“At its very core, marketing is storytelling. The best advertising campaigns take us on an emotional journey — appealing to our wants, needs, and desires — while at the same time telling us about a product or service.” — Melinda Partin
Storytelling is fundamental to all cultures across every generation. It’s an expression of our shared humanity and a powerful tool for communication. Storytelling goes beyond simple fact-based knowledge and connects with audiences on a deeper, more fundamental level. Good stories elicit emotional responses that have the power to influence the attitudes and beliefs of their recipients.
The innate power of storytelling is why people spend so much time streaming and keeping tabs on their “friends’” (distant family, rivals, exes) social media updates.
Today, we teach you how to harness the power of storytelling to improve your marketing. We could spend several dozen lengthy paragraphs dissecting Jung and Campbell’s theories on the collective unconscious and the hero’s journey (and one we might)… Instead, this blog focuses on the core concepts of storytelling as they relate to content marketing to provide you with actionable advice on how to use storytelling to connect with your audience better. Let’s dive in!
Why Storytelling Matters
Intuition plays a crucial role in the sales process. According to Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman, 95% of purchasing decisions take place unconsciously.
People make decisions based on emotions and justify them using logic—which is why first impressions are so important. It’s why big corporations spend lavishly on fancy offices, and it’s why old-school CEOs wear suits that show that they mean business, while millennial start-up founders dress casually in an effort to communicate open-mindedness and a clear break with tradition.
All of these subtle, seemingly unimportant decisions offer glimpses into a company’s culture and values. It matters because people identify best with brands that share their values—especially in oversaturated markets filled with products that are nearly identical. Because even the most hard-nosed consumer isn’t completely immune to a friendly smile from a cashier or a heart-wrenching PSA about stray dogs (Sarah McLachlan lives inside a lot of people’s heads).
The best way to take charge of your brand narrative and directly communicate your values is by communicating who you are and why people should care through a clear content marketing strategy. In an increasingly digital world, most or all of leads’ touch points could occur online—through your website, social media channels, or online review sites. This is why it’s essential that every piece of content you publish supports your overarching brand story. Whether it’s through video, photos, graphics, or even the good ol’ fashioned written word, everything you create needs to support your brand story.
What is a Brand Story?
According to Semrush, “A brand story is a summary of your company’s history, mission, purpose, and values, with a narrative structure that brings it to life.” Good stories elicit an emotional response from their audience. They include a problem and a resolution, but the most important part is the journey. To get a better understanding of what exactly this means, let’s take a look at some examples:
Patagonia Stories is a collection of videos and articles that explore the relationship with nature and their community outdoor adventures and activists. It tackles a wide range of topics related to the Patagonia brand, including climate activism, equal representation in outdoor sports, the lifespan of consumer goods, and an appreciation for outdoor adventuring. These stories emphasize their brand’s mission and values through multimedia storytelling.
On the other end of the spectrum is Nike, whose tagline “Just Do It” eschews any sort of overtly political goals and instead focuses on empowering individual consumers to be their very best through elite footwear. This three-word tagline encapsulates Nike’s focused mission statement, which is to “bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world” (they define an athlete as anyone who has a body). And while Nike’s copy pushes brevity to its absolute extremes, their precise word choice is exactly what makes their message so potent. This simple approach to a brand story lends itself to all sorts of different mediums and creative executions while still maintaining a clear purpose.
When creating content, both of these brands highlight specific journeys that support their overarching brand story. From stories about losing oneself in nature on a journey through the Patagonia mountains to ads featuring up close and personal footage of Lebron dunking, every content decision speaks to who they are and what their values are in a way that tells a clear story packed with interest and emotion.
Using Empathy to Boost Conversions
Creating emotionally resonant stories will supercharge your brand by making your leads actually want to listen to what you’re saying.
Good stories rely on empathy to build a relationship with their audience. You can nag your kids over and over about the importance of trying new things as you try to force a spoonful of peas down their gullet, or you can read them a book about a stubborn individual who wastes page after page of time and energy poignantly refusing to try a certain food before he finally takes a bite only to realize he enjoys it. Which do you think will work better? Having a character to identify with that’s attempting to navigate some of the same problems they are is a great way to get the point across. In fact, cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner has found that “people remember stories 22 times better than facts alone.”
Humans are social animals, and they relate best to other people. So don’t just rely on abstract concepts and high-level arguments get your point across. Put people at the center of your story. Testimonials, founders’ stories, and customer-centric copy are all great tools for making your brand more personable and relatable. People can’t have a conversation with a logo or readily relate to a sales sheet, but they can identify with other humans who experience similar problems and emotions. That’s why so many companies are leveraging their founder’s social media accounts to promote themselves in addition to company accounts (just think how every Shark Tank pitch centers around a founder’s story). A person can have a point of view and a perspective, but that’s a lot harder to do as a vague corporate entity.
Empathy is essential for crafting an engaging story. You need to be intimately familiar with your audience’s needs, desires, and frustrations and to be able to speak to these in a way that grabs their attention (if you’re not, start crafting your brand story by creating buyer personas). Too many small businesses make the mistake of just talking about themselves, writing on and on about what makes them so special. And while it’s important to be able to talk about your unique selling points, that’s not always enough to convince your audience why they should care. Their time is valuable, and with all the content cluttering their inboxes and social feeds it’s nearly impossible to capture their attention unless you can clearly state what’s in it for them. Simply put, they won’t care unless you give them a reason to, and your ability to craft content that resonates with them depends on how well you’re able to speak to customer pain points.
Content Distribution
How you distribute your content is almost as important as the content itself. Marketers today have more ways to tell a story than ever before! Videos, websites, social posts, emails, and good old-fashioned printed materials are all on the table. Knowing what channels to use will depend on where your audience spends their time and what their purchasing process looks like. Gen Zs are just as likely to use social media as traditional search engines to find information, baby boomers are most likely to find products through traditional media (like television and print ads), and almost everybody is keen on word-of-mouth recommendations. Deciding what type of content to create and where to distribute it depends on the communities you want to target. But regardless of the platform, your content needs to be true to your brand story across all channels. A disjointed brand that’s constantly mixing its messages and changing its identity is more likely to create confusion than to assist with the customer journey. Authenticity is at the center of every successful content marketing strategy.
How to Get Started
We just threw a lot of information at you. If things like customer personas and target markets sound like Greek to you or you simply don’t know where to get started, talk to the experts at Pulse Marketing. Our team of strategists and creators will help you create a brand story that sells!