As more voices compete in the crowded digital space, there are a few businesses who are stepping away from the “content machine” and reassessing their digital marketing approach. Instead of overwhelming their audience with more content, they are thoughtfully choosing to separate from the competition with the stories they tell.
Storytelling Marketing is different.
Storytelling marketing involves looking beyond features, benefits and pricing and instead, it connects with people on a deeper level.
Here’s what else storytelling marketing does:
- Storytelling helps businesses distinguish themselves in a noisy, crowded marketplace. You aren’t regurgitating facts and figures; you are building a connection – one person at a time.
- Storytelling in business isn’t about telling just any story. It’s about telling the stories your customers want to hear.
- Storytelling connects with others on an emotional level. Our lives are made up of hundreds of stories, and over time, each one helps others get to know you better.
- Storytelling gets people into your world and helps you become memorable. People don’t always remember brands, but they do remember a story that, in turn, connects them with your company.
- Storytelling helps people get to know your company long before they are ready to do business with you. In a way, storytelling assists with the vetting process. If a person can’t relate to the stories you share, they’ll continue their search. And this is okay because when someone does contact you, they are already a higher quality lead.
- Storytelling helps your company become more credible. People read the stories that you share of past projects and begin to know, like and trust you. By the time they contact you, they already have a good flavor of how you do business.
Every business has great stories to share.
The key is to identify your stories … and to tell them well.
Need help with your storytelling marketing efforts? Contact me.
13 thoughts on “The New Marketing: Storytelling in Business”
That is so true! I forget to story tell. I also forgot to send out my Guru Gram. I’m sending them here to read this. Great reminder!
As an avid reader of your blog and viewer of your videos, I disagree, Bridget. I think you tell stories more often then you think. You captivate your audience and give them real life scenarios as a way to illustrate your points.
And I am glad that I can remind you to send your your great e-newsletter, too. 🙂
I guess it’s funny that we tell stories without even noticing it.
Love how you started out talking about the “content machine” as it often does feel this way. Stories are great, and people are more likely to read the entire story because of the connection … and therefore, learn from the message you’re trying to communicate.
As construction professionals are realizing the value of content for their website, they are falling into the mistake of “churning” out articles. They have the perfect business to tell stories – through customer experiences and the projects they build. I’d like to see more stories and less regurgitated topics.
I really appreciate your comments, Tina. Thank you.
I am going to think about how I can do this more effectively. Thank you, Tess.
You’re welcome, Bridget!
Tess, I have always been a fan of your project spotlights and tried to get contractors to incorporate those into their sites. I think this is a great natural evolution to this. By telling the “story”, whether it is how you overcame obstacles, solved problems, made a beautiful space or ??, you “humanize” the whole project. Great reminder, thanks!
Yes, project spotlights are a fairly easy way to “tell” the story behind the work. Even better, though, is to have your customers tell the story from their perspective. That’s a fantastic way to have your story told.
Thanks for chiming in, Chris!
Very timely post, Tess, as I’ve been thinking more about storytelling and blogging lately. We all have a lot of funny stories to tell from our time on the internet (or on Planet Earth, for that matter!). Thanks for writing this.
I look forward to seeing what you do with this, Carol. 😀
There’s a reason people spend so much of their free time reading stories, playing video games with stories, watching stories in movies and shows, or following the ongoing stories of sports teams. We’re obsessed with stories, and marketing should tap into that.
Totally agree, Adam. Stories give businesses a little bit of “emotional pull” they need to help people identify with them.
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