Storytelling marketing – how it changes the way the public sees a brand

What is storytelling marketing?

Storytelling marketing is a tool used to communicate their goals and engage the public through a story that aligns with their values. Let's break the term down into its elements to look at each and understand how they serve a business. 

• A story provides an account of the brand's significant moment, outcome, or aspiration and the people involved. 

• Telling is the method of talking to a specific public using a brand's unique voice. 

• Marketing is a strategy companies use to present their stories and highlight what makes them different from their competitors. 

The benefits of storytelling for brands

Even if there are no statistics to back the statement, everyone knows that people remember stories more readily than facts alone. The human brains seem wired to remember stories. Even Game of Thrones' final promoted the idea that stories are stronger than anything else when it put the character with the best story on the Iron Throne. People find stories compelling because they relate to them. 

Stories affect people emotionally and physically and enable them to create bonds and relationships with other people or organizations – even if they didn't do business with them before. Airbnb is a brand that uses storytelling for marketing its services by encouraging travelers to share their experiences with the hosts the platform connected them with. 

Here are the benefits companies get when integrating storytelling into their marketing strategies:

- Storytelling convinces the audiences of a brand's reliability as it's beyond advertising

- Companies can create stronger and deeper connections with their clients

- Stories add a sensible human touch to the brand and content it creates

- Brands can use stories to bind their content together and promote the idea of unity

- Businesses gain a competitive edge when they provide their audiences with a great story

- Stories are considered the most powerful weapons in creating brand loyalty and retaining clients because people are more willing to share a story that promotes a business. 

To rip the benefits storytelling marketing provides, companies must tell honest and relatable stories. They must identify with the readers and remind them that they care for their needs and requirements. 

How to make the most of storytelling marketing?

Since you're reading this article, you know we live in a digital world, and content still is king. Even if online marketing trends have changed over the years, marketers still invest in SEO because websites that grow organically have greater chances of ranking on search engine results. However, content shouldn't be limited to blog articles and landing-page paragraphs because visual communication has gained great popularity over the last few years and provides the best ROI. Using different methods to tell your brand's story can bring greater visibility to your brand and enable it to reach a wider audience. The human brain has always been wired for visual consumption, and 80% of the content an individual takes in gets processed through their brain's visual pathway. Humans find it easier to understand a piece of information via visual content because it takes them less time to process it. Therefore, instead of sharing a story through traditional written methods, you could try some alternative solutions:

- Scripted commercials

- Livestream videos

- Behind-the-scenes images

- Infographics

- Product images with data

Companies have also hired keynote speakers to develop innovative strategies to drive sales and attract clients. A sales keynote speaker can help with storytelling marketing because they can approach various topics relevant to your industry. They deliver presentations online or in-person and can provide your company with the necessary tools to communicate with its audience. Collaborating with a specialist helps your marketing team to get creative with the type of content it utilizes. 

What kind of stories can brands use?

The concept of the story is large and requires refining to understand how to use it in marketing. Storytelling isn't a grand abstract but focuses on the stories a company wants to share with its audience, and it can use several kinds of stories to appeal to its public. 

Brand stories tell the public more about the company and its goals because they center on its origin, vision, and missions.

Product stories allow brands to share their products' features with their clients and talk about their creative processes, manufacturing and supply chain. This way, the public gets an idea of how the products they purchase are developed because they get a look behind the scenes. 

Event stories are also useful tools because they share information about a particular topic the brands want to drive attention to. They tell what's the reason behind the event, how it'll take shape, and what experience it aims to provide. 

People stories are tales that put individuals at their center and show the public the human faces of a brand. It's crucial to introduce team members to create a connection with the public and let them know who brings their favorite services and products to life.        

Customer stories allow companies to reinforce their communities by encouraging their public to provide feedback about their experience with the brand.