4 Ways to Use Storytelling as Your Strongest Weapon

Here’s the harsh reality–everyone is paying attention to what they consume. As civilians, friends, users and customers, we’re being told stories on the regular. In several ways, among various formats and through different narratives.

Storytelling is one of the most effective ways to market your brand if you want to sustain interest, remain relevant and earn your customer’s trust.

As we speak, our new era of modern technology is constantly emerging, evolving and everchanging. We’re exposed to over 4,000 ads daily, absorbing content from just about everywhere.

Whether you’re tapping through your Instagram stories or deleting promo emails from your inbox, it all comes down to one question: how do we set our businesses apart from the others?

Clever copy.

Writing is, in fact, one of the most powerful weapons you can have in digital marketing. It’s a sole form of communication that automatically places your reader first, by having the control of deciding how, what and when they interpret what you’re selling them.

Sure, there’s the typical AIDA model to reference. Once you source your customer’s experience, the rest is pretty straightforward. The fact of the matter is, there isn’t any direction for nailing the context behind targeting every pillar right.

Simply put, if you want a successful business, you’ve got to have a copywriting approach that appeals to your audience. That said, you can’t accomplish impactful storytelling without the quintessential forms of marketing copy:

Storytelling
SEO
UX, Disabilities & Screen Readers
Inclusivity & Diversity
Technical Writing (tutorial or instructional content)
Branding

For starters, we’ll focus on how to transform your digital presence with storytelling. Expand your horizons with the 4 tips listed below for the first part of this series. They serve as a brief introduction to better your writing skills and skyrocket your business to its full potential.

1. No sugarcoating, keep your message clean cut

Ensure you have a precise vision for your story. Customizable visual templates can help you organize, structure and outline your storytelling around the message that won’t stray from its core messaging, the vital element to your story that often gets lost amidst the various other marketing strategies.

Prioritize concise execution, as you’ll have time to go into the flowery diction once you dive deeper into the story. Ultimately, your readers will know exactly what you’re trying to tell them. They may even catch on before you get to the punchline.

2. Take full advantage of user-generated content

Take full advantage of user-generated content - Hinge campaign — *Hinge’s “Let’s Be Real” campaign, Source © Adweek*

It’s not just about the context of your story, but how you tell it. Think outside the box and try to incorporate user-generated content in your campaigns, such as hashtags, interviews or social media engagement to add some third-party flair.

We already know the structure of a traditional story. The tricky part is fitting your narrative within the science of storytelling, without coming off too generic. Direct user engagements are a double whammy. They provide a shared intimate space for you and your audience, while also giving you some credibility.

3. Be personable through emotional & virtual drives

Be personable through emotional & virtual drives - Volkswagen campaign — *Volkswagen’s “The Last Mile” campaign, © Youtube*

An MRI study shows that consumers primarily use emotions rather than information. For the right balance of clever language and emotional influence, it’s all about finding common ground, AKA some relatability.

As long as you connect with your audience, your story aligns with them. Mutual interests, ethics, backgrounds and experiences pull on heartstrings. You can dig into Internet culture and use memes, reference different communities of the digital space or even incorporate hashtags. Your company will then translate as personable, allowing your audience to engage with your story.

4. Drop a call-to-action to turn your client into a hero

Drop a call-to-action to turn your client into a hero - Patagonia campaign — *From Patagonia’s “Buy Less, Demand More” campaign, © Youtube*

Not all heroes wear capes, but CTAs bring them to the spotlight. That is precisely why you need to play around with key actions that directly implement your customer into the story. If clients feel like they are a part of the narrative, they’ll most likely want to give you their time, money and attention. Especially if they’re inspired to act on it.

Call-to-actions are entirely dependent on the story’s plot. Consider brainstorming: what’s the missing piece in your story that only a customer can solve? The answer initiates that final push to reach your brand’s goal, only now it doubles as theirs.