How do you connect with diverse and global audiences through storytelling?

A Storyteller can't be a storyteller without an audience. If you are writing for personal development, journaling is a great practice. But, if you are telling stories, you should always be designing for the benefit of your audience. You are a team to make meaning. As a Storyteller, you want to make it as easy as possible for your audience to understand the meaning you intend. This means using metaphors that are meaningful to them. Use language that resonates with them. Talk about challenges they know. This is knowing your audience...not just WHAT they think, but HOW they think.

The key to connecting with diverse and global audiences through storytelling is appealing to something that everyone has in common: Emotions. Most people (and many amateur marketers!) believe that storytelling is just about connecting stories or everyday events to a product or service. Although that is not untrue, they often miss the most important point: The umbilical cord connecting your story to the product o service that you are trying to promote must be a common emotion. Thus, it is absolutely essential to know what emotions your customers are feeling: what is it that they wish to achieve, what do they need to avoid, and how does that make them feel? Only then should you start searching for a story with those emotional triggers.

Yes. If a audience is not aware about the theme and idea you are talking about then you have to tell a bit about the basic concept to bring clarity. If a audience is already releated to the sector, you should avoid detailing of basic concepts and focus on what you did differently to achieve better results.

The audience you tell your story to will define the direction it takes, the delivery of the message, and the actions that follow. Because of this, it becomes the most important element of your story. More so even than your protagonists or the resolution to it.

Step into your audience's shoes, embracing their values, beliefs, and hopes. Authenticity matters — it's something no amount of research can replace. This journey isn't about bending your story to fit a predefined shape. Instead, it's about finding that perfect overlap between your narrative and what your audience truly seeks. When your story resonates with truth, it reaches ears and hearts. Your evident enthusiasm becomes a shared experience, transforming a basic story into one that genuinely impacts.

I think it is extremely important to have a theme for the story set in the beginning - something that captures the brand of your story. When they think of your story, what will be the first thing that comes to mind as a feeling? For my series, "Just a Goblin," the theme is primarily about creating "peace" between differing groups, against a world system where peace seems impossible. This is primarily inspired by many cultural and racial wars that have occurred throughout history with a fantastical twist (we use a goblin in a fantasy world that is trying to create peace between monsters and humans.) When people think of my story, they think of this theme and the entire story and the characters all serve this centralized concept/message!

I will be a minority voice here. I'm not so bound to theme. I don't think the theme is what hits the audience. In my experience, its the moments. The dense moments of context. The connective image that binds you to the story. The theme could serve as structure to help you toward those powerful moments, but I wouldn't prioritize it.

This idea of choosing a theme and flogging it isn't my style — and it increasingly sounds like the artificial style of Chat-GPT when you employ it as a personal storyteller or in marketing copy. As a journalist, I would say a strong focus is what matters — the headline. But themes like overcoming adversity? Making a difference? Finding a purpose? These are clichés. Look for specific stories about real people doing real things.

Here are some tips to make your characters more relatable: 1. Give them flaws - it will give them a humanistic touch. The audience can better relate to them. 2. Give them a desire - A character without desire bores the readers. 3. Give them a voice - A particular phrase or words they might use, their unique tone. Your audience should be able to identify characters just with their dialogues.

If you want your content to resonate with your audience, create EMOTIONAL engagement through your story. This is where characters come into play. Relatable characters evoke empathy, making your audience emotionally connected to the character. This connection leads to a deeper bond with the story.

1. Focus on universal themes and emotions that people from different backgrounds can relate to, such as love, loss, hope, and resilience. 2. Explore stories of human experiences that are common to all, irrespective of culture or location.

There are two things I would like to address relating relatable characters. One is that 'relatedness' embodies a great paradox because it has the tendency to strengthen stereotypes. I am curious to hear from others, how do you balance relatedness on the frontier of stereotyping? In a couple of months I will follow stand-up comedy course and my biggest wish is to be funny for the audience and to not make stereotypes even greater. The second thought I have on relatable characters is that I love to stimulate my readers and listeners to fall in love with characters that the do not relate to at all in the first (and second) place. That mostly works when there are very small details, adorable daily habits and very specific characteristics.

While relatability is one tool for engaging audiences, it can quickly turn into another kind of marketing cliché. More than anything, representation of different people (gender, ethnicity, race, religion, economic status) matters. Readers and viewers what to see themselves as part of the world represented, not standing in the shadows. Consider using the first-person voice to convey the inner world and experience of your people clearly. I prefer to call them subjects rather than "characters" in a piece of nonfiction or journalism.

Give your subjects a first-person voice — allow them to tell their own stories, which often undercuts the most obvious stereotypes.

Of course we never want anyone rolling their eyes at our work, but stereotypes and cliches are worth exploring. I seldom want to land on something because it is easy, but exploring a cliche can illuminate something important. Then you can approach it fresh - you can see a deeper truth to an overused and inaccurate trope. You can uncover the source of the cliche and expose what is universal. They are cliche's for a reason - I think it is worth knowing why.

Read writing by people from the community or geography you’re writing about. Try and avoid selling packaged exotica through your writing. And do your research. Also, get an experienced pair of eyes to read through your key messages for undertones of condescension and outright stereotypes. Understand how multicultural marketing differs from regular marketing and bake that into your messaging.

Stereotypes, caricatures, and clichés are more than lazy storytelling. They can perpetuate generalizations that mislead, fostering misconceptions or falsehoods. These oversimplifications not only distance audiences but can cause actual harm, even promoting violence against vulnerable groups. Storytelling demands responsibility. It's not just about gripping narratives but also about treating subjects with respect, promoting understanding, and building genuine connections. Often, this means letting others narrate their stories accurately. If you're unsure about a story element, seek feedback. Engage with others, ask, and be receptive to change. Sometimes, it's best to let another be the storyteller.

Very aptly said Richa! One has to have originality in thought and it has to show. Using canned text and loly pop lingo, may get some thumbs but doesn’t create an impact.

When I work on a new story, I keep an online folder where I adapt different versions of that story. It can look like this: -a 500 word essay -a 5000 word essay -a 5 minute presentation -a 15 minute presentation -a LinkedIn post -a blog post -a recorded audio version of me telling the story And the list goes on. Adapting your work for multiple scenarios is prep work that's worth it, plus, each iteration gives you an opportunity to keep improving upon your work.

¿Qué historias te atrapan? Al pensar en ellas verás que tienen algo en común, son las que movieron algo dentro de ti, historias que te llevaron como a través de escenas hacia un final, que es el mensaje que quedó guardado. Nuestra mente es capaz de recrear las emociones de una historia bien contada como si la estuviera viviendo y la mejor manera para crear este efecto es invitar a la audiencia a entrar dentro de la historia, trabajando muy bien la situación en el contexto. Para conectar con personas diversas a través del Storytelling, cuida muy bien primero esa bienvenida de forma consciente. Crea un entorno, como una escena en la mente de la audiencia, con palabras cercanas, sinceras y claras, como previo a lo que quieres contar.

Storytelling is as much telling as it is listening. Stories help us cultivate human emotions across culture and context. As we hear others speak we listen with our personal context and resonate with our personal lives.

Connecting with a diverse and global audience through storytelling requires a thoughtful and inclusive approach Focus on universal themes and emotions that resonate across cultures. Love, hope, fear, and perseverance are examples of emotions that people from various backgrounds can relate to Visual storytelling can transcend language barriers. Consider using images, infographics, and videos that convey your message effectively without relying solely on text And my favourite personal tip is Share personal stories or anecdotes that showcase the human side of your message. Personal stories can bridge cultural gaps and create empathy.

By using popular culture references we can connect with diverse and global audiences. They offer instant recognition and people can easily understand them. Whether it's spoken or written stories, referencing popular songs, public figures, films, etc... helps with connecting with diverse and global audiences.

To truly connect with a diverse global audience, it's like unlocking a secret code—you've got to understand people on a whole new level. You cant ake a deep dive with a course on human studies/philosphy or just dive headfirst into diverse communities. Education or real-life conversations, both amplify your storytelling game. It's like adding more colours to your palette. By doing this, your stories won't just speak; they'll sing to a worldwide audience, cutting across all sorts of boundaries.