How to use storytelling as part of your marketing strategy
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
Storytelling is one of the most effective ways to attract people’s attention - no matter if your audience is a small child, clients or a group of friends in the pub. Neuroscience research confirms that irrespective of the way we present the story – words, gestures or pictures – our brains create connections with the specific people and their feelings in the story. This connection is much more intensive compared to facts and data and our memories are more intensive and last longer.
Sharing stories allows us to connect with people in real life, create emotional connections and trigger our listeners’ attention. We all know how to tell a story, but what makes a difference is being able to tell a good story and tell the story well, making it relevant to the audience. And marketing is just about that – telling a good story, so it is remembered and shared for a long time.
Storytelling in business creates a competitive advantage – helps to create an effective marketing communication strategy, triggers interest with potential clients and strengthens loyalty with your existing ones. Your story affects how your clients remember you and also helps to motivate your team.
To attract and keep your audience’s attention, it is essential to get to know their specific interests, needs and challenges. Knowing the audience helps to identify the relevant stories and chose the best way to tell the story, so it triggers the intended reaction. By showing your audience that you understand the challenges, context and culture of their situation you will build trust and telling the right story at the right time will create a connection between the question and challenges of your audience and your story. Visualising your story will also allow your audience to create an emotional connection that can impact their thinking and present alternative scenarios and perspectives that your audience wouldn’t consider otherwise.
How to create an authentic story
To create a connection with your audience, consider specific elements of the story and how they interlink and form the overall picture. You can use a story to create an authentic message about your business that can become a part of your company culture and values:
· Create a connection between the content and purpose – your story should have a clear objective that links back to the overall purpose of the communication
· Focus on the senses – strong stories are about emotions, empathy and thoughts, so it’s important to choose situations with emotional impact and meaning. Facts don’t trigger imagination unless they are presented in an interesting context through stories or anecdotes
· Involve the audience – people can relate to the story and the characters if you can trigger their interest. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the main character - your listeners can see the connection between themselves and critical aspects of your story
· Open new perspectives – the element of surprise or new idea in the story has the potential to create a new level of understanding and make us think about new scenarios and alternatives
How use storytelling to build your brand
Every business has a story. It’s their story that makes them unique, whether it’s about their people, customer service or their innovative ways of thinking and working. There might be many businesses out there offering similar products and services, but every business story is different. Your story is your competitive advantage and it’s what creates a compelling brand as it triggers interest with potential customers and strengthens loyalty with existing ones. To define your brand’s story that is simple to understand, yet it can attract and keep your customer’s attention, consider defining the following aspects of your business:
· Target audience
A story only works if told at the right time in front of the right audience. Show your audience that you understand the challenges and context of their situation to build trust and tell the right story at the right time, so you can create a connection between the question and challenges of your audience and your story.
· Business strengths
What are the values that your business is built on and known for? Highlight these as one of the key reasons why others should trust your abilities and the quality of your products and services. Define and communicate your strengths and give your potential customers a reason to have confidence in your brand and let them decide if it is the right match to their needs and wants.
· Reasons to buy
What solutions are you offering to your customers’ problems or how are you improving their life? Whilst you should focus on highlighting the benefits of your products and services, it’s important to avoid self-focus - instead, these should be all about the consumer who will benefit from using them.
· Value proposition
Simply put, this is the most compelling reason a consumer chooses your brand. Your unique value proposition is what identifies your business, without it your clients have no reason to choose you over your competitors. A good value proposition is easy to understand and explains how your business is different, and as a general rule, should be clear enough to be read and understood in five seconds.
· Credibility and insight
Showcasing that you understand your audience, industry and the market can have a great impact on how your brand is perceived. If you can tell others about the success and quality of your services and products, either through customer reviews or case studies, do tell. Media coverage is also another powerful way to build your profile as an expert in your field and reach a large audience of potential customers.
How to create an impactful story
You can use the best stories repeatedly and change them as needed - they are even likely to improve over time. Critical aspect in improving stories and the way they are presented is feedback from stakeholders. The way you use the feedback to improve the story will affect how you make it even more relevant and authentic, and how it will motivate your listeners. Therefore, consider how best to create and tell a story that meets your company's communication needs and becomes an effective way to reach customers and the team. To create an impactful story, consider using these story types:
1. Introduction - Plot - Solution
One of the oldest and simplest stories. Start by describing the situation, then present the problems that the main characters of the story solve, and gradually build up the tension until the problem is solved.
2. Before - After - Breakthrough
Begin your story with a problem, ideally one that you can solve, and then describe the situation in which the problem does not exist and explain how you got there, or present specific solutions to the problem.
3. Introduction - Critical point - Happy ending
Introduce the main characters of the story and describe how their situation became complicated, so that you can engage the audience in the introduction. Use a combination of facts and emotions to describe the breaking point and talk about how the situation has improved after this point. End the story positively.
4. Departure - Challenge - Return
Also known as the "hero's journey," this structure of the story focuses on the hero, who must go on an adventure in which various challenges await him, but eventually completes a mission and returns with new abilities to help others. This story works ideally as a description of a client who experiences a complicated situation until he finds a solution through your company.