How You Can Use Storytelling As A Marketing Strategy

Stories are a prevalent part of one’s personality throughout a lifetime. And the same rings true for a brand’s lifetime. While dull lectures make one fall asleep, stories drive people to action. It’s a means for every person to relate to one another. And this empathy is used by brands to draw people’s attention through their storytelling. Every successful business is built on an effective story. People love to see brands having a human touch because they want to be able to empathize with something to invest in it.

Many brands know how to use storytelling to get the exact results they want. They know their brand and their audience, and they make a story to cater to both of these. Meanwhile, other brands don’t have a strong storytelling tactic. This, no doubt, has a direct effect on their ROI and makes their progress slow. In this blog, we discuss the science and principles behind storytelling and how it can be important to make a strong marketing strategy.

What is the Science Behind Storytelling?

To answer this, you need to ask yourself: what is it that marketers want from their campaigns? A strong, happy relationship with their audience. And more than half of a brand’s consumers get happy and involved with strong storytelling.

Telling stories is a science – quite literally. When people hear a relatable story, their brains release oxytocin, which is the major hormone involved in shifting one’s mood to be happy. Our brains are wired to connect with stories, and when we indulge in a process that involves storytelling, our pituitary gland releases oxytocin, hence the strong feelings of happiness.

Why is Storytelling Important in Marketing?

From ancient hieroglyphs to modern-day books, movies, and animations, stories add to the creativity and excitement in our lives. They make us feel relatable and connected with the rest of the world. And this skill is used in marketing to make their audience understand how their brand adds value to their lives.

They simplify complex concepts and messages

One of the main advantages for marketers in storytelling is that they make it easy to convey the message a brand wants to spread. Taking a complicated concept and associating it with real-life examples give people a better understanding of what a brand is trying to explain. Once the confusions clear, the concept remains unforgotten in a person’s mind, making a lasting impact.

They inspire and motivate

When brands build a story around their business, they not only make it humane but also inspire people to empathize, driving action as a result. Giving your brand a down-to-earth and emotional touch motivates people to not only consume your product but also remain loyal customers.

They bring people together

While the world is divided by a lot of things, stories bring people together and derive a sense of community. When a brand markets its story, its audience becomes its community with people sharing common interests, goals, and sentiments coming together. Hence, storytelling helps you create a strong community for your brand that goes beyond all your social media profiles, and lets people connect on a more intimate level.

How to Use the Storytelling Process as a Marketing Strategy?

The most successful marketing strategies are driven through creativity, and storytelling, as an art, is one of them. A few simple steps need to be followed to make this storytelling process successful. Steps that determine where you need to start, how to take your story further, and what you can get as a result. As a brand, either successful or aiming to drive success, you need to align the steps in this process to get to the conclusion you’re aiming for.

Know Your Audience

The foremost part of telling a story entails that you know the audience you’re telling it to. Unless you know who will listen to your story and take action regarding it, you won’t be able to come up with something that they will understand.

Doing research on your target audience and becoming aware of their personalities and needs will open the way for you to go further in the storytelling process as it will make it easier for you to know who is going to read your story and how they will perceive it.

Decide the Kind of Story You’re Telling

Every story is told for a different purpose using a different tone. Before you start telling yours, you have to be clear about how you want your audience to respond to it. Different kinds of storytelling incite different actions.

Talk About Yourself:

Tell your audience about your backstory, what inspired you to come up with this brand, how you struggled to reach where you are. Let people see the human side of you to make them connect more.

Provoke Action:

Describe how a past action proved to be fruitful and indicate your audience to take similar actions on your latest strategies.

Build Community:

Share a story that encourages your audience to share their stories and connect. Make people want to say ‘Me too!’ on your story, make them relate with your perspective.

Embark Knowledge:

Discuss trial and error stories, tell your audience about when you came across a problem, and how you found a solution.

Define Values:

Describe your story in a way that your core values are defined. Relate your story with examples that tap into people’s emotions and give them a deeper understanding of what your brand’s values are all about.

What is Your Message?

Before you start telling your story, define what message you want to convey. A story without a message is useless and doesn’t need to be told. You want to answer a query, describe an issue, or promote a product, it needs to be clear in your story. Summarize your content to determine whether the message you’re trying to convey is clear.

Choose a Medium

Stories exist in many forms and are told and accessed in many forms. Define the platform you will use for your storytelling strategy. Whether you want to make a video, write a blog, create a podcast, or all of these for different audiences and platforms. This decision depends upon where your target audience reach is the highest and what platform do they use to approach you.

Determine Call-to-Action

Another tactic to incite action, your CTA determines exactly what it is you need your audience to do after you tell them your story. Whether you need them to buy your product, subscribe to your profile, spread your message, donate to a cause. Whatever response you need, you state in your CTA

Write & Share

Now that you know all your principles of storytelling, it’s about time you start writing! Come up with the best possible version of your values and message, determine the kind of language you have to use to grab your audience’s undivided attention, determine your CTA and means of communication and once all of this is done, you are free to finally share your story.

Storytelling is an art, and it’s one you need to master especially when a good part of your day is spent coming up with new creative content. Stories are a bridge that connects people and makes them relate to each other. When people understand your brand and are better able to relate with it, they won’t find any reluctance while engaging with your content or forwarding it to others. It’s a tool that can do wonders in the right creative hands. You just need to make sure those creative hands are yours.