A Marketer’s Guide to Storytelling: How to Use Stories to Reach Customers

Digital Marketing

Jul 18

When most of us hear the word storytelling, we think of children’s books or tales told around a campfire. We think about movies, fables, and our favorite characters.

But storytelling isn’t reserved for fiction and entertainment. The power of storytelling also works in marketing. Using stories in marketing allows you to share memorable and powerful messages that connect deeply with audiences and customers. Our job as marketers is to ensure our brand has a strong recall for potential customers when they have a need for our product or service.

Here are a few ways to use storytelling to better reach your audience and convert more customers.

First, What Is Storytelling?

Storytelling is the process of using a narrative as a form of communication. When you tell a story, you explain a concept or idea by walking the audience through a series of actions.

A story has a:

Hero: the main character who is at the center of the narrative
Conflict: the problem or struggle that sets off a series of actions
Ending: the resolution that resolves the problem or struggle

Stories in books and stories in marketing both follow the formula of a hero experiencing a conflict, rise in action, and a resolution.

What Is Storytelling In Marketing?

Storytelling in marketing uses the narrative formula to highlight a brand, product, or service. It incorporates elements about a brand or offerings as it tells a tale about a character’s conflict and resolution.

Storytelling used in marketing is powerful because it can:

Elicit emotion
Educate and inform
Incite action
Convey values
Foster community

An example of storytelling in marketing is a case study. In the story, the customer is the hero who is experiencing a problem, and a product or service helps the customer resolve their conflict and leads to a happy ending. It’s a great outline of a problem, solution, and result to follow for case study storytelling.

Why Good Marketing Uses Storytelling

Storytelling is useful in marketing for multiple reasons.

Stories are easy to understand. Stories make abstract and complex topics easier to absorb. They help us visualize ideas that may be difficult to understand.
Stories are memorable. Our brains are wired for stories, and we remember them more than a list of facts or details.
Stories can inspire and motivate. When stories have an emotional appeal, they can elicit strong feelings that encourage audiences to act.
Stories can show proof or results. Stories are a great way to show what happens as the result of using a product or service.
Stories can show authenticity. Stories about your brand can introduce your business to customers in new ways. It can be a tool to showcase the “why” behind your brand and set your brand apart from competitors.

How to Use Storytelling in Your Marketing

If you’re having a difficult time wrapping your head around how you can use storytelling in your marketing, consider these practical applications. Here are a few ways to apply storytelling techniques to your marketing efforts.

Highlight value propositions and messaging. To help customers understand how your brand helps them, tell a story about a character and how the value propositions of your offerings help solve the character’s problem.
Present case studies. Walk customers through the process of using your products or services by telling a story of how a character used your offerings to create a positive outcome.
Gain visibility in the media. Attract attention to your brand from media outlets and audiences by telling a compelling story about your brand, employees, or community initiatives.
Create better copy. When writing copy for your content marketing efforts, use stories to walk readers through a situation in your blog posts, social media content, and newsletters.
Create better visuals. Make your graphics and videos more engaging and interesting by using them to tell a story rather than simply share information, facts, or details.

How to Tell a Marketing Story

Now that you know what stories are and why they are such a powerful marketing tool, let’s look at how you can start to craft them for your brand.

Start with your why. As Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” As you craft stories about your brand, incorporate the mission of your brand to add an authentic, emotional angle.

Know your audience. Good stories are always written with their target audience in mind. Before you craft a brand story, create buyer personas that help you understand who you are talking to so you know what stories will be most interesting and relevant to them.

Define your objective. Before you write a story, consider the goal of your project. Why are you telling the story? What do you hope will come from telling it? Consider the call to action that will come at the end, and craft your story to end with a resolution that ties to your end goal.

Choose your medium. Stories come in many different forms and lengths. You could tell a story through a 2,000-word blog post or a 10-second Instagram reel. Before you start outlining your story, know where you will place the story so you can match the best format for the medium.

Make your customer the main character. You may be telling stories about your brand, products, and services, but that doesn't mean your business should be the main character in the story. Whenever you can, make the customer the main character. Tell the story from their perspective.

Test to see what works. Like all marketing tactics, some storytelling approaches will work better than others. Test and measure the results of different mediums and assets to see what best connects with customers and iterate based on what you learn.

Our Brand Story

When we started SpotOn in 2015, the market was good, and smart digital marketers were starting to consider a freelance approach to work. Our team had a lot of traditional agency and media experience, but we knew we wanted to do something different. We didn’t want to be a traditional agency.

It seemed like a big hill to climb. We wanted to overcome the challenge of workspace and balancing work and personal life and ensure that we could work with clients we are passionate about. We took an unconventional approach and found co-working space, which was slim pickings at that time in Tampa, and subscribed to efficiency tools to improve our productivity and collaboration in a remote environment. And, we got it to work!

When the pandemic hit a handful of years later, we didn’t skip a beat because the processes and protocols for remote work were second nature to us. We grew when other companies didn’t. And we continue to build our company with talented team members with this very same structure and refined process to vet great clients that fit our expertise, culture, and experience to outperform their expectations.

Improve Your Brand Stories

See what we did there? With the example story above, sharing our inspiration of starting the company and our agility through the pandemic is intended to leave an impression about the culture of our team. Stories are a powerful way to connect with customers and showcase details about your brand in a compelling, emotional way.

If you need help crafting stories for your brand, SpotOn Digital is here to guide you. Through research and strategy, we can help you get to know your audience, define your brand differentiators, and help you find ways to craft stories about who you are and what you do.

Start telling better brand stories today. Contact SpotOn to see how our team can help craft compelling stories related to your brand and your customers.

storytelling

Robyn Spoto