Storytelling and Market Research
A Practical User Guide

Showing how market researchers can get a seat at the decision-making table, this book is the essential guide to mastering storytelling techniques that can dramatically enhance the impact of research reports and presentations, commanding full audience engagement and buy-in.

While demand for storytelling in marketing research reports and presentations has mushroomed in recent years, there can be confusion about what decision-makers mean by "stories." Leading market research expert C. Frederic John eliminates this confusion by defining four specific types of story in the business arena, and providing a series of "how-to" guides for generating effective solutions when communicating learning and other information. This book is the first to emphasize the needs of the report reader or presentation audience.

Drawing on examples from ancient and modern literature, drama, opera, and other arts, this book will help today?s (and tomorrow?s) market research professionals to thrive in a world demanding insights, real-world recommendations, and more relevant deliverables.

Preface and Acknowledgements; Introduction; A) A Human Condition; B) Getting Down to Business; C) The Need to Evolve; Chapter I: The Fundamental Power of Story; A) The Ubiquity of Story; B) The Transformative Properties of Story; C) The Sacred Role of the Storyteller; D) The Market Researcher as Storyteller; Chapter II: The Immediate and the Essential; A) Story as Novelty; B) Story as the Essential Learning; C) Extracting the Essence; Chapter III: Tales Clients Tell; A) What Clients Believe, What They Tell Us; B) Sources of Client (Mis)Belief; C) An Added Benefit; Chapter IV: The Written Report as Narrative; A) Approaching the Report; B) Incorporating Storytelling into the Preliminary Sections; C) Selecting Content for the Detailed Findings Narrative; D) Managing the Flow; E) Suspending Disbelief: Accepting our Reality as "Authentic"; F) Juxtaposing Elements; G) Stimulating Identification and Empathy with Characters/Situations; H) Achieving Closure in Closing; Chapter V: A Radically New Approach to the Presentation; A) A Wasted Opportunity; B) Introducing a Radically New Approach; C) Selecting Content: Less is More; D) What About the Deck?; E) The Manipulation of Expectation; F) Juxtaposing Elements in Presentations; G) Suspending Disbelief from the Get-Go; H) Wrapping-Up with a Bang; Chapter VI: Humanizing the Presentation; A) Humanizing the Material; B) Humanizing Yourself; C) Introducing the Extraneous; D) Humanizing Through Storytelling Techniques; Chapter VII: Recasting the Narrative as an Imaginary Tale; A) A Daring Leap Through the Looking Glass; B) The Nature of the Beast; C) Sample Tales; D) Taking the Plunge; Chapter VIII: The Story of a Company or Brand; A) What Is/What Isn’t a Corporate / Brand Story; B) Comparisons with Other Communications; C) Crafting the Successful Corporate Story; D) Focus on the Brand; Chapter IX: Continuous Learning; A) Internalizing the Learning; B) A Day in Your Life; C) A Longer Arc of Your History; D) Continuous Engagement with the Arts; E) Applying the Learning; F) Parting Words; Appendix: "Landscape and Narrative" by Barry Lopez; Index

C. Frederic John enjoys a global reputation as a strategic researcher with a career spanning over 40 years. He specializes in melding profound insights into concrete recommendations for clients, and in crafting compelling research deliverables using story-telling techniques.