Storytelling and Content Marketing: The Connection

Long before brands and businesses were using social media, before there were newspaper ads or even billboards, people relied on storytelling to spread the word. Neighbors would talk to each other about the local shop on the corner, and those neighbors would tell family and friends, and so on. The better the story, the faster it would spread — and that’s especially true now in a world where all of your customers check social media at least once a day.

This all leads us to ask: How are you practicing good storytelling in your marketing? And why is it essential in the first place? 

When you think about it, advertisements are an intrusive way to market a business. Sure, they work, and there are several good arguments to be made for paid advertising online, but they’re also an interruption to your customers. Again, we’re not knocking the strategy because it works, but it’s not always the right channel for every business at all times.

Using content marketing to tell a story is more like an invitation to engage with your business than a sales-y ad that customers feel is everywhere online. Think of all your favorite streaming series: It’s the storylines that draw you in and keep you coming back to binge the episodes. With a thoughtful approach, storytelling in your marketing can work the same way.

We can’t overstate how good stories can draw in the customers, but they’re also a universal language that they’ll all speak. When you write these marketing stories based on your customers’ common pain points or needs, you’ll create a common denominator that allows everyone to relate to the solutions or products your business offers.

Just like past generations would pass down wisdom through storytelling, so too can your business pass along information about how you differ from the competition. It doesn’t matter where your customer may be in the world or along their buyer’s journey. Telling a story will offer you a chance to create one more touchpoint that makes your business even more relatable.

The world is pretty crazy right now, to put it simply. When brands and businesses incorporate storytelling in their marketing, they can offer clarity and a path directly towards products and solutions that give them peace of mind. It’s a method of communicating the values and mission of your business that your new customers come to depend on.

On social media, that connection also works to build communities. When you nurture these online communities, either formal (private Facebook groups, for example) or informal (a fan-created hashtag), you expand the digital reach of your customer base. This community, built on the foundation of your business’s marketing, will be the first place people will visit when they need to find a way to understand the craziness around them.

Look at the data: It’s safe to say that a vast majority of businesses of all sizes have analytics tools to help streamline operations, and that includes marketing. Look to the trends in data to shape the stories that your customers are already telling themselves.

Go to the source: Who better than a customer to tell a story about working with your business? Authenticity is the name of the game these days, and having great testimonials or reviews from customers themselves is a great story to tell.

Use video to your advantage: Although they differ in format and content topics, all social media platforms support video content. Add video content on social media to help shape the stories you’re already telling on your website and with your customer service.

Storytelling throughout your content marketing can either skyrocket the exposure your business gets, helping your prospects to know, like, and trust you enough to want to do business with you. On the other hand, it can quickly become yet another burdensome, unproductive marketing tactic that draws your resources and provides a disappointing return.

While managing your content marketing strategy for your company can be done, it will require time, technical know-how, and skills you may not want to devote to making it work. That’s why so many companies outsource their content marketing to professionals.

If you’d like to talk about the role content marketing could play in filling your sales funnel, we’d be delighted to have that conversation — contact us today to get started!

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