Storytelling has been part of human communication for countless thousands of years.
From ancient myths and legends to modern-day plays and movies, stories impart a visceral power that captivates people of all all ages and races.
We relate and respond to stories on multiple levels and in vastly differing ways—often seeing our life experiences in them in ways we might never have thought possible.
Stories delight and enthrall us—capturing, directing, and focusing our attention and shaping our thinking. Stories drive our actions and fuel our dreams, wants, needs, and desires.
In the world of commerce, storytelling helps businesses connect with customers. And yet, most business owners are crap at sharing their stories.
Why is that?
Well, it’s because of one of four reasons.
REASON 1: Priority
First, most business owners are not prioritizing storytelling as a part of their marketing strategy. Either that or they simply don’t understand the importance of forging an emotional connection with their customers.
REASON 2: Understanding
Second, most business owners may not have a clear understanding of their brand's unique story and how to effectively communicate it to their target audience. We don’t know what we don’t know until we know it.
REASON 3: Ignorance
Third, they may lack the skills and knowledge to craft engaging and compelling stories, relying instead on tired old clichés and generic messaging. To be clear, ignorance isn’t a bad thing. Again, We don’t know what we don’t know.
REASON 4: Time
Finally, most business owners are busy and they’re rightfully focused on their business operations and may be unable or unwilling to dedicate sufficient time or resources to developing and sharing their brand story.
Over time, if those four reasons go unchecked, and amazing thing happens: nothing.
Overall, effective storytelling requires three things:
a thorough and deep understanding of what appeals to any given the audience,
a clear understanding of the brand's unique story
and an awareness of the skills and resources to communicate that story in a compelling way.
And yet, as brands responded to the initial impacts of COVID-19, one brand after another sounded the same as one by one they all parroted pretty much the same schtick “ … in these challenging times” and “ … we’re all in this together” schtick.
At its core, storytelling is about creating an emotional connection with your audience.
And yet, and as demonstrated during the early months of COVID, so many brands screwed this up when they could have used their own unique stories—and the stories of their customers—to make themselves:
stand out,
more memorable,
and more relevant.
THIS ISN’T ROCKET SCIENCE!
By using narrative techniques that involve audience members and that put them front and centre you can take your clients and customers on an incredible journey that resonates with them on a deeply personal level.
This emotional connection is key to building trust with your audience and establishing a lasting relationship with them.
One of the most powerful ways to incorporate storytelling into your content creation is through the use of customer stories.
By highlighting real-life experiences of your customers—how they solved their problem because of your product—you create a sense of authenticity and credibility that’s not just hard to achieve through other means but that’s practically unbeatable.
Customer stories can take many forms, from case studies and testimonials to user-generated content and social media posts. You’ve simply got to be willing to collect them and to make sure you have the rights to use them
Another effective way to use storytelling in your content creation is by leveraging the power of metaphors and analogies. By using these tools, you can take complex ideas and make them instantly more accessible (and memorable) to your audience.
For example, if you're selling a product that helps people save money, you might use the metaphor of a leaky bucket to illustrate how money can slip away without the right tools to keep it in place.
Of course, storytelling isn't just about using fancy techniques and literary devices.
At its heart, storytelling is about understanding your audience and knowing what they care about.
By putting yourself in their shoes and understanding their pain points, you’ll find it easier to create content that speaks directly to their needs, wants, and interests.
Ultimately, the power of storytelling in content creation lies in its ability to create a connection between you and your audience in which your product or service is the heroic solution—the dragon slayer if you will.
Whether you're telling the story of your brand, or of your customers, or of your industry, the key is to find the emotional core of your message and to then use that core to engage people on a deeper, more personal level.
By doing so, you’ll find it easier to create content that resonates with your audience and builds lasting relationships that go far beyond a simple transaction.
Storytelling isn’t rocket science. It’s about shared experiences.
As always, thanks for reading.
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P.S. Next time on Shaking the Tree … Why you need to be reusing your old content