Effective marketing boils down to three key goals: persuade, influence and push for action. You can sway decision-making with feedback and guarantees. The classic timers — time and quantity limits on the product — will help to nudge the target action. But persuasion is a tough nut to crack. Don’t you agree?
Storytelling can be a powerful tool to win over users and make them buy your product. It also works wonders for the other two objectives. So what is it? How can you master storytelling skills and techniques and then use them effectively to promote your products and services? We’ll reveal all in this article.
What is Storytelling?
The three main points of marketing mentioned above are rooted in consumer psychology. The customers do not care about you, they are mainly focused on their problems, pains and complexes. They are only interested in the tangible benefits your product will bring, how it will help improve their lives, fulfill their desires and meet their needs.
And people love not only to satisfy all these desires but it is also very fascinating for them to read or see how others have already done it. This is where persuasion kicks in because the first use of a product happens inside the consumers’ minds when they “put themselves in the shoes” of others.
Storytelling is defined as a way of communicating important information not through a dry statement of facts but through a story that evokes emotion. The essence of storytelling in marketing is to create a captivating, vivid and imaginative story about how someone has already solved their problem miraculously with your product. Such a story must, above all else, touch the reader. It should inspire, motivate and urge immediate action while suggesting solutions to problems.
Storytelling has great benefits for business, marketing, psychology and many other fields. You can use storytelling when writing posts on social networks, blogs, presentations, websites, comments, Q&As, ads, videos, articles — basically any post about your products or company. Make each of your posts a little story about the application of your product. Create an engaging video, design a product presentation using slides, a selection of interesting pictures and photos. Whatever works best for you!
In sales, stories will help you not only talk about the product or service but also provide arguments, prove the effectiveness of the product and generate interest. Using stories, you can achieve greater brand awareness, increase customer loyalty and trust, boost engagement and widen the circle of interested users and subscribers.
Storytelling Strategies for Marketing Success
Capturing and keeping users’ attention is no easy feat. With only eight seconds to make an impression, you need to craft a message that hooks them from the start and doesn’t let go. But how do you make them hang on your every word? There are some techniques and tricks that can help you tell stories that sell. Let’s explore some of the most popular storytelling methods in sales.
Monomyth
A monomyth is a classic storytelling technique that follows the journey of a Hero who leaves his ordinary world, faces challenges and returns with a reward. This technique has its origins in oral folklore and was first analysed by Joseph Campbell.
Every company wants to attract more potential customers by reducing negative emotions and increasing positive ones. A monomyth can help you turn a reader into a buyer by inspiring them with a compelling story. The structure of a monomyth is as follows:
The beginning of the story. The Hero lives in his normal world where everything is familiar and comfortable.
A call to adventure. Something happens that disrupts the Hero’s routine and invites him to embark on a quest.
Support. The Hero struggles to cope and seeks the guidance of a wise mentor.
Departure. The Hero has to choose between staying in his comfort zone or taking a risk. He chooses to accept the challenge.
The Trial. The Hero encounters many obstacles, tests his strength, overcomes his fears and learns new skills.
The reward. After facing the hardest ordeal, he finally obtains a prize that will help him solve his problems.
Result. The Hero achieves his goal and returns to his normal world but he is transformed by his experience. He has gained new insights, values and truths.
The denouement. The Hero restores the balance, life goes on but he is happier and wiser.
Every purchase is a similar adventure. But more than that, it is the impression that it leaves. The monomyth technique can help you create a positive and lasting memory of the “journey” for the Hero. The key is to make sure that the potential customer identifies with the Hero.
Mountain
The mountain technique in storytelling is used to create drama and suspense in the story. It has a beginning and a development of the event, similar to a hero’s journey. The distinctive feature is the constant twists and turns.
You can use these twists and turns to show how challenging it is to achieve the desired outcome but you have to persevere and follow through. You have to climb all the way to the top to reap the rewards. This technique builds up the tension gradually which makes the outcome more impressive.
False Start
This is a story that starts off normally but then takes an unexpected and even shocking turn. This is a powerful technique to grab the audience’s attention and deliver your message. This technique is suitable for telling stories about failures, lessons learned from negative experiences and new ways of solving business problems.
Petals or Frame
Tell several stories that are not directly connected to each other. What will link them together is the way of solving the problem. This resembles a daisy flower with many petals around a yellow center. This storytelling technique works well at conferences where several speakers share their stories united by one common theme.
Sparkline
Compare two stories here ─ ‘what is’ and ‘what could be’. This allows the storyteller to highlight the problems and inspire the desire for change. Sparkline is a favourite among advertisers because it is visual and highly emotional. It motivates the audience and urges them to take action.
In medias res
This Latin phrase means “in the midst of things”. It is a common term used by literary critics and writers to describe this technique. The idea is to begin the story with the actions of the hero who is compelled to act by some circumstances. These circumstances are revealed much later when the reader is hooked by the story and wants to know what caused the problem.
How to craft a captivating story
The essential criteria for a story that will sell are:
It is relevant, meaning it meets the needs of consumers, its theme is topical and sparks curiosity.
It is useful because it helps the user solve a problem, answer a burning question, learn something new.
It is emotional. It elicits a strong reaction, touches the reader, makes him/her invested in the events and triggers a desire to share.
It is targeted. It appeals to the specific target audience, i.e. the consumers who will be interested in it.
It is well structured. The narrative is logical and coherent.
It is clear. The main message is straightforward. The story is easy and quick to understand by the audience.
It is imaginative. A good story is a creative representation of reality. Does the reader have a vivid, memorable image after reading your text?
It encourages action. Does the user choose your brand or product for good after reading the story?
There are certain rules of storytelling. Every story has content and form.
Content is what you are writing about. It includes the theme of your story, the purpose of the story, the idea, the main point, the characters, the setting where the action takes place (which is the backdrop for the action), the conflict between the character and the circumstances, the clash of opinions, etc.
Form is how you convey the content to the reader. It is the structure, the composition of the story and the plot of the narrative. Let’s examine the elements of content and form in more detail.
Idea
Any text should have a purpose, it should lead to a certain conclusion and then to action. Why is it important to define a goal? To stay focused and to achieve the result more easily.
For example, the purpose of a story could be:
To introduce the company’s products, to help with the decision.
To increase the trustworthiness of the company’s products.
To explain a problem and how it can be solved.
To increase brand awareness and user loyalty.
Once you formulate your objective, you will understand the theme and idea of the story — they stem from the objective. For example, your goal is to tell about your customer’s problem, what challenges they faced in solving it and how they solved it with the help of your service. The idea is to show how to solve the problem with a specific service. This will also be the main message of the story. Note that the main idea must be one, you must not dilute it. It must run through your entire story like a “red thread”. Only then will you get a reader who is attentive to the subject and who will ultimately make the right choice quickly and easily.
Audience
Your narrative should resonate with specific people. You need to create a profile of your target audience. Think about who the potential consumers of your products/services might be: their gender, age, education, income, and so on. Proper targeting is crucial for promotion.
Portrait and world of the hero
The heroes or characters of a story are the protagonists. They help to advance the story and achieve its goal.
The story may be told in the first person, that is, using the pronouns “I” or “we”. In this case, the main character is narrating the story. The narrator may also be the author. Then it would be a story about, for example, a friend, a relative. The characters in the story should be relatable to readers. Their problems should be similar to the user’s challenges, familiar and understandable to them. Only in this case, the readers can empathise with the hero, imagine themselves in his shoes, worry about him, seek a way out of a difficult situation together and rejoice in his victories.
The hero’s failures, bad decisions and losses make your story more relatable and trustworthy to the reader. Your character will look more realistic if the action takes place in the context of a real city, a place. Think about where the hero will act, what kind of environment will surround him and what background will set the scene.
The monologues and dialogues of the characters animate any narrative and make it dynamic and easy to follow. Write out the conversations including the author’s character descriptions and lyrical digressions. Now that you’ve identified the key points of the story, you can move on to defining the structure of the story. Why do we need an outline? To make sure the narrative is logical and structured.
The simplest outline includes:
Introduction. What preceded the events being described. The origin of the problem.
The main part. The development of the action. The climax.
Conclusion. How it ends.
Choosing a format
You can pick different formats for your story: write a plain text, make a video, record audio or create a collage out of pictures or photos. Formats can also be mixed. For example, short videos have become a popular format for Instagram storytelling. Larger campaigns write posts using customer testimonials.
Formatting
When choosing a font, you should keep in mind that it always conveys an extra meaning. If it’s a women’s story, for example about cosmetics or lingerie ─ a light and airy font is best. If it’s a men’s story, you might go for a rougher, sharper style. According to research, sans serif fonts are more suitable for easier online reading. For example, Verdana or Ariel. It is not recommended to use more than two fonts. The colour of the letters should be black and the background white.
Using pictures makes the text more lively. It is always better to see than to read. Pictures can be assembled into a collage or, alternatively, you can use a slider. It is good to use interactive pictures, diagrams and texts, this helps to increase the user’s engagement. The call to action should be clear and simple: it can be a button or a link.
Storytelling Marketing: Examples of Effective and Engaging Ads
How Porsche became a legend: a story of innovation and excellence
The story of love and sacrifice: Chanel’s perfume advert as a lifetime story
Twix: a candy bar with a funny story to tell
Nike’s inspiring story of courage and resilience wins Cannes Lions Grand Prix
What to read about storytelling
Books will also help you master the technique of persuasion through stories. You’ll find tips on how to craft compelling stories, examples and other useful information.
“How Coca-Cola took over the world. 101 success stories from world-famous brands”
A book of advice on storytelling from Giles Lurie. He suggests several formats:
Brand and product stories.
Useful stories for motivation.
Personal stories, including the ones from company executives.
Mini-movie filming.
True stories from real people.
Presentation — story and narrative instead of empty statistics and cliché phrases.
He also explains how storytelling is used by global brands.
“Storynomics. Story-based marketing in a post-advertising world”
Practical storytelling tips from Robert McKee and Tom Gerace. The author advises on how to apply storytelling when popular advertising formats don’t work. Using examples from well-known brands, the author shows how to engage with consumers, attract more interested users, keep their attention and turn potential customers into buyers.
“Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire”
Over 100 stories from Paul Smith. The author tells you how to evoke emotion in your readers and increase user engagement. He provides an example of a template to help write any story.
Conclusion
Nothing grabs the attention of potential customers and persuades them to buy like a good story. But don’t put all your eggs in one basket! You need to experiment with different techniques and find as many ways to connect with your audience as possible.
We hope you rock it!
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