It’s a crowded, noisy marketplace out there; be different and unforgettable.
When brands advocate for their ideas, they usually bombard audiences with facts, statistics, data, and testimonials. However, research suggests that storytelling makes a brand 22 times more captivating and memorable than facts alone.
A brand’s success relies on its ability to catch attention and tap into its audience’s emotions to make a sale; storytelling, or, in marketing, storyselling, is a vigorous tool for this purpose.
As the name suggests, storyselling is the art of telling narratives that capture audience interest, so they remember, engage, understand the benefits of what you offer, and are persuaded to take action.
Is storyselling different from storytelling?
Storytelling is the art of weaving a narrative that ignites an audience’s imagination and transmits a certain message in a compelling manner. Storyselling, on the other hand, is a form of storytelling in which content marketers tell stories that emphasise a product or service’s benefits rather than solely discussing its features, prices, and uses.
The objective of storytelling is to entertain, inform, or inspire, while storyselling is a content marketing method that aims to forge a connection, promote, and sell a service or a product.
Telling a story isn’t just about communicating information; it’s about creating a narrative that resonates with your audience on a personal level. Tapping into your audience’s emotions and demonstrating how your product can help them solve their challenges allows you to build trust, increase brand awareness, and enhance brand loyalty.
The internet has made marketing more accessible, and with millions of pieces of content created, shared, and consumed by audiences every day, it can be very difficult for brands to stand out. To capture attention, you must know how to communicate your brand in a way that’s authentic and unforgettable. Storytelling is a great method to create a campaign that no one can copy, therefore fostering a distinct brand identity and setting yourself apart from the competition.
Some concepts involve intricate details, technical jargon, or abstract principles that can be challenging for consumers to understand. Stories can break down difficult concepts by using relatable characters, real-life examples, and engaging plots. This allows consumers to seamlessly grasp the brand’s message and make better decisions.
When it comes to storyselling, your target audience should be the protagonist or hero of the story. Positioning customers as an integral part of the story will make it easier for them to relate to and make stronger connections with the brand. Craft an accurate hero character by creating a detailed customer profile. Learn about their demographics, purchasing behaviours, and online activities from various sources, such as surveys, comments, and online interactions.
The antagonist or villain should be the problem or their pain point, not a person. Some examples could be price constraints, a lack of customers, and others.
Choose places that reflect the characters’ personalities and the atmosphere of the story. Places with dark tones can be used for plots that talk about complex human behavior or mystery, and bright places for plots that focus on humour and excitement.
Every consumer has a specific set of challenges and circumstances that shape their decision-making. Marketers must take time to understand their specific needs, pinpoint what’s stopping them from resolving them, and integrate it into the story.
Every story should have a moral lesson. In storyselling, the moral lesson should be the product’s value. Marketers can start articulating the advantages of the product or service, and the story’s hero, or the customers, will emerge victorious and benefit from these advantages.
After stating the advantages, guide your audience towards a clear next step by adding call-to-actions. It can be as simple as “Start today!”, and “Buy now!” But you can be as creative as you want.
Step 1: Understand the goal of the storyselling initiative: to make the creation of the storyline easier and more accurate.
Step 2: Define your target audience to ensure that the campaign resonates with their personality, pain points, and goals.
Step 3: Identify the formats and channels to publish your marketing story. You can publish your story as a video or animation on various social media channels, podcasts, your company website, or video platforms.
Step 4: Start crafting the story. Establish your hero character, antagonist, conflict, and resolution.
Step 5: Before finally publishing your story, provide surveys and ask focus groups to view or read our narrative. Through this, you can determine the effectiveness of your campaign and gather feedback from real people who share similar backgrounds as your target audiences.
Research conducted by a professor at Stanford University has discovered that stories are the most effective way to deliver information. When the students heard a speech with stories and facts, 63% remembered the stories, and only 5% remembered statistics.
This means that the messages we receive from stories have more impact on our brains than if we received them from other sources. Stories get our attention because we can relate to them, the situation, and the characters in them.
