5 Types Of Stories Brands And Marketers Should Be Using

For a lot of people, it brings back memories of bedtime stores, nursery rhymes, or childhood tales.  This type of stories are mostly fictional, and their purpose is to make people feel better and entertained.  

However, the common thing to these stories is that they mostly have happy endings. You might wonder, what storytelling has to do with marketing and marketers. It’s important to know that some of the principles used in storytelling also applies to the market. Stories are capable of invoking the emotion of readers, and also leave readers with a lasting impression.

What’s the Correlation Between Marketing and Story Telling?

Storytelling is a powerful tool, that can improve and significantly boost marketing if rightly carried out. The purpose of stories is to engage one’s target audience and also entice them to buy your products or services. However, the problem most brands and marketers have is that they don’t see themselves as storytellers. The good news is that there is a way to take a data-focused approach to storytelling that would make the most of your content when it comes to traffic, shares, and conversions. Below are some of the five stories that could be used to increase your reach, and also attract new customers.

The Types Of Story That Could Help Engage Your Audience And Drive Them To Take Action

  1. SEO search journeys: Google introduced search Journeys in the later part of 2018. This feature has taken the “user intent” to a new level. Instead of identifying the intent of the user based on the keywords and context used, Google now makes use of artificial intelligence in predicting where users are at in their Search journey. Google shows the user content based on what they are most likely to look for. They do this by providing them with more information, to weigh their options, or to buy.

As an illustration, a user may be “problem aware” and are searching for possible solutions online. Then they become “solution aware” and start comparing multiple brands and service providers in order for them to make the best decision. In simple terms, Google tries to identify where the users are at in the buyer’s journey, and then provide them with content that will urge them along that journey. This is an opportunity for brands and marketers to create content that draws in users at each stage.

  • How you can create story content that goes in line with the buyer’s journey: As mentioned earlier, Google search journey works by identifying where the user is at the buyer’s journey and present the buyer with different options. The job of brands and marketers is to now take advantage of this new feature, by creating contents for each step of the target’s audience’s buyer’s journey. As an illustration, say someone is looking to remodel their building, the first keywords they may input in their search engine, may include the following “home remodel ideas” or “kitchen remodels examples” to have a general idea of what to do, and what to expect. This is where the google new feature comes in, as it’d present with them informative content, assuming that they’re at the beginning of their search journey. Brand or marketers have to create blog contents that would address or be the answer to the questions users are asking. As an illustration, the answer to the aforementioned questions could be “ Top 10 ways to remodel your kitchen” or “15 ways to remodel your building” and so on. In a situation where the user takes a break and comes back a week after, to search for the same thing, Google knows what they really want are ways to achieve the ideas and examples they saw during their last search. Google will present them with things such as” Hire a contractor, or DIY kitchen remodel” and so on. For this step of the buyer journey, a brand or marketer can also create a blog with the title “ Tips on choosing the best home contractor.” In addition, Google would also suggest pages where they can buy the materials used in kitchen remodel. To entice potential buyers, you could write a blog with the topic that goes like “(brand) discounts,” (brand) pricing sheet and so on.

2. Breaking false beliefs: A lot of brands and marketers push out contents that tell their audience how they stand out from the competition.

However, another way to go about this is by spending some time to debunk the rumors and false beliefs people have about the industry and the types of services you offer. It’s important to know what false belief is. The false belief is often created and circulated to prevent your target audience from seeing the value that you have to offer and to also prevent them from seeing how much power they have in terms of making significant changes in their own business. As an example, a lot of people hold the belief that “SEO is all about rankings,” but this can’t be further from the truth. Yet, the brand’s marketers are trying to help often go about with this false belief. It could become a struggle, trying to break everything down, and convincing them that rankings are not as important as other benefits of SEO, such as key performance index, return on investment and so on.

What Are the Ways Of Debunking False Beliefs In Your Story Content?

You can correct a false belief but not by telling someone “You’re wrong and this is why.” This would just be stoking the fire, and the individual would not believe you. This is because a lot of people have had these believed for a long time, and it’d take more than a few words to convince them. This is where storytelling comes in. You’d have to create a story that the individual can relate with, and tell it in a way that the person can’t help but question whether what they believe has been incorrect all along.

References

(2019). Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Writes-Go-Creating-Ridiculously/dp/1118905555

Forsey, C. (2019). The Ultimate Round-Up of Content Marketing Tips. Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/content-marketing-tips

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