Have you seen a heartwarming commercial in your downtime, causing you to search the brand and perhaps even buy a product as a result? Maybe you were scrolling through your social media feed when an ad popped up that spoke to you on a personal level. Storytelling in marketing is a great tool, one which must not be overlooked when focusing on your own marketing efforts.
If you’ve seen our previous blog post about why your marketing needs storytelling, you may be wondering how you can implement this practice in your digital marketing. How can your particular brand benefit from storytelling? In what ways will it grow your audience? Will you see more engagement as a result?
These are all areas we want to help you explore since storytelling is such a useful avenue for your marketing efforts. In order to fully utilize it, however, let’s look at some ways it can kick things up a notch for your business.
Connecting with Your Audience
“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion.” — Dale Carnegie
Or in other words, people are driven by emotional connection more than anything, and this stands true for marketing as well.
The crux of storytelling in marketing is how it likens you to your audience. Customers tend to flock to brands or companies that show they care, while also relating to the people behind the business. So, how does this translate in your marketing?
When you connect with your audience on a new level, you’re also inviting in others who may not have previously heard of your brand or engaged with it. These connections are valuable to your reach and engagement, creating channels for conversation which may not have existed between your business and its customers before.
Plus, you’re learning even more about what your client base enjoys, which will elevate your storytelling even further for an authentic and genuine experience.
Engaging with Your Audience
With storytelling, you can establish brand trust and recognition. Audiences want to see the person behind the curtain, so to speak. And what’s even better than that? When they get to interact or engage with you. They want to feel seen and heard, like they matter more than a consumer. When you engage with your brand’s customers, you’re building a mutually beneficial relationship.
Storytelling draws people in, makes them want to connect and engage, so naturally using this feedback and communication is another way to elevate your brand and your story. You’re listening and learning to your audience, discovering what makes them relate.
Not only that, others are seeing how you interact and may want to join in on the conversation. It’s creating that trust, all with the power of storytelling weaved into the marketing campaign, but in a very legitimate, unified way.
Growing Your Audience
When you illuminate these different pathways of communication from your brand to consumers, you’re showing others how readily accessible you are and how you enjoy relating to people on a basic level. Much like creating a garden and soon watching insects flock to the blossoming flowers, your storytelling has now connected and engaged with your current audience and “planted the seeds” for others to find you.
Using marketing as an emotional, visceral part of your brand allows people an opportunity to invest in your story. Crafting something genuine out of raising your brand’s awareness sets the tone for other potential customers, and gives them reasons why they should care and how they can get involved. It goes back to building that brand trust, then strengthening it through conversation and engagement.
Storytelling in Disruptive Marketing
Marketing, in conclusion, is the total process between buyer and seller of the transfer of goods, including advertising. Disruptive marketing, however, is just another way to improve these efforts in a unique and radical way. Some great examples of storytelling marketing you can emulate will often come from the instances you see in your personal life.
Which brand had an amazing social media post that has stuck with you, long after the fact? Have any commercials particularly moved you or made you want to get involved in some way? Think back on a story you followed closely, how a brand’s mission marketed itself to you and why that resonated. Then, just think of ways your story is especially distinct, and find avenues to translate that through your marketing.
Let us help you with your own storytelling needs to disrupt your industry. Connect with Mavericks Marketing now to schedule a consultation!
