We all have a story about the different experiences we’ve faced throughout our life. With a world population of over seven billion that means there are billions of stories out there from different cultures, religions, and backgrounds. These stories are just waiting to be heard.
When you tell a story, it is an effective means of teaching and bringing about a sense of unity. By someone sharing their story, it helps others see life differently, or what some consider see what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes.
If your company were to give details of your history, your day-to-day operations, or some of your customer’s experiences, it would help your audience grow closer to you. When you convey a vulnerable side of your brand by storytelling with your customers, you will connect emotionally with them and build trust.
Storytelling in Marketing
Consumers feel they have something in common with a brand if you use storytelling as part of your marketing strategy. Studies have proven the human brain responds to stories at a much deeper level than it will by hearing facts and other data. This response is called a neutral coupling and turns into a mirroring effect that will promote a connection and empathy with your brand. This emotion can then turn into a buying behaviour.
How Storytelling is Used in Marketing
The concept of storytelling in digital marketing is defined as the complete narrative which surrounds your business. This narrative not only tells how you perform your business, but why you are in the business, and how you are unique and qualified to solve your customer’s needs.
When you implement brand storytelling as your brand story, it is not meant to be a direct sales pitch. You are using the storytelling strategy as a means of humanizing your company and brand. This is a marketing strategy to create more meaningful connections between your customers and your business.
Benefits of Utilizing Brand Storytelling in Your Marketing Strategy
Brand stories will create trust and connections with your customers. Good brand storytelling is an excellent way to tap into your customer’s emotions, which ultimately will turn into buying decisions. When you utilize brand storytelling with your marketing strategy, you can avoid having to compete in the markets based on your price points and features, otherwise, you risk being ignored.
Ingredients for Good Storytelling in Marketing
If you use good storytelling in your marketing strategy there is no limit to what you can accomplish. A good story will break down walls, influence people to act, and build trust with your audience. These are six ingredients to use to give your storytelling power:
- Use stories that connect
- Tell stories that tap into emotions and do not use logic or facts
- Humanize your business because people like to see your personal side
- Don’t make claims in your stories as they are about showing not telling
- Use a face for an issue as your audience is more concerned with people than they are about a process
- Appeal to a universal, shared value with your storytelling
The storytelling that you use with your marketing strategy should have a beginning, middle, and an ending. Begin with a character who is in pursuit of a goal. In marketing, this means knowing your audience, what your customer’s goals are, and then finding a character to overcome challenges to reach those goals.
Once you have your character, determine what your audience wants to know or do. Through the power of communication, your character will need to trigger an emotional response by not telling what is done, but why it is done.
And finally, remember that more is less. This analogy means less stuff by only using essential details and leaving out any unnecessary details to the story.
Where to Learn How to Utilize Storytelling in Your Marketing Strategy
Marketing Guardians believe the right strategy or message used will sell your brand. We never want to make a marketing strategy for your business that becomes overwhelming, but rather want to create a clear message for your business’s success If you feel storytelling will enhance your business message, contact us and let us help you tell the right story, the right way.
