Written by: Lia Categories - How Brand Storytelling Captures Your Audience’s Attention and Demands Engagement
As author Philip Pullman once said, “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” It’s a big statement, but one that rings true. Storytelling engages with people, and invites them to partake, identify, and enjoy. We see ourselves in the stories we engage with—quite literally, in fact. All well and good, but what’s that got to do with branding and content marketing? In short… everything.
Your Brain on Stories
Do’s and Don’ts of Storytelling in Marketing
Content marketing without storytelling is like having a sports car but no license or insurance. It looks great, sounds great, and generally is great, but you can’t do much with it, can you? Storytelling can provide cohesion and unity to branding. It’s the thing that can help tie your message together, and help you stand out from the crowd. It’s the license to thrill, if you’ll bear with us for a second! That said, compelling copy and content relies on a few key factors to really sell the message to your audience. You need to:
- Catch their attention—be memorable, and not boring!
- Keep it simple—your audience will likely only remember 3 to 5 things you tell them in one go.
- Avoid technical stuff—it’s good to have now and then, but you’re not writing a textbook.
- Be authentic—honesty goes a long way, so tell the truth and stick to what can be measured. Your audience will find out if you’re not.
Audience Engagement
This is the big one. Your content marketing strategy has take into account how audiences will engage with your brand, and adapt accordingly. Consider the following findings:
- 700,000 Google searches are performed every minute;
- Each year, over 5.3 trillion ads are shown to online users; and
- The average consumer reads 100,500 digital words on a daily basis.
Considering the amount of stuff that an audience is bombarded with, it’s no wonder they’re going to scan things quickly. Thankfully, storytelling and compelling messages that encourage engagement can cut through the average person’s filter. Videos on social media are a great way to do this. Video is growing massively, and is an effortless way to tell a story. Ads, too, should provide a quick snapshot of what your brand is all about and what it has to offer. Consider microstories (pieces of content, advertising, or design work) that convey a message in a short amount of time. Which brings us to…
Why You Need Brand Storytelling
Even if your product is The Best There Ever Was®, you’ve still got to get people using it. Tell a story! It can be as simple as showing how consumers can make use of your product. Maybe it’s a new cleaning solution that can take the headache out of cleaning up after the kids, or maybe it’s a new food product that makes weeknight family dinners a breeze.
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