By Candice Georgiadis, social media influencer and founder of Digital Day Inc, a social media and marketing agency in California.
Visualize this: You are browsing a website that exclusively offers organic skincare products. A dozen similar products with the same features and claims are presented to you. The question is, how do you choose which of these items to buy?
Now, on the other hand, say you find a particular product that uses a unique angle: storytelling. The company tells the story of how the product founder’s daughter battled with acne for many years and tried every product on the market, but no skincare product worked. The founder goes on to tell a story about how she discovered a natural ingredient that changed her daughter’s skin and life. She explains that the results inspired her to share this secret with her friends and then start her own brand.
Which product do you think you would pick or buy first?
Most likely, it would be the product with a story. The reason is that stories have the power to grab attention, connect with emotion and persuade us to take action.
Storytelling is not merely a commercial ploy. It is a necessary ability for entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders who wish to distinguish themselves in today’s competitive and noisy market. You will learn what storytelling is, how it can benefit your business and how to master it in this post.
What Is Storytelling, And Why Does It Matter?
At its core, storytelling refers to the art of crafting narratives that capture the essence of your brand and appeal to your audience. It also involves communicating narratives in a way that is both relatable and memorable. In my many years as a social media specialist, I have found that storytelling tends to go beyond the features and benefits framework of your product or service. It goes deeper into the emotional and psychological aspects of your audience’s decision-making process.
Storytelling is not a new concept, as it dates way back into the history of many cultures.
Storytelling also goes beyond education and entertainment. It is used in the realms of business as well. Some of the most successful brands and leaders use storytelling in their sales, marketing and leadership. Think of Apple, Nike, Elon Musk, Martin Luther King Jr. or Oprah. They all have one thing in common: a good story.
Benefits Of Storytelling
In my years of being a social media expert and a mother of three, I have taken note of the benefits of storytelling, both within the business sector and with my kids. (Yes, storytelling works well even within the home.) I’ll summarize these benefits into five main points:
1. Build Trust And Rapport With Your Audience
In business, people buy from people they like, trust, and are familiar with. To achieve this bond with your audience, you need to use stories to show your personality, values and authenticity. Once you’ve established these elements of your brand, trust kicks in, and customers start to like your brand from there.
2. Differentiate Your Brand From Others
What is the unique selling proposition you have? How do you make it known to your target audience amid the tight competition in the industry? I have discovered that telling the right story in a unique way always does the trick. Storytelling helps you highlight what makes you different and better from others. It’s that simple. If your story can tell it, your audience can buy it.
3. Create Memorable And Sharable Content
I guess you must have attended one seminar or another where they have used the story of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg or any of these big shots. The truth is that their stories have remained memorable despite the bombardment of information we receive from different sources every day. Stories help you cut through the noise and capture attention. They help you make your content memorable and easy to recall. They also help you make your content viral and word-of-mouth friendly.
4. Increase Loyalty And Engagement
You want to keep your audience engaged. People crave that emotional experience. There should be an emotional spark when they are interacting with your brand. This is where stories play a huge role in stimulating your audience’s emotions and making them care about your message. Stories can help you increase user engagement, retention and loyalty rates.
5. Drive Sales And Conversions
People sometimes make decisions based on emotions and justify them with logic. Stories help you influence their emotions and motivate them to take action. They help you overcome objections and fears. They also help you create a sense of urgency and scarcity.
Takeaway
As my takeaway, I’ll give you some pointers on how to master storytelling for your business.
• Know your audience and their pain points: Research and profile your ideal customers and understand their needs, wants, challenges, goals, desires, fears, frustrations, aspirations and so on.
• Define your core message and value proposition: Clarify what you want to say and why it matters to your audience. What is the main point or benefit of your story? Use this formula: [Your brand] helps [your audience] [solve their problem] by [your solution].
• Choose the right format and channel for your story: Use different types of stories and media formats for different purposes and platforms. Consider where your audience hangs out online and what content they like and consume.
• Use the classic storytelling structure (setup, conflict and resolution): Introduce your characters (your brand and your audience), the situation (your audience’s problem or challenge) and the goal (your audience’s desired outcome). Present the obstacles or difficulties that prevent them from achieving their goal (your competitors, market conditions, internal issues and so on). Show how your characters overcome the conflict and reach their goal (your solution, value proposition and call to action).
• Incorporate sensory details and emotions: Use descriptive language that appeals to your audience’s senses and emotions. Paint a vivid picture of your story in their mind. Use sensory details that involve sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.
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