Reflection Assignment: Storytelling for Building Relationships

Challenge:

I work for a small not-for-profit organization that provides home care and personal supports to  seniors so that they are able to live independently at home for as long as possible.  My role is in  corporate communications, which includes public relations and marketing communications. We have  extremely limited resources for communications: the corporate communications budget is $0, while  the marketing budget is a modest $15,000.  Basically, our marketing communications efforts need to  cost little and have a big impact. For us effective communication is about engaging with the right  audiences and, with such limited resources, this has become fundamental.

Selection:

We chose the storytelling tool because we have a good understanding of our audience.  While the  primary users of our services are seniors, we knew that few seniors sought support services (like  home cleaning, companionship, help with personal hygiene or cooking, or home maintenance)  themselves.  For many older adults seeking these services is akin to admitting defeat and they  generally prefer to rely on family and friends whenever possible. Of course, this arrangement may  work well for the senior, but it can put an enormous amount of pressure on the family member who  becomes the care giver.  We know from secondary research that this caregiver is often the eldest  daughter, who has her own priorities, often with a family (children) of her own and a job. Welcome to  the so-called sandwich generation!  The pressures of having to care for both aging parents and their  own children are the main reason why this is our target segment.

In the past we had used marketing copy that was full of jargon and dense language.  It sounded  corporate and unnatural.  We knew that storytelling could add that human dimension we were  missing and could help us have an even better understanding of our clients’ needs.

Application:

We developed a series of true stories based on actual client experiences. It was important to tell  stories that were real rather than fiction.  Each story highlighted how services are tailored to each  client’s needs and how staff work collaboratively with clients to determine the level of service. To  protect our clients’ privacy, we referred to the clients in the stories by their initials.

We worked with our program managers to identify clients who would be willing to have their story  told.  Managers provided the background details, like the types of services the client receives.  From  this background, we developed interview questions and had face-to-face meetings with the clients.   The questions were different for each client because we based the questions on the individual’s  experiences; the questions focus on the areas of service, if and how the services have improved  their quality of life, and what their experience was like working with their support workers.

We found that stories were a great was to illustrate our clients’ experience.  We were also able to  answer some of the “unasked” questions through the stories.  In the past staff have reported

experiencing resistance from clients on their initial visits; this is understandable.  If service was  arranged by the eldest daughter, as secondary research suggests, then it would be natural for the  client to feel powerless and resist the care and the “stranger” providing that care.  Staff often heard:  “I don’t need you here.”  We were able to address these concerns in the stories, where clients

admitted to their initial reluctance to the support worker, but acknowledged that these concerns went  away as they built rapport with the support worker and the client/worker relationship developed.

We took a prototyping approach to the exercise and started with a series of four stories focusing on  personal support (support with daily activities like personal hygiene, rising out of bed, cooking and  cleaning), companionship, falls prevention, and cooking and nutrition for older adults.  Because of  the extremely limited budget, we decided to put the stories on our website and disseminate through  social media.  We would have liked to record the interviews and be able to create documentary-style  videos, but have put this idea on the back burner until we could analyze the results of the initial  stories were released.

Insight & Approach:

What we learned from this exercise is that people really connect to stories of other people.  The  stories helped spark the conversation about elder care services within a family and allowed the

organization to be an integral part of that conversation.  After seeing the stories, we had calls asking  questions about how to broach the subject of getting help at home for their parents. It also helped  calm fears and ease concerns, especially with the messages around tailored services that are client- driven.  The messages reinforced that the client is empowered and helped make a difficult

discussion about change more manageable. Another important benefit that has come from this  storytelling approach is that others are now submitting ideas for stories; both the people who do the  work and those who receive service enjoyed being reflected in the stories.

