Do you believe in the Loch Ness Monster? The answer to that question has become an obsession for generations of people and an economic boon to a remote Scottish community for the past 85 years.

The legend of the Loch Ness Monster found its inspiration in 1933. That’s when a newspaper article claimed that a couple driving along the Scottish lake were surprised to find a 25 foot long creature slithering across the road ahead of them. The leviathan had a long neck that resembled an elephant’s trunk and small head. When they came upon it, it was startled and made its way to the water and disappeared. Within the next year, scores of people began to come forward with their story of encountering the massive beast. People claimed to have photographed "Nessie” surfacing on the water. In 1934, the mysterious Surgeon’s Photo (supposedly taken by a London doctor named Robert Wilson) was published in the Daily Mail. It showed a dark, shadowy figure that looked to be a neck and head of a sea serpent. Curiosity was more than people could bear. They were obsessed with finding the surreptitious beast and flocked to the region to hear the story and, with a little luck, be the next person to lay eyes on the mysterious amphibious giant.

Curiosity is a writer’s best friend. Telling a story in an intriguing way is very seductive to the human psyche. Something as far-fetched as a sea serpent living in a lake in the Scottish Highlands can be so alluring that people will travel for thousands of miles and spend millions of dollars to gratify their curiosity (the annual economic impact of the Loch Ness Monster on the local economy is reported to be around $34 million annually¹). How much curiosity do you build into your business communications? Obviously we cannot make up a story about an enormous creature living under your office, but you can write in a way that creates intrigue in your brand.

Let’s take a look at the places where corporate communications have their greatest impact – web sites and social media. Too often these forms of communication are written in a very sterile and boilerplate method. They are carefully crafted to tell all the facts and try to answer every question. However, I am a marketer. I don’t want a web page to answer all the questions. I want a website to build enough fascination with a brand, but to leave something unsaid that can only be answered by taking another step. We often call this a call to action. That may be filling out a contact form, sending an email, or making a phone call to get more information. I want a prospective customer browsing my website to take another step because they are curious about the product or service they are looking at.

How strong is curiosity? It is so alluring that people will look past the truth to quench their desire to know more. I will tell you that most of the sightings of the Loch Ness Monster have been refuted as either outright fabrications or rebuffed as the misunderstandings of people who were overly excited by what they thought was a sea creature, but was actually a wave, a seal, or a log floating in the water. (The Surgeon’s Photo was later declared a ruse by one of the men who perpetrated the hoax. He used a toy submarine with a molding clay neck and head, which was pulled behind a boat to create the illusion of the beast surfacing on the water.) That doesn’t seem to matter to people who are curious about the legend of Nessie. They have been traveling to the area for 85 years, and the fascination with the legend doesn’t seem to be slowing down. In 2017, there were more reported sightings (8) of the monster than in the past two decades.

Even if you don't believe in the Loch Ness Monster, you should believe in the allure of a curious story. Use curiosity to your advantage in your corporate communications. It is a powerful tool to engage your target market.

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1. The Loch Ness monster: how did the myth begin? The Week, May 2, 2018

1933 Loch Ness Monster Sighted This Day in History: May 2, History.com