5 Books that Made Me Rethink Storytelling

In a special BONUS episode of the Power Your Platform podcast, I'm sharing the five books that really made me rethink story branding.

Let's take a look:

1. “Stories that Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences and Transform Your Business” by Kindra Hall.

This book provides tons of great business storytelling strategies. In particular Kindra drills down to talk about the four unique stories you can use to differentiate your brand, captivate your audience and elevate your authority. Her book is full of great examples and illustrations which is just the kind of thing I love. She also offers actionable tips for storytellers at every level.

2. “Find Your Red Thread: Make Your Big Ideas Irresistible” by Tamsen Webster

This book is for anyone with a great idea, but they’re not sure how to use it to connect it to their audience in a meaningful way. So Find Your Red Thread explores the connection that makes the invisible link between your audience’s problem and your solution more tangible and more actionable. The author is a speaker, consultant and TedX idea strategist. So she’s used to helping her clients prepare talks and marketing campaigns that speak directly to their audience. This book really helped me rethink the way I break down my key messages and how to present them at every stage of the storytelling process.

3. “The Storytelling Code: 10 Simple Rules to Shape and Tell a Brilliant Story” by Dana Norris

This book is all about unleashing the power of storytelling. Dana offers a step-by-step process to help writers master the story crafting process. She also provides tips and exercises to help readers improve their public speaking. After all, storytelling and public speaking go hand in hand! So from shaping your story to sharing it confidently, this book is a great guide. It provides advice for identifying your narrative goals and how to shape a plot, as well as how to find confidence with courage-building tips.

4. “Building a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So Customers will Listen” by Donald Miller

This book is a cult classic! It addresses what you can do when you’re trying to get your product or service story out to your ideal audience, but no one is listening and no one is buying. In this book, Donald shares the Story Brand process which he created to help his clients engage and influence customers. He also includes his 7-Point Process which is at the heart of the book which helps clarify the reasons why customers make purchases, how to simplify your brand messages so people understand them, and how to create the most effective messaging for your marketing materials.

5. “The Storyteller's Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch On and Others Don't” by Carmine Gallo

One of the things I liked about this book was that it talked about the 5 different types of storytellers: Storytellers Who Ignite Our Inner Fire, Storytellers Who Educate, Storytellers Who Simplify, Storytellers Who Motivate and Storytellers Who Launch Movements. If you’re looking to uncover the secrets of TED speakers and business legends from Tony Robbins to Sara Blakely, then you’ll want to check out this book.

Do you have any books that helped YOU rethink how you shape and tell stories to your audience? If so, I’d love to hear about them!