Storytelling in Business: Tell a Story Worth Hearing

You probably know him as ‘The Podcast Guy’ which he is. But before he created podcasts to educate and entertain the fintech scene, Ollie Judge was a content creator working across many different brands.

Ollie started off building content for independent brands on indie platforms and does something that works but is rarely done. He tells stories.

Focusing on story over brand might be hard for some to swallow, but it’s the only thing that really works. Ollie’s time working for big brands and applying the same strategy proved it. None of this is news to any content creators. It’s a time-tested method.

Tell a Story

The internet showed it worked years ago with the rise of so many content channels that all tell a story. From YouTube to SnapChat to Instagram, successful ‘stars’ all have a narrative to their work. Even if you can’t quite see it at first.

People don't like broadcasting, a big element of being a young company is, we have to tell our story

Ollie Judge

11:FS redefines business entertainment by taking internet media strategy and applying it to big business. Part of that, in B2B, means telling a story about the business consumer rather than the company. Focus on the issues they’re facing.

What matters most is showing consumers how your company can solve a real problem that they have. Tell a story in the same way you would in a B2C setting. But tell a story about the industry, what it can be and how it can change.

Resonate With Consumers

Telling the right story, that resonates with consumers, creates a pillar in the industry. Everyone who wants to be a part of a wave of change and what the industry stands for will become part of it. Then it’s a story you don’t struggle to tell, the story becomes something people actively participate in.

It’s important to be in people’s downtime

Ollie Judge

By its nature audio content is an intimate form of storytelling. It’s with you on your commute, while you’re cooking, before Netflix, and in bed before you go to sleep. If you’re like me then your headphones are still on while you walk through the front door. No-one wants to listen to a sales pitch while they’re doing any of those things.

Entertain and educate. If you do that then your audience will be engaged. The content we create at 11:FS is another way for listeners to catch-up with what’s going on in the industry and re-up their skill knowledge.

Our stories react to what’s happening in the fintech, blockchain, and insurtech space. But we’re not a news outlet so we don’t tend to deliver breaking news. Instead we focus on creating a commentary to prevent the usual assumptions that can occur in the news.

Storytelling With Purpose

It means instead of a knee-jerk reaction we have a platform to deliver a more in-depth story. Businesses are complex at their core, so the story they tell needs to accurately reflect their area of expertise in a style that has mass appeal. Audiences want to be interested, you just need to give them something to latch on to.

Storytelling shapes the market already. Ad-blindness and marketing cynicism have risen sharply, so now it matters that audiences get content from people who care about it most. Those people are the ones who’ll educate listeners on the pitfalls in the industry and deliver authentic stories.

For fintech specifically, there’s a need to take a step back. The industry lags behind the technology industry. But that’s not a bad thing. It means fintech can learn from the mistakes of others and weave those lessons into their narrative.

Ollie Judge is the Head of Media at 11:FS. You can contact him on Twitter @olliejudge or email him podcast@11fs.com. Make sure you subscribe to Fintech Insiders for the start of a whole new type of story this Friday.