Tell Your Heritage Story Effectively
How do you choose and then build a narrative that piques a visitor’s interest? Storytelling is an art our ancestors honed through generations of telling, retelling, embellishing, then retelling the truth over and over. Visitors respond to authentic stories that reveal an emotional connection to the characters and places in your narrative. When you learn how to Select, Refine, Adapt, and Share those stories, you’ll build audiences that keep coming back.
Select
The first phase of the Authentic Storytelling Process is typically the most difficult phase. In your community there can be hundreds of potential storylines or, in many cases for long-time residents, the appearance of very few compelling options. However, every community in Texas has a history, a compelling heritage narrative of where the community came from, the characters who lived there, or the ones who built it. The process of selecting which storyline to focus on boils down to which one you have the most detail and research for, the one that will engage heritage tourists, and is a site or collection of sites that are visitable. In our guided process, this will be the section you’ll spend the most time in.
Refine
The second phase of our process is focusing your selected narrative on the critical “beats” to hit in the story. We’re going to focus on shaping and polishing the storyline, emphasizing clarity and simplicity ensuring that the refined narrative clearly communicates the story elements and resonates with the your heritage traveller. We’ll spend time on finding the key elements that cannot be removed, deconstructing our story before building it back up.
Adapt
Our third phase involves tailoring the story to address cultural nuances and historical accuracy, making it authentic and appealing to a wide audience. This step considers psychological principles to create a narrative that connects emotionally with your audience, tapping into teaching heritage elements while respecting the unique cultural context of your community.
Share
Our final phase focuses on strategically selecting the appropriate media vehicles to deliver your refined narrative and modifying it to fit each platform and maximize audience engagement in the Texas Heritage Tourism market. We’ll craft accompanying marketing messages that are clear, compelling, and encourage audience participation.
Getting Started
Our Authentic Storytelling Process is an upcoming guided class as well as a self-directed guide you may use to craft any number of compelling narratives for your community. If you would like to have this guide delivered to you, please give us your name, email, community, and possibly some of the storytelling challenges you’re facing in the form below. We’ll send you the guide and give you the option to join our guided class when it opens in the future.
