The most effective marketing approach: Storytelling
When was the last time you were fully immersed in a movie?
When we watch movies or hear any story, quite often we identify ourselves with one of the characters. The nosy person trying to solve a murder. The refugee attempting to survive overseas. The action hero falls in love with the woman he saves. The passionate person trying to make it the big city.
We take inspiration from the lead characters as they pursue freedom, love, or justice. Nothing in a storyline is more impactful than a character who is urgently pursuing a goal. The reader or viewer cannot help but relate with that figure since they have wants and desires just like them. Our minds are programmed to think that we can succeed if the main character in a novel achieves its goals. We even feel emotions even though we know the story is not real.
This is why using stories in marketing is so effective. We lead readers to feel that, with our help, their aspirations can be realised.
“Stories are FACTS, wrapped in CONTEXT and delivered with EMOTION”
How can storytelling techniques be used in marketing messages?
Good stories have a variety of qualities, including the ability to surprise us, provoke thought, stay with us, and help with reminding us about things that text cannot. That is why great storytellers have an unfair advantage. By articulating a compelling vision, businesses can attract and keep the best employees, interact with the press and media more effectively, raise money for their project or company more simply, and finalise business deals more efficiently.
A well-known brand that has fully embraced the power of storytelling is Airbnb, storytelling lies at the heart of their marketing strategy. Their narrative focuses on the owners of the listed homes as well as the guests who go there. Their website now includes a whole section dedicated to it. They concentrate on the narratives and the characters, realising that this is how people communicate and that their strategy will draw in more clients. You can tell that Airbnb genuinely cares for its community.
The secret behind a good story
To make a story memorable, try to focus on these three things when telling it:
- Inform – communicate what we know intellectually.
- Engage – means to communicate in a way that the audience will pay attention.
- Inspire – is to spark creative interest.
When we are communicating effectively, we naturally transition between the three stages. The secret behind telling a good story is to make the story about your client ‘’the hero of the story’’. The character has a desire but cannot achieve it yet because of a conflict, emotion grows out of conflict. The best stories usually involve challenges that must be overcome. What creates tension and adds passion to your story is the mistake, failure, or tragedy. The conflict needs to serve as both the story’s turning point and its most memorable element. How do you transform your client’s life? With your product or service to get to their desired goal.
The main takeaway is that the best approach to marketing in today’s world is by storytelling. Marketing is about your customer, they are the hero, stop thinking about marketing as self-advertisement. The best way to communicate a story is to put your audience in the centre and try to inform, engage, and inspire them to make it memorable. Above all be authentic!
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