Visual Storytelling and Digital Storytelling – What’s the difference
Everyone’s talking about using visual storytelling and digital storytelling these days. So, what’s the big deal, and what’s the difference between the two?
Visual Storytelling and Digital Storytelling are often used interchangeably, because there’s a lot of overlap between the two. Strictly speaking, Visual Storytelling refers to any narrative that is carried by a visual medium; this could be a comic-strip, video, or even a painting. Digital Storytelling, on the other hand, is storytelling that is carried by a digital medium, usually in the form of video, but it can be any digital media, such as audio, still images, and games.
In practice, most visual storytelling is done using digital media, as this is most effective and versatile.
The primary value of visual digital storytelling for business is that it makes complex and intangible ideas into something concrete and tangible that the customer can understand. It embeds them within a narrative that is easily absorbed and digested by our story-hungry brains. This is the reason it is widely used in customer presentations by technology and software companies. It turns their complex and technical product offering into a real-world benefit.
Digital storytelling turns visual storytelling into something much more powerful: you get the audience’s attention every time.
It has the advantage of being dynamically adjustable, so each customer presentation can be customized for specific audiences. This ‘narrowcasting’ helps you reach each specific audience group with the message that matters most to them. Simply by switching-out a different soundtrack, you can appeal to a different audience, for example. Digital storytelling enables you to change the order that a story is told in (non-linear storytelling), or substitute different scenes that have targeted impact on specific audiences.
Capturing Customers: Why use Digital Storytelling?
You’ve got an important message to tell. So, you need to communicate your message clearly, in a way they’ll understand.
Visual storytelling makes something clear. Digital storytelling does this too, but it reaches even further, creating a deeper, emotional impact. This creates more engaging experiences with strong memories. Companies today are increasingly using digital storytelling because it is so effective when done right. It has the unparalleled ability to evoke deep emotional connections and reactions, grab attention, and draw the audience in – so they feel they’re a part of the story.
It’s important to cut through the noise and grab attention. It’s hard to keep an audience engaged, even when your presentation has incredible value. We’re constantly assailed by a barrage of updates and notifications, and this means we’re often checking our phones instead of paying attention. Digital storytelling overcomes this hurdle because the experience combines the power of all your senses to create an overwhelming experience that can’t be ignored.
Digital storytelling grabs attention. However, the way digital storytelling is done really matters.
If it doesn’t have the ability to be customized, then you miss out on one of the biggest benefits of this medium. Your digital content should be top-quality and persuasive, but also you need to use reasonable AV equipment to give audiences the best experience. Immersive experiences are the gold standard in this regard, but large screens, video walls and digital signage are all incredibly effective too. With a customized story and a reasonable screen, you’re off to a good start.
Behind the curtain of any digital storytelling experience is the software that manages it. The storytelling experts at Purple have developed a powerful platform for storytelling: Hyro.
Applications of Hyro – using the coolest digital storytelling software and to
The Hyro storytelling platform combines an intuitive Content Management System (CMS) with the powerful capability to deploy any story, on any screen. It gives the user total flexibility to use customized experiences that meet any departmental need or context.
Some examples of department-specific applications of Hyro:
Sales – Those old sales decks were boring. They had some great content in there, but it’s hard to keep clients engaged when they’re falling asleep! Hyro enables you to create incredible customer presentations that include digital storytelling elements, seamlessly interwoven with other digital assets. Show each client the most convincing story for their situation, and easily customize presentations that show only the benefits that matter to them.
Account Management – Show your customer how much they matter with a personalized digital story-powered review of your journey together. Zoom-in on their biggest challenges and show them exactly how you can solve them with a digital story that makes it tangible.
Marketing – This department has a finger in every pie. From hosting engaging webinars, digital inspirational sessions, and hybrid events, to creating soft, top-of-funnel content that draws potential leads even further into your company narrative. From narrowcasting to broader messages, Hyro can assist in all these numerous online marketing activities, and it can add zest to a physical meet and greet, by powering interactive storytelling experiences using simple screens or digital signage.
Partnerships – One of the most interesting uses for Hyro is collaborative sessions. Using a combination of prepared content and digital stories that get the creative juices flowing, collaborative sessions can rapidly help participants to visualize the available options and make confident decisions.
HR – There are many ways to use digital storytelling for HR purposes. One common application is for training programs, because these have been shown to be more effective for experiential learning than traditional methods. Information is retained for longer too. Recruitment can also be turbo-charged with a compelling digital story that exemplifies your employer brand and how it matches the goals of your potential recruits. Once recruited, your new staff can be onboarded with memorable digital stories that exemplify your company culture and employer brand.
Cross departmental – In larger organizations it’s hard to resolve some problems without using a cross-departmental approach. A big hurdle for this is getting everyone on the same page. Digital Stories help overcome this by building understanding of department-specific issues, and giving everyone a clear understanding of the complex big picture.
Goal setting – Hyro makes it easy to create truly inspiring experiences. Using its ability to deploy your digital inspirational sessions on any screen, you can leverage the emotional impact of digital storytelling to host an annual review of successes and goals for the year. Inspirational digital storytelling will make your goal-setting more effective and memorable.
These are just a few of the ways Hyro can help each department wield the power of digital storytelling.
The beauty of the platform is the fact that it’s possible to expand amazing digital storytelling events to all departments, thanks to how easy it is to create customized experiences from a common pool of media assets.
The benefits of a storytelling platform that’s made for business
Hyro is the best tool for corporate digital storytelling. There’s no alternative that comes close to offering the same advantages.
Created by the experts in corporate storytelling, the platform has been designed from the beginning to be a professional enterprise-grade solution. It has all the stability and security you should expect, smooth and intuitive user interface, and a cloud-based infrastructure that’s built to accommodate our modern era of global collaboration.
Easy to use, you can bring any digital story to any screen – provided it’s connected to Hyro.
It’s comparable to a slideshow application like PowerPoint, in terms of the breadth of possible application, but with much, much more impact.
Using Hyro Storytelling Software: Creating stories
⏤ The online CMS is cloud-based, so it is accessible from anywhere in the world via the web.
⏤ There are three levels of User privileges (Admin, Superuser, and User), which ensures that there is editorial control and that only certain individuals have the right to add users or make major changes.
⏤ Within the Hyro CMS, users can easily create story templates or customize experiences based on existing ones by cloning stories.
⏤ You can visualize how the experience will look on a virtual version of the actual screen setup. Within the CMS you get a total overview of the different types of screen setups you have in operation.
⏤ New digital media assets are easily added to the library, and from the library to experiences of your choice. They can be placed, resized, and toggled on or off as needed.
⏤ The company media library is fully controlled by ‘Admins’ and ‘Superusers’ to ensure that all stories contain media assets that adhere to the company brand guidelines.
⏤ The modular construction of storytelling experiences in Hyro allows total freedom to create and customize digital storytelling experiences. These consist of Stories (and templates), Scenes, Media, Backgrounds and Settings.
⏤ The dashboard gives a total overview, so all digital assets can be managed effectively and the platform usage can be measured.
Using Hyro Storytelling Software: Controlling stories
Hyro can be handily controlled using a tablet, which means the host is able to manage the experience in a covert, inconspicuous way. The platform is particularly adept at facilitating non-linear storytelling, which opens-up the possibility for interactivity with the participants.
You can jump directly to the most relevant content, without having to flick through endless slides to get there. Skip all the boring and irrelevant info and make the leap to what matters most right now.
This nonlinear experience gives you the capability to offer an optimal customer experience, because you can sense and react in real-time to their needs, gauge their reactions, and respond with something that matches their reaction.
Companies using Hyro find that it makes interactivity very easy to achieve, because you can direct the story based on immediate input from the customer. Moreover, with Hyro you can make the intangible something graspable. This goes a long way towards building understanding, trust, and helps your customers to make confident decisions.
Digital Storytelling FAQs
How to create a visual story?A visual story can be made using the same principles of any story. It needs a plot, characters, a struggle and a resolution. Any visual media can carry a visual story, but digital media are most effective.
What tools can you use to tell a story?Digital storytelling has the advantage of being deployed through any number of tools and hardware, including digital signage, large screens, video walls and immersive experiences. The most important tool, however, is the software that runs it all. The Hyro storytelling software is the most capable tool for business storytelling because it can use any screen for any story.
What digital storytelling tools are there?There are many digital storytelling tools you can use: immersive rooms, virtual studios, large screens and digital signage. Each has their own special area of application where they deliver the most value. Digital signage, for example, can create opportunities for spontaneous interaction, whereas immersive experience rooms are better for creating deep and emotional experiences with impact.
What is the benefit of digital storytelling?There are many benefits of digital storytelling, but the greatest is its ability to reach each specific audience with an emotional story that matters to them.
How can businesses use storytelling?Many corporations and other businesses use storytelling as a core part of their branding and marketing. Storytelling is increasingly being used in other business contexts too, including presentations, internal meetings, digital inspirational sessions and collaborative sessions.
