

Notes v2

Prompts

• What specifically would happen that means you succeed:

• • Narrative change: Where do you see it happen
  • People showing up to an event, to vote, for something else?
  • Donations, purchase services, app downloads?

Share with group what your organization is, what narrative strategies you've tried, and where you get stuck.

Intros

• Wants to put out a narrative that accurately describes the situation
• Wants to break through tech verbiage and interrupt the sense in inevitability
• Wants to change sense of possibility about electoral reform
• Tech work for charities. "Too jargon. Needs to be more narrative."
• Computer science club wants to change narrative that you need to be elite or you need to catch up.
• How to reach the people we want to find?
• What to do when two narratives are incompatible? Or when people have preconceived notions about the problem I'm trying to talk about?
• What do we mean by "narrative"?
• Wants to bring additional funding to the Central Valley.
• "Wild Wonder." Wants to attract people to a nature journal project.

Problems

• People have a preconceived notion of the Central Valley as a bad place to invest or live. So they are fighting an uphill narrative battle.
• Community leaves Central Valley for better opportunities.
• Sacrifice authenticity to succeed.
• Narrative of fear and scarcity is strong. How to repel this kind of hopelessness?
• Is formulaic language a problem?
• When you have many services, is there a one-size-fits-all narrative?
• How to interrupt the sense of inevitability that the threat brings?
• How do you challenge misinformation?
• When people "hate" facts, what do you do?

Take Aways

• The importance of building trust proactively
• How to become trustworthy?
• People put different kinds of trust in different sources.
• You can change your core message depending on the service, the audience, and the location that you're in when sharing the message.
• Don't want to overstate the negative message.
• Struggle with not wanting to tell yet another pessimistic, world-ending story.
• Balance of facts and emotions.

How to handle...?

• Misinformation
• Creating different narratives for different audiences
• Facts and feelings
• Preconceived notions of what your issue is.
• Lack of trust in you and your org.

Try a story-based messaging strategy that helps your audience see themselves in your message.