Storytelling has been a powerful tool in the hands of many creatives, but successful marketers also know the true value of storytelling. It’s not just about selling a product or service successfully – it’s about connecting with the audience and keeping customers coming back.
Storytelling provides you with a wide variety of opportunities in marketing which, if taken seriously, can translate into success in sales too. Hence, here’s why you need to use storytelling in your marketing and how to do it correctly.
What Is Storytelling?
First of all, what exactly is storytelling? To put it simply, storytelling is the art (and craft, to an extent) of using words and actions to create elements and images of a story that will interact with the audience and spark their imagination. Here are some common characteristics of effective storytelling:
- Storytelling is not a one-way road. It is interactive and makes the audience communicate with you just as much as you communicate with them.
- Storytelling uses both words and actions, though how much of each you use depends on which form your storytelling takes.
- Storytelling is all about the story. It’s not just a set of abstract ideas. You need to be telling a coherent and compelling story in some way.
Here are the three main reasons why you would want to use storytelling for your marketing:
- Connect with Your Audience
Perhaps the most obvious reason to use storytelling in your marketing is that it helps you connect with your audience. A good piece of storytelling is compelling which means your audience will need to connect with it on an emotional level. And when the audience connects with your content, they will be more likely to connect with your brand as well.
One of the biggest issues brands are facing nowadays is that consumers see them as soulless companies and don’t really care to stay loyal. That’s exactly why businesses are learning to humanize themselves and their brands. And what’s the best way to do this? Storytelling. There’s really no working around this, and the sooner marketers can understand this, the faster they can start using storytelling successfully.
- Engage Your Audience
Another reason why you should be using storytelling in your marketing is that it helps you engage your audience. Content creation is already hard on its own, but it becomes even harder when you see that your efforts are not getting the results you expected. This is something storytelling can easily change.
Storytelling is interactive which means it actively encourages your audience to join and start giving you feedback. Moreover, your audience could become a part of your storytelling when they create user-generated content. Once your audience is engaged, your brand will be getting more recognition and you will be growing your customer base. Moreover, engagement on social media could potentially lead to higher sales.
- Learn More About Your Audience
The third reason why storytelling is so important for your marketing is that it helps you learn more about your audience. As a marketer, you need to be willing to adapt and adjust as time goes on. You need to be open to new experiences and new knowledge – and that includes learning about your audience.
As experts from the top writers list website put it, “The more you know about your audience as a marketer, the more success you can achieve with your strategy. Because storytelling is so interactive, you will be constantly getting feedback from your customers which will help you better understand them. Once you learn more, you will be able to implement more elaborate storytelling techniques helping you reach more potential customers and growing your client base.”
What Are Some Storytelling Best Practices?
Just like with anything else in marketing, there are certain things that work with storytelling better than others. Here are just a few examples of storytelling best practices:
- Keep It Authentic: Storytelling is never about acting like you are somebody else. Instead, it is about embracing who you are and showing this to everyone else. In other words, effective storytelling includes you being authentic with your brand. Did your business start in the garage? Tell stories about this instead of trying to present it as an instant success.
- Focus on Your Audience: As mentioned earlier, storytelling is all about connecting with your audience, engaging your audience, and learning more about your audience. You should never forget just how important your audience is no matter what – and that’s what the focus of your storytelling should be. What stories have your customers shared about your brand? Find them and curate them to use as UGC.
- Use Emotions: Storytelling is always about telling compelling stories that help you connect with your audience. That’s why you need to use emotions in your storytelling-powered marketing. Instead of only relying on facts and statistics, don’t be afraid to use something emotional.
- Adapt and Grow: Storytelling is about learning, adapting, and growing as a business and a brand. When you use storytelling in your marketing, you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment with it and try things you wouldn’t have otherwise considered. Through such experimentation, you will be able to find new ways to connect with your audience. Likewise, storytelling is what will help you learn more about your audience.
- Measure Performance: The usual method of using storytelling in your marketing is not much different than using any other method which means it needs to be tracked. Tracking and measuring the performance of your storytelling allows you to better understand what works and what doesn’t. It’s a huge part of learning, after all, but it’s also a natural part of making your business better by improving its marketing.
Final Thoughts
To summarize, storytelling is definitely one of the number one tools you should be using for your marketing. You can start small and then make your storytelling strategy more elaborate as you find new ways to improve it. Use the tips in this article to help you get started and then successfully implement storytelling into your marketing strategy.
