Why is it that we remember all the childhood stories told by books, teachers, parents and grandparents? Since humans came to life, experiences and imaginations were catapulted to “moral stories” so that the race could be instilled with a sense of purpose. Stories still form a large part of human communication, even though cave walls are replaced with flat screens. It is because stories are so relatable that people empathise with them, react, engage and share them further on with others.
Now let’s be honest; data, facts and figures, statistics are somewhat boring. But, bundle them into a captivating narration and the whole perspective changes. It is thus, only intuitive, that businesses use storytelling as an effective tool for their branding and marketing strategy.
A good story can affect customers’ decisions
Buyers always look for signals indicating that the seller is trustworthy. Let’s take the Insurance Policy advertisements for example. They always have an idiosyncratic way of projecting that your life is at risk all times – whether in an airplane or while crossing the road. Now, this is a brilliant way of compelling those who don’t have the policy to get one with Insurance Policy.
If you can’t properly tell a story, then your product will never be appealing to customers.
Stories casually link events, don’t force an agenda
Stories have the potential to make ideas stick. And like any skill, this form of art requires practice. Strategic storytelling has been observed to change attitude and behaviour. However, this and only this is never on the agenda. Neither is it always a marketing strategy. The value of storytelling, in business sense, can be transferred to other departments like training your staff or building a connection within teams. Stories can be incorporated into anything- blogs, About Us page of organisations, team bonding sessions, case studies, etc.
Stories have the power to turn listeners into leads and leads into potential loyal customers.
Stories connect & sell
Now imagine you are shown an emotional ad by an NGO where the children abandon their old parents in their difficult years. The organisation then asks you to make some contribution. One would most likely make a handsome donation in the flow of emotions. Now this is because the right chord of human emotion was struck.
Spark the emotional side of your audience’s brain.
Why do you think all the great leaders, keynote speakers mostly have a failure story to tell? Because accomplishments are fit for resumes, failures are what connect common people with successful people. “Oh he failed and then succeeded” sounds more inspiring and “just like me” than “he had it all at the first go”!
Storytelling is the strategic imperative of any business these days. A lot of them consider this as hype; a lot make big fortunes on selling stories. Honestly, you are only as different as your story. Data, research and statistics help us make the decisions but when statistics fade away, it is stories that leave us relevance and inspiration to learn from.