Content Marketing Through Storytelling

When we say "content marketing", it simply refers to how you package your brand, product, or service, such that it attracts the audience to convert them to sales. There are various ways to market content, but one that has been there for ages is content marketing through storytelling.

Consumers of information these days are not really interested in data about your content, and that is because our generation can get the data easily, we know the tips and tricks, we can access the news, we can see ideas, and so importunate marketing is one thing we have learned not to settle for.

These days, people love sensational content, content that they can relate with, content that starts a relationship between the brand, product or service and the audience, and that is what storytelling does. Storytelling is a powerful tool for content creators, and that is why you can easily remember some TV adverts from way way back (P.S I still remember Joy soap advert, Vedan seasoning, Toyota, Cadbury's eclairs, etc. from the early '90s) storytelling has the ability to influence emotions.

The first logical question here is why you should try to use storytelling in your marketing strategy. Well, there are several reasons for that.

First of all, stories are interesting. People are curious in nature, and many of them are good listeners. When a narration is genuinely impressive, they are willing to spend a lot of time digging into these stories. In childhood, we love to listen to fairy tales; when we grow up, we hear the stories of our friends. Captivating stories are entertaining for everyone, even asocial people.

 Second of all, stories gain trust. Whomever you decide to share your personal stories with, it makes you closer, right? The thing is that storytelling is quite an intimate thing. You don’t tell stories just to anyone. The same as in life, publishing an engaging story on your site will help you become closer to your readers who will come back for more stories.

And finally, people are just more perceptive towards stories, in contrast to dry statistics and facts.

We are social creatures who need to compare ourselves to other people, feel a connection to them and put ourselves in their shoes.

Defining the goal

If you are squeezing marketing into one simple goal, it is probably going to be “to sell”. It is true, but thinking solely about this goal when you work on your storytelling content is not very useful. If you focus only on sales, you will probably end up with a big advertising bill.

Keeping in mind that selling is your goal, you need to build trusting relationships with your potential buyers. That’s why you shouldn’t focus on sales entirely at this point, but focus on having a conversation with your audience.

Now, let’s talk about the ways you can gain your audience’s trust and make your content go viral.

*PERSONALIZE*

People don’t like reading abstract texts. Tell the story from either your own, or someone else’s point of view (name this person too). Such stories are more likely to evoke empathy.

Make the story teller look as similar to your clients (users, readers, etc.) as possible, having the same problems and worries. This approach would be perfect for a marketing campaign where the main character talks about the product or service, answering the possible questions that people may have.

*Add emotion*

Nostalgia, humor, admiration or even fear – you should tell a story so that it brings out an emotional reaction.

*Offer a scenario that solves a problem*

Create your story such that people can identify with the solution that the product, brand, service brings to a problem

*Support your story with data*

This is self explanatory- do a detailed research, get some facts and statistics to feature in your story

*Get a content creator*

Not everyone is creative enough to create compelling stories around a product, brand or service. If you can't do it yourself, get a content creator to assist.

We have barely touched the surface of content marketing via storytelling, but I hope this gives you an idea of what it's about.