One thing that increases pitch success 🎉

A group of scientists at Northeastern University have tried to crack the storytelling code.

Their goal was to answer the question, what makes a story successful?

They analysed more than 30,000 movies, TV shows, books and fundraising pitches and they found their answer.

A narrative reversal.

Whether it was a fundraising pitch that earned more money or a book that sold more copies... this was a pretty accurate indicator of how well a story connected with people.

What is a narrative reversal? It's the moment when a story twists from something good to something bad happening or vice versa.

The moment where...

... we find out the good guy is actually the bad guy.

... the hero gets the gal/guy only to have a misunderstanding that pushes them apart again. 

... when Ned Stark is set up as a main character but is killed off early in GoT...

You get the idea.

When the researchers analysed thousands of funding pitches on GoFundMe they found that the bigger the reversal and the more frequent, the more likely the cause was to hit their goal.

So what does this mean for you?

I think an even greater focus on transparency in your storytelling. 

Don't be scared to share the struggles, they only make the successes even higher.

Paint a picture of the struggle or the problem your organisation is trying to solve/support. The bigger and more painful it is, the bigger the reversal when you achieve your goals. 

Consider how you tell stories now whether it's in a recruitment drive, a fundraising pitch or in your ongoing social media content.

Do you showcase reversals in your story? Before and afters? If not, you may not be getting the audience engagement or success you could be.

Happy storytelling,

Alecia