Turbocharge your Brand Awareness through Storytelling

Use a technique storytellers have developed to keep audience's attention for hours and create a map road customers can follow to choose and enjoy your products and services.

by Monica Di Santi

January 4, 2024

Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.” ― Robert McKee

What’s Storytelling?

Storytelling is an ancient way of communication among human beings that let the narrator create a context in which a hero wants to achieve a goal. To do so, he has to overcome obstacles, undergoing through a deep transformation and learning.

Before the usage of written language, people passed down survival information through stories.That’s the reason why human beings are wired to pay attention to stories. Stories are evolutionary.

The human mind is always looking for meaning and patterns, and being a story a well structure piece of communication, it engages people quickly and grab their attention if they care for the characters, i.e people.

With the passing of time and the introduction of new tools, stories turned into a vehicle not only for survival but knowledge distribution, entertainment and even marketing communication.

People read news stories, talk about local and distant events, tell stories to pals and family about things that happened to them during the day. They use storytelling to communicate everyday events.

According to Joe Lazauska and Shane Snow, in The Story telling edge, Good stories surprise people. Stories make people think and feel. Stories stick in their minds and help people remember ideas and concepts in a way that a PowerPoint crammed with bar graphs never can.

What Makes a Story?

A good story has four important ingredients:

• Character: This is the center of the story. The character faces an initial problem but he has to feel motivated to act, i.e he needs his inner force to undergo the new adventure.

• Problem: The character's initial problem triggers the drama he has to live to overcome all the difficulties that come his way before being able to solve the problem. This situation will challenge the main character and fill him with anxiety and fear during his fighting against evil.

• Resolution: The happy end you see most of the time when stories and movies finish is the resolution of the story. Life comes back to normal after undergoing a deep transformation and personal growth.

• Structure: Every story has a well-known and clear structure: Beginning, Middle and End, creating the path the character has to go through to reach the resolution of his problem.

What Makes a Story Engaging?

• Concrete: The story needs a character, a place, a time, and problem to solve.
• Relatable: The plot has to provide opportunity for the audience to see themselves in the hero's shoes.
• Valuable: Readers have to learn something about life through that character's journey.
• Memorable: The narrative has to provide a lasting picture in the reader's mind.
• Emotional: The story line has to trigger feelings in the audience.

What's Storytelling Marketing

Marketing is no longer about the staff you make but about the stories you tell.

Seth Godin.

Storytelling marketing is a technique that uses stories to engage the audience and relate that story to a product or your brand.

Storytelling is important for digital marketing because it easily engages people and grab their attention. Storytelling creates an emotional and customized bond between the customer and the brand, building up trust and loyalty.

And...

It's only human to be curious about what would happen next.

Storytelling is the communication of life experiences to your target audience. This way they recreate those connected events in their own minds and trigger a feeling ( happiness, sadness) that connect listeners with the story hero's journey.

When you include your audience in the scene, you communicate your brand's message effectively.

People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Simon Sinek

Storytelling helps you create relatable and impactful content, creating higher brand awareness, loyalty and conversions.

Know your audience deeply. Learn which pain points are more important. Then, create a brand story that includes your marketing goals, what your audience wants and emotions you want them to associate with your brand.

In short, storytelling is a key ingredient to a successful content marketing strategy.

How do People Connect to your Brand Story?

The introduction of a character creates the connection with your audience if they can relate to that character and his problem.

Oxytocin is released in people's brain when they listen to a story. Stories are considered as a social experience by the brain, thus creating a bonding or loving feeling.

So, stories trigger people's empathy and strengthen compassion and kindness.

As a business person you :

• solve problems
• provide answers
• help overcome conflict
• create happiness for your customers.

In your brand story, your audience becomes the character that has a certain problem and you’re the guide who helps them overcome that problem.

To be able to do so, your audience has to believe in what you do.

Start with your audience needs and problems. Then introduce your product or brand as the perfect solution for their problem.Describe the transformation your product introduces in their lives if they use it and so,forget about that itch they have had for so long.

This puts your audience as the most important character of your story that have to surpass some obstacles, follow the path you show them to achieve their most secret desires. Ad there you have your own brand or product story.

Stories every Business should Tell

Brand Stories

Your brand story is the most important story you should tell. Your "About page" is a good place to display this type of story. This gives you the opportunity to speak about your mission, vision and values.

Besides, these elements let you create a differentiator that makes you stand out in the market place, showcasing your unique selling proposition.

Product or Services Stories

You certainly offer products or services. To write successful stories about your products describe the benefits your product offers, starting with the most important one.

Include a depiction of the transformation your customer's life will undergo after using your product to boost the perception. As a contrast, you can also add what may happen in the customer's life if he doesn't follow your guide.

Product

Service

Customer Stories

Before making up his mind what product to buy, your potential customer does his own research about similar products, their ingredients, prices and benefits different businesses offer.

One of the most powerful pieces of information to persuade them to buy, are the opinions of other people who have already bought from you.

• What if something goes wrong?
• What if the product is not good?
• What if I pay too much?

All these questions linger on their mind.

That's the reason why you have to include stories of happy customers who solved their problems with your product in the past.

Use good pictures of people, and if possible use video. This is the most powerful way of presenting your customer successful stories.

Sprinkle customers' stories on different webpages, and social media channels so they can be easily found.

Industry Stories

If you are an expert in your industry or specialist in certain areas of your industry, you can tell thought leadership stories because you are an inspirational and trusted source of knowledge in that field.

You have innovated in your industry and have created a new method to do things, a more efficient way to deal with a problem, have turn ideas into reality, you can tell your story to colleagues and share the new knowledge that brings prosperity to anyone who applies it.

Copywriting for your Brand Story

Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating. David Ogilvy

Why is Effective Copy your Most Powerful Tool?

Because good copy makes...

• Your products or services memorable and desirable.
• Your message resonate with your audience and triggers action.
• You stand out from the competition.

But if your message is vague and flat...

Prospects won't listen to you.

You'll lose time and money.

So, if you need help to write your brand story...

Contact us

Conclusion

As you see, storytelling is a powerful technique that will help you grab your potential customers' attention and create a positive bond, leading to mutual benefits and what's most important, to your business' growth.