In today's marketing culture, there are a lot of strategies that can help your business or product grow. A few notable ones come to mind... influencer marketing, robust social media campaigns, retail media, using AI generated automation, and so much more. However, when it comes to return on investment, there is nothing that weighs more in return than telling real stories from your brand. In this blog, we will cover a few tactics around using storytelling as a powerful marketing strategy.
All good stories start with a problem, then a solution, then a life changed or results that end for the better. Whether it's Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Mary Poppins, Lion King, Back to the Future, or Sandlot... the plot of a good story always has a problem that needs solving for the main characters. And the best stories end with a Happy Ever After!
When thinking about your brand or product, it's crucial to tell your story and how you help put the customer first. And telling a great story bust always start with showcasing your effectiveness on how well you solve your customer's problems. If you sell hair treatment products, your hair products should make hair treatment easy, affordable, and stress free. If you sell organic dog food, your dog food should eliminate all non-organic or processed options. However, once you solve the customer's problem, it's important for you to capture the end result and display this in your marketing. You have to tell the story of success! From client testimonials to product reviews, you must tell the authentic story of how your company or organization makes other's lives better.
A great way to tell your story is using the every day lifestyle of your customer. Don't over polish. Don't try to make your product the focus of the marketing. Sometimes an expensive photo shoot isn't the answer. Instead, make the customer your focus, put yourself in their shoes, and work to produce marketing content that makes the consumer see themselves with your product or services.
A practical example: if you're selling a product that usually lives in the kitchen area of a house, capture the product in that environment! Go take photos or videos of the product in a home environment.
Everyone loves a heartfelt story. Why? Because it's believable! The reason testimonials are so powerful is because they come from the heart of someone who's life has been changed. Life change is real. Life change can't be faked. Life change usually comes out in the form of authenticity and emotions. Life change shows evidence of a problem that has been solved. Nothing is more powerful than a main character sharing how they were guided to success by a helpful guide who knew how to help them.
Telling authentic stories that people can share from the heart with real emotions will identify quickly with others who feel the same. And once your audience senses the authenticity, they will believe in the story faster because they can sense it's truthful.
A practical example: The actor Tom Hanks once led an acting workshop at Oxford. In his workshop he said the best acting occurred when the actors themselves believed in the story so much they became the actual character. Their face and their body language reflected their belief in the story. The audience believed in the acting because the actors did too! The same is true in storytelling, marketing, and cinema, the best stories come from honesty and life change.
The average attention span of most people is roughly 2-10 seconds. This has been shortened even more with social media and the fast hitting nature of ads. We have been conditioned to keep scrolling or change the channel when the content is boring. This means you have to have a killer hook to capture the audience and their attention.
Put simply, a hook is a simple phrase or talking point that is all about creating interest or grabs attention. It could be as simple as starting with a question or perhaps an outlandish statement. A hook is purely a bait to catch people off guard or pull them right into the narrative. Great marketing and storytelling starts with a creative hook meant to grab the attention of the right audience.
A practical example: Late night infomercials tend to start with a series of questions. "Are you tired of back pain?" or "Have you been experiencing problems with weight loss?" Immediately, the audience is hooked to learn more and find out the solution to make the pain point go away. These are examples of fast but easy hooks!
Simple messages that are repeated are the most often to be remembered. Sometimes the best marketing is when you say the same thing 4-5 times in different ways and repeat the key points! And if it feels a little bit like brainwashing, that's because it is! Simple messages resonate with audiences because they are easy to understand. They remember things that are simple because that's how we're conditioned to communicate. The more complicated your message is, the harder it will be to capture attention or get the audience to take action. With the advancement of technology, today's audience is conditioned to text, talk, and type in sentence by sentence responses. Thus, we expect to be communicated in the same way.
A practical example: Simple messages can be said on an elevator ride. Can you can explain what you do and the problems you solve in 20 seconds or less? If you can't explain what you do in a short elevator ride, it's probably too complicated!
Storytelling is not meant to be complicated, but simple, clear, heart felt, and attention grabbing! From crafting a website design to scripting a cinematic video, stories worth listening to have a good structure and a clear path to resolving the problem. The best part about telling great stories? The audience loves a happy ending and they will always trust what is believable. Follow the tips above if you want to activate your audience!
