Gathering relevant personal stories from affected community members is an important part of your communications strategy. Stories go beyond data and statistics and make your work come alive to the people you want to influence. Andy Goodman, a leading communications expert, says “Story is the single most powerful communication tool we have.”
How can the power of storytelling be leveraged? Stories can be used in advocacy work, fundraising, and coalition building. Sharing your community’s experience – the successes as well as the challenges –is a persuasive strategy for communicating with your stakeholders. Your stories can also help other communities that are on a similar journey learn from your efforts.
There are many ways to tell your story and many outlets for doing so. The Introduction to Storytelling provides guidance on the elements of a good story, how to collect stories and identify best uses, and how to create a story bank to easily access them when needed. You can submit a story to County Health Rankings & Roadmaps to be shared around the nation as part of a movement to create a Culture of Health.