Storytelling In Content Marketing- Everything You Need To Know To Become A Good Storyteller And Start Selling

Have you ever thought of why it is generally called ART of storytelling and nothing else?

The word art is without any effort directly related to terms like creativity and curiosity. Just the right thing you need for your marketing campaigns- creative strategy with a curious audience.

And that brings us to the question- Does that mean it’s time you start using the art of storytelling in Content Marketing? 

YES! The sooner the better. 

By the end of this guide You’ll be ready to transform your marketing campaign with a new element of storytelling.

Read More: Step-by-Step Content Creation Guide [Writing to Publishing Content Successfully]

What Is Storytelling?

Storytelling is the art of narrating facts based on some core message along with engaging communicative content to your audience or listeners. 

But the question arises why use storytelling in content marketing? The easiest response to this would be because your entire process revolves around talking and persuading strangers to be your customers. And what better way than helping them relate with you and your services.

Stories are the easiest way to build a community, people love to talk and are excited to find someone relatable. Thus stories are the universal language irrespective of an individual’s demographics. You just have to be a good storyteller. 

Not all your stories have to have facts and your branding, you can give a little backstory about you, your hustle and how you came up with the idea to start this particular business. Use a series of stories to complement your core message. Don’t drift too much from your intent and audience interest in order to be creative.

As a business owner you can find a storyteller at every level within your firm, you don’t have to rely on content writers or PR professionals or your marketing team. We will discuss this subject in detail later in the blog. First let’s find the answer to the reason, why we tell stories?

The Golden Circle Rule

People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

Simon Sinek

Most individuals communicate by beginning with the “what” they do and working their way back to discuss the “how” and “why” they do what they do.

Companies that are generally recognised as distinctive and successful, such as Apple or Google, communicate using a “inside-out” approach. They begin with the why and only then move on to discuss the how and what aspects of what they do.

Why is the sequence in which you tell your narrative important? It all comes down to the regions of the brain that you interact with. You talk to an intellectual section of the brain when you talk about what you do. However, while discussing the why and how, you are talking with emotions and engaging with human behaviour.

People buy with our instincts and then rationalise it with reasoning. So, by appealing to your readers’ emotions and feelings, you may educate them, establish trust and credibility, position yourself and your organisation as the authority, make connections, and begin conversations.

Simply answer three basic questions to use the Golden Circle in your marketing content:

Why – What motivates you to accomplish what you do? For instance, why are you in the company, and why did you create your product or service?

How – How would this benefit your readers? For example, what issues are you resolving for your readers, and what obstacles are you assisting them in overcoming?

What – What do you have to offer? For instance, what is your product or service, and what are its characteristics and advantages?

Why choose Storytelling In Content Marketing?

Before I give you a simpler answer as to why choose storytelling. Lets address a scenario first. What would you prefer in an 8 AM Meeting – a data and charts filled powerpoint presentation or an interactive session with a few clients and experience stories? Surely the latter will be your pick.

There! You have your answer. You must choose storytelling because it grabs peoples’ attention and that is what we strive for in marketing. 

Sweet Trade right? 

Now let’s look into some bullets to support why people prefer stories and should be your go-to medium of sharing and advertising:

• Stories Make Message Delivery Easier

It is fairly difficult to understand any new concept if we go to read it theoretically and study the basics. While if someone explains the same topic by relating it to some real life incident or just by framing the concept into a mini story you’ll grasp the concept easily and probably would remember for long. 

Thus instead of yelling “best features”, “best pricing”, ”best service” try reframing it according to users point of view with “solutions to your problem”, “how I dealt with it”, “how this service is best for you ”. Stories help understanding complex marketing messages in a simpler way. 

Consider Apple, for instance.  Technologies and devices are a bit confusing and complicated for your customer to understand. Thus explaining the benefits of the feature in real-life and how the newer devices add value to their daily lives makes much more sense on user end, than trying to explain why “newer device has better processing” 

• Stories Are A Universal language

Sharing stories can instantly build connection and soon community. Stories bring people together, We all have similar incidents at some point in our lives, that one character, emotion, heartbreak we relate to once. When people hear something relatable they tend to grow fond of you irrespective of the location, language, religion, preference, ethnicity etc.

This is one thing TOMS took great advantage of. They tell the experiences of both customers and the individuals who benefit from their purchases. This has helped the brand to create a community   

• Stories Are Impactful

Brands sharing stories consistently creates a sense of transparency and authenticity within them. People start to relate and engage with them consistently. Thus whenever a newer marketing campaign starts your loyal audience would contribute to it.

Marketing with brand’s origin story is one of the most basic tactics but ModCloth outdid it really well. ModCloth not only makes their company more accessible and interesting to buy by telling the true story of its founder, but it also encourages other entrepreneurs and business owners.

Why You Should Use Storytelling In Content Marketing?

We have talked enough about storytelling, and how it builds relation with people in general.

People tend to connect with the right amount of facts, emotions and surprise. And as a marketer you just have to slide in how their products add value to their lives. 

Here are some of the main reasons why narrative is so important in marketing:

• It helps develop a richer and more effective relationship with the audience.
• It personifies your content and, as a result, your brand.
• Storytelling is much more powerful than advertising; it increases people’s faith in your brand.
• It enables organisations to interact with customers in a media landscape that is fragmented.
• Stories serve as a link among pieces of content that might otherwise seem disconnected.
• Stories allow you to convey your brand’s vision in the most enjoyable way possible.
• A company with a compelling narrative may easily outperform its competition.

Features Of Good Story

A good story doesn’t have to be the one relatable to everyone. Infact here in the context of good story I wish to tell you how to make your story rich in terms of content. Let’s discuss a few essential elements that you cannot compromise on while drafting your story.

“Good” stories are …

Engaging: Good stories keep the audience hooked and curious about what’s more to come.

Educational: Good stories inspire and contribute to the knowledge of their audience.

Relatable: Good tales are based on everyday instances that are relatable to everyone and draw on the emotions and experiences most people encounter.

Continuous Flow: Good narratives stick to a clear structure that helps in delivering the core message and enables readers to understand it.

Unforgettable: write whatever you wish to but make it stick in your audience brain, use a striking character or storyline or emotions with it.

Components Of A Good Story 

Characters: Each story has characters, but you have to focus on that one character who is going to give your audience the chance and freedom to put on its shoes and walk through your story. Plot it in such a manner that it gets relatable enough for your audience to walk straight through the CTA by the end of the story.

Conflict: Conflict is the conversion centric point within your stories. This is where you depict how your struggling character achieves success. The conflict within the story marks as the most important link between the story and the audience’s relatable experience. The power of storytelling resides in what you are expressing and educating. 

Resolution: This is the section of your story where you talk about how the character successfully overcame the shortcoming. Your resolution need not be a positive one but it should support your vision and outcome you want from that particular story. Just give your story a convincing closing and leave your audience with a CTA.

Phew! You are all caught up with all the essentials you might need for a “good” story. Let’s discuss the steps involved in the whole storytelling process.

Steps involved in storytelling content marketing

Decide Your Audience

Who is interested in hearing your story? Who will profit the most and respond the most forcefully? To tell a captivating narrative, you must first identify your audience and who will respond and take action.

Do some research on your target market and develop your customer persona before you put pen to paper. This procedure will familiarise you with who could be reading, seeing, or listening to your tale. It will also give vital guidance for the next several phases as you lay the groundwork for your tale.

Finalize Message

Whether your story is one page long or twenty, ten minutes long or hours long, it should have a theme. It, like the framework of a house, must be established before proceeding.

Is your story about promoting a product or generating funds? Are you describing a service or arguing for a cause? What is the goal of your narrative? Try to explain your narrative in six to ten sentences to help clarify this. You don’t have a core message if you can’t accomplish that.

Decide The Tone Of The Story

Your tone of the story also has a great impact on audience reaction. You must focus on what type of stories your audience like and try to stick to it. Every story is different and unique in its own way. Decide what kind of reaction you want from your audience, how you want them to feel or respond.

I have created a few bullets for your better understanding as to how you should decide the tone of your story.

1. To inspire

For this your story must be driven by your past experiences and their success, show your readers how hey can also achieve that success in their coming future. Don’t over stuff the story with details. Make it simple yet effective so your audience doesn’t get distracted from the core message you wish to deliver.  

2. To Introduce Yourself

Don’t frame your story in a fairy tale manner, be raw and real as much as you can. Create an environment for your audience to know your real difficulties, struggles, disappointments and victories. The modern customer values and interacts with businesses that sell authentically, and storytelling is no exception.

3. To Share Values

Make sure your story uses recognisable emotions, people, and circumstances so that readers can actually relate with the story and tries to fit it in within their lives. This is especially true when addressing ideals with which some individuals may not agree or comprehend.

4. To Educate

For this particular reason frame a story that has some hits and misses. Don’t give a bland straight story with time frames and a successful conclusion. Let your readers feel the excitement when you get an idea and disappointment when it doesn’t work. Let them know good things don’t come easy.

Prepare Your Call-To-Action.

Your CTA will define the action you want your readers to do.

What would you like your audience to do once they finish reading? Want them to contribute funds, sign up for a newsletter, join a training session or purchase a product? Specify this alongside your aim to ensure that they compliment your goal.

For instance, your CTA may have to tap the share button below if you aim to encourage community or cooperation.

Read More: Learn 11 Conversion Rate Optimization Hacks & 6 Avoidable Mistakes to Skyrocket Your Sales

Pick A Story Medium

Storytelling may take many forms. Some stories are read, some are seen and some are heard. The format you have selected will rely both on your plot genre and on assets, such as time and money.

Here are some examples of how you can tell your story.

Articles, blog posts, and novels are all ways to tell a written story. These are primarily text with a few pictures thrown in for good engagement. Written stories are perhaps the most cost-effective and inclusive way of storytelling because they only require a free word processor or a pen and paper.

A spoken narrative is delivered in person, much like a talk, pitch, or group discussion. TED talks are regarded as spoken storytelling. Because spoken stories are “live” and unfiltered, they generally take more effort and ability to convey information and provoke emotions in others.

An audio narrative is spoken out but taped, which distinguishes it from a spoken story. Audio stories are generally podcast, and the creation of an Audio narrative is cheaper than ever with the technologies of today.

A digital narrative may be told in a number of ways, including video, animation, interactive storytelling. This choice is by far the most successful for both emotional and aggressive stories.

Which is why it is still the most costly. But don’t be worried: video quality is not as important as a compelling message to communicate.

Start Writing

Now is the moment for your narrative to be written on paper.

This stage is just to include depth and artistic flare to your story with your key message, target audience and CTA already defined.

Spread The Message

Don’t forget to share your and promote it! As with any material, it is just half the struggle to create it — the other to share it.

You should clearly communicate your experience via social media platforms, based on the channel you have selected. Written content can be presented on your blog, website and other media by publishing to visitors.  The more you spread your story, the more you can expect your audience to respond.

Storytelling Formats To Use In Content Marketing

Not all stories are crafted the same, before you plan out your storyline carefully decide which medium you will be using to put it out in front of the world. There are multiple advertising formats that can be used and your story must be framed accordingly. 

For example certain messages are better conveyed with video while others are better if you only stick to images for the same. Let’s discuss the different types of channels that can be used.

1) Mini Ads

This is a type of storytelling in which marketers make short video commercials to engage with viewers and communicate their message. These 6-10 seconds long videos have the potential to promote consumer interaction without using excess content.

Platforms like Facebook And Youtube have already rolled out 6-seconds video ads for enhancing brand reach and conversions. These 6 sec mini ads are called Bumper Ads on Youtube, these are great to drive instant action from the audience.

2) Data-Based Storytelling

If you fuel up narrative with statistics, you can always enhance its potential to convert. Data-based storytelling refers to any story that uses data to communicate a point.

Often, the tale is generated automatically by compiling certain facts and presenting it to consumers in a readable way.

Here’s an example of data-driven storytelling in action, in which Google recounts the year’s greatest moments and the questions they sparked (you can explore many examples of data-based storytelling under Google Trends)

3) Long-Form Storytelling

Storytelling is more than simply video. Using text and graphics, you may construct long-form stories that are visually appealing.

Long-form tales differ from shorter video material in the following ways: If you’re going to use text and photos to tell your tale, you should go for long-form storytelling. Short and snappy video tales are preferred.

According to Orbit Media research, bloggers who write tales of more than 2,000 words outperformed those who write stories of less than 500 words.

4) Personalized Storytelling

People want to read stories that make sense. This makes custom storytelling so effective.

You enable the reader to select the tale that suits their interest in this storytelling form. This is more personal than what you would like to give as a brand.

5) Audio Storytelling

Stories may also be told via recorded conversations, audio storytelling. You may make podcasts and listen to them by your audience.

StoryCorps, an oral history project that began in 2003, is a big example of this kind of storytelling. They taped interviews using just one narrative stand and retained the recordings to be listened to afterwards.

Examples of How Brands Use Storytelling In Content Marketing

Dannijo

Dannijo is a jewellery line created by sisters Danielle Snyder and Jodie Snyder-Morel.

The brand’s popularity has skyrocketed as a result of their narrative technique. The sisters believe that honest storytelling is essential for building a successful lifestyle brand.

They post images of their personal life as well as shots of celebrities wearing their jewellery on their Instagram account. They also release inspiring films in which they interview other influencers in their area.

IKEA 

In their storytelling films, IKEA Singapore use comedy and funny puns to demonstrate practical storage and furniture solutions.

Enhance Your Private Life is a Home video presented by Fille Güte, a “Shelf-Help Guru.” It depicts a normal husband and wife bickering over the space restrictions in their bedroom — until the Shelf-Help Guru arrives with a solution: IKEA’s Pax closet, Malm shelves, Komplement interior furnishings, and so on.

BACARDÍ

BACARDÍ is the world’s largest spirit enterprise. In the clip BACARDI presents the Sound of Rum: Dancehall Kings & Queens, they highlight the history of Jamaica’s rich dance culture and how that has evolved. The movie showcases icons of the Jamaican music business as well as today’s innovators to show how the music has spread across Europe.

Coca-Cola

Coca-unique Cola’s Augmented Reality Campaign (AR) may be used to convey stories in many forms of content.

Customers could put the camera of their phone to a coke can and witness one out of 12 stories come to life. There is a small conflict in each plot, in which animated characters share with each other before finding a positive result, which focuses well over sharing a coke.

Dove

Dove is one of the first businesses to embrace the notion of showcasing its customers’ feedbacks. Mostly ladies, however recently the firm made a change with males (dads) included in their videos. The idea was amazing.

This clip is a genuine storyline made with Operation Homefront, which allows military officials on important occasions to rejoin their families.

Conclusion

The narrative is excellent, everyone wants to listen. However, Telling your Story requires unique abilities. Even when the audience size is just one, it requires a lot of work to engage your customers.

Similarly, MARKETING is a sector that primarily relies on the Narrator’s ability to convey a message through its story. Be a good storyteller if you want to be a good marketer. How do you become one? Soak up this knowledge, share your experience, and exercise. Define your target audience.

Just make your plot as easy and impressive as it gets. Characters with well-defined features, motivation, and objectives. Consider your theme and the decor that will accompany it to make it real and appealing.

FAQ

How to write an impactful story?

1. Understand Audience Interest.

2. Solidify A Plot

3. Create A Story Flow

4. Make It Relatable 

5. Keep In Short

6. Make It Personal

What is marketing storytelling?

Marketing storytelling involves utilizing a story to convey a message. The objective is to make the spectator feel something – enough to urge them to react. Marketing stories make consumers understand why they should care about something and make their brand relatable.

How is storytelling used in marketing?

Understand and sympathize with your customers by narrating a story about them. Marketers should have a deep bond before attempting to sell anything to anyone. Relating to your customers can make the difference between a successful campaign and a disaster.

How effective is storytelling in marketing?

Storytelling is an effective tool for marketers to realize what is happening in the industry and what it means for the customer, user, community, brand, and organisation. Storytelling is more than merely a creative approach to marketing. It provides your customers with a completely new way to interact with your brand.