Content could simply mean anything – a photo, video, text, combination of empty words. Yes, content is the king; but stories breathe life into your content because the narrative tries to connect with people through empathy. Brand storytelling has been alive for quite some time now, but it is increasingly growing in popularity as digital media takes over from its print counterpart.
Impact of Storytelling on Digital Marketing
Individuals use digital platforms to create and convey messages to the audience. This isn’t very different from its traditional marketing, except for maybe how the stories are delivered. In terms of selling, digital marketing with the help of storytelling utilizes marketing strategies and various means of communication to persuade buyers into making purchases.
Let’s Check Out How Storytelling Impacts Digital Marketing
- Connects With Your Target Audience: Nowadays, the internet is flooded with marketing ads. You can never go through a web page without being bombarded by a ton of ads or click on a website link without avoiding a pop-up. Due to this, our brains have been conditioned to avoid anything intrusive or predictable. So, to stand out from the crowd, you need a concept that not only catches the eye but keeps the user engaged.
- Builds Trust: As compared to bland information that reads like an instruction manual, it is storytelling that addresses a customer’s pain points and lets them know that you have their best interests at heart.
- Avoids Being Pushy: These days it is easy for consumers to end conversations through the “X” mark of their browser. Hence, marketers should focus on connecting with them at an intimate level to grab the audience’s attention.
How Is Storytelling Implemented in Marketing?
Here are 3 ways you can convey your story to the target audience:
- User-Generated Content: Customer reviews help in selling products and services more efficiently. Because the target audience tends to believe their peers rather than corporate giants. So, companies must provide consumers with platforms that enable them to share their stories.
- Storytelling Through Visuals: To create impactful stories, your ads need not be limited to text only. People process images quite faster than text. Therefore, to create an ad that attracts the audience’s attention, brands need to make use of digital data to develop engaging stories.
- Mini Ads: Technological advancement has resulted in a “shorter attention span” of the audience. So, with traditional forms of advertising losing out to mini ads, brands need to create ads that are on point to trigger a consumer’s interest.
Use of Storytelling in Digital Marketing
- Brand Story: Traditional advertising forms provide basic information about the product and its uses. Whereas a brand story through its narrative forms a connection with consumers emotionally whilst providing information.
- Show; Don’t Tell: This is a popular concept amongst creative writers. The author makes specific implications that enable readers to experience thoughts and emotions rather than explaining the character’s feelings. So, in terms of selling – digital marketers can use descriptive stories to showcase the value of their product or service.
- Consistent Story: Your advertising message should never change. A consistent narrative enables brands to maintain the consumer’s trust.
- Emotionally Connect: People’s emotions affect purchasing patterns. Thus, brands can use emotional marketing with persuasive messages to target consumers’ emotions.
- A/B Testing: Brands can use A/B testing to determine the version that is helping them achieve the maximum click-through rate. A/B testing is a randomized test with variables in different combinations presented to each webpage visitor. The objective is to identify the combination of variables (webpage, page elements) that gets maximum attention through clicks.
In an era of very short attention spans, the digital natives cannot be swayed by traditional marketing. Storytelling appeals to these new audiences at different levels; personal and emotional and can help transform your businesses if done right.
