Article by Nadia Caretti, Business Relationships Developer at Marcopolo, a communication agency with over thirty years of experience in the Turin area, mainly focused on B2B and industry associations. He has been collaborating with Marcopolo for several years, dedicating himself to the creation of texts and content. Her passion for content design and collaborative approaches drives her to continue learning from others and, at the same time, share her knowledge with them.

In the world of communication and marketing in general, but even more so in that of startups, it is very important to be able to tell your service, your product or your project in a clear and engaging way. In the world of startups, it is often a matter of playing for the opportunity to capture the attention of possible investors by presenting one’s idea in a very short time and highly competitive contexts, such as startup competitions and contests or tenders. The ideal solution in these cases is to equip yourself with a pitch, i.e. a short, concise and high-impact presentation, capable of striking the audience in a few minutes and convincing them of the value of the idea presented. But how do you make your pitch hit the mark? The answer is simple: with storytelling! In this post, we’ll explain why storytelling is crucial to your pitch, how to structure it effectively, and give you some practical tips for using it.

What is meant by storytelling and why it is important in a pitch

Using storytelling in a pitch means making use of a tool that has ancient origins and has been used since the dawn of humanity to effectively and consistently convey relevant information. In ancient times, when oral transmission was the only one in existence, the art of telling stories was of vital importance to ensure that norms, precepts and moral teachings were shared, understood and memorized. Even after the emergence of writing, the effective strategies of storytelling have not been lost, on the contrary, they have been refined and structured. Today, we use storytelling in a wide range of contexts because we recognize its ability to create powerful emotional connections and convey messages in a memorable way. For this reason, you can try using it in your pitch, to capture your audience’s attention and make them remember you. The difference will be that you won’t just present data and facts; You will be telling a story about people, needs and solutions. This approach is powerful because stories are easier to remember than numbers and statistics. For this reason, it is essential to be able to tell your idea so that those who listen to you can imagine the trip you are proposing, feel involved and want to be part of your adventure.

Modern storytelling has borrowed theories from other disciplines, especially the structuralist narratology of Vladimir Propp, a Russian scholar known for his pioneering work in narratology. Propp is best known for his work “Morphology of the Fairy Tale” (1928), in which he analyzed the structure of Russian folk tales, discovering that they follow a common narrative pattern and identifying a number of recurring functions in the tales. Thanks to his studies, Propp was able to identify the universal narrative structures that make the art of storytelling more effective; Today we can take advantage of these discoveries to build effective communication for companies and brands as well. What?

Propp discovered that although the characters’ names, places, or eras changed, all fairy tales followed a common pattern. Specifically, he identified as many as 31 narrative functions that make up all the stories, and which are divided into four main passages, which in turn constitute what the scholar calls “the general scheme of a fairy tale”:

1. Introductory equilibrium (initial situation): the starting situation that presents the place and time of the story;
2. Disruption of the initial equilibrium (onset): an event that breaks the initial equilibrium and starts the narrative;
3. Hero’s actions (vicissitudes): the feats and challenges that the protagonist must overcome;
4. Restoring balance (dissolution): the moment when the hero gets the prize and the story ends with a happy ending.

If you notice, you’ll find that these elements aren’t limited to fairy tales, but are present in all forms of storytelling, from cinema to literature, and, yes, even in business presentations!

How to create a compelling story for your pitch

To build an effective narrative for your pitch, you can then rely on Propp’s model, which hundreds of years, fairy tales and movies have proven to be 100% reliable.

Specifically:

1. Initial situation: strengthen your connection with the audience by telling the daily life of the sector you are targeting. It talks about its elements, its advantages and disadvantages, setting the stage for phase 2: the Modifier Event.

2. Modifier event: You know when in movies you feel like everything is going too well and that something is about to happen? Well, we are right at this point. Now that you’ve set up the environment and made it clear that you know what you’re talking about, it’s time to detonate the bomb by introducing the conflict into the narrative. Clearly identify the problem your target may be facing and remember that, unless you decide otherwise, in most business pitches the customer is the hero, so it is his life that is turned upside down. Your startup can thus present itself as a helper, a trusted character to whom the hero (the customer) can turn to overcome the obstacle that prevents him from continuing his journey, or as a donor, a character who prepares the hero or provides him with the “magic object” essential to overcome the tests he has to face. Use real experiences or cases that directly affect your audience: the more you are able to make the problem tangible, concrete, and shared, the more you will be able to capture interest and create a common ground of experiences with your listeners, making them more likely to empathize with you.

3. Development: this is the moment when, always keeping the hero at the center of the narrative, you can take advantage of it to explain how your product or service can help him solve the problem in a unique or innovative way. Focus on what makes your proposal different and why it should be preferred over the others, and make it clear that, without you, the protagonist, as wonderful as he is, would find it extremely difficult to overcome the feats and challenges in his path. You can also take advantage of it to tell how your startup got to such a level of effectiveness, how it managed to become a valid helper for the hero: every startup has a story, a path made up of challenges, successes and lessons learned. Briefly explain how your idea was born, what difficulties you encountered in turn, what goals you have achieved, who makes up your team. Showing your path makes your story more authentic and demonstrates your determination, qualities that investors often look for.

4. Restoring balance and conclusion: you did it! Thanks to the support of your startup, the hero protagonist has succeeded in the enterprise and can finally fulfill his dream. However, since ours is not just a fairy tale, but we want to build a pitch with the aim of gaining trust and concrete investments, keep in mind that a good story is engaging, but without evidence it risks not being credible. This is the time to provide evidence and build credibility: enter data, testimonials or case studies that prove that your idea works, talk about satisfied customers, results achieved or market validation. This reassures your listeners and adds weight to your story.

5. Extra Propp: Conclude with a Call to Action!

Every good story has a strong conclusion, and in the case of a pitch, that’s your call to action. Be clear about what you’re asking for: an investment, a collaboration, support, or something else. Highlight the benefits and impact your project can have and invite your listeners to choose you as their travel companion and support you.

5 Tips for storytelling in your pitch

1. Define the role of your brand: just like in fairy tales, where each character has a specific role (hero, helper, antagonist), your brand must also have a clear role in the story you tell. Often, as in the structure example above, the brand is not the protagonist: the hero is the customer. However, this is not the general rule, you have to decide it based on the personality of your startup. But remember: defining your role helps you maintain consistency and make the brand recognizable!
2. Keep the message relevant: To be effective, your storytelling needs to have something important to communicate. If your story doesn’t have a clear and relevant message, it risks going unnoticed. Spend time identifying the insight, or that “strong aspect of life, work, people’s needs that our business is able to improve or at least address” and extrapolate from it a solid and coherent concept, the key idea on which to base your communication. Only after this consolidation work will you be able to launch into the creation of storytelling.
3. Use visual material: Add images, videos, or infographics to make your story more vivid and easy to follow. In the construction of the slides, use as little text as possible and try to embrace the narrative technique called “show, don’t tell”, that is: don’t explain, but show, make people perceive, immerse your listeners in the journey you are telling.
4. Practice presentation: A good story needs a good storyteller. Rehearse your pitch several times to make sure it’s clear and convincing, take into account the timing, practice speaking at the right speed, take breaks, breathe. You can also try in front of the mirror, to train your gestures.
5. Show that you have clear ideas: storytelling is great for engaging the audience and disposing them well towards you, but, especially in the final call to action, you need to be punctual in your requests, precise and prepared. Explain the amount you are looking for, how you are working to raise funds and how you will use them, perhaps through a GANTT that gives a temporal view of the planned activities.

Conclusion

You have invested so much in your idea, now you have to be able to give it the right visibility!

Using storytelling in your pitch can help you spark curiosity in your audience and capture their attention and make a real difference! If you believe you do not have the skills to build a story of this type around concrete data and technical analysis, or you do not feel entirely convinced of the effectiveness of what you have set up, you can, for example, ask for support from a communication agency, which can help you “dress” your relevant message so that it does not go unnoticed. We, if you want, are available!