Everyone can tell stories, but not all stories can touch the heart and change the mind.
Storytelling is the art of conveying a message through words, images, and improvisations. It is a dear part of human life, as we give meaning or form stories from even the simplest words. For example, when triggered with the word ‘love,’ you may start to imagine the face of someone dear to your heart. Past experiences, stories, or imaginations may flood your mind. Humans simply can’t treat words or triggers as just that. We put meaning into words and it influences our physical and mental sensations, allowing the events or stories to make a mark on our memories.
Stories can also centre on your target customers, making them the main characters involved directly in the plot. This could potentially make it easier for you to lead them and change the way they think and feel about your products or services. They are more likely to experience your product and taste the happy ending that you offer.
Selling your products and services would be that much easier if your content entices people in, holds their attention, evokes emotions, and leaves them with insights or offers. Just like storytelling, it takes a certain level of skill, patience, and persistence to execute it well. Publishing a great piece of content requires understanding the audience, careful planning of the storyline, and impeccable execution. Most importantly, you want your audience to remember your brand and how it makes them feel.
When building your story, these three key aspects need special attention.
Characters
Every story highlights one or more characters. Creating a story that centres around a character resembling your audience allows them to relate to the story and follow the happy ending you offer. In other words, they will be more likely to respond to your call to action.
Conflict
Conflict creates a connection with the audience through relatable experiences and shows how the character overcomes a challenge. This can prove to be inspirational and insight-giving to audiences. When emotions have been elicited, the audience will be able to see themselves as the characters in the story. They could then understand the message that you are trying to convey. A conflict is essential to a good story.
Resolution
When building a story, it is imperative that you wrap up the story, provide closure to characters and conflicts, and leave your audience with a call to action. The ending does not have to be good or happy, as long as it comes in line with your call to action.
Depending on the target audience and your available resources, here are the 4 story mediums to choose from.
Written Story
A written story consists of mostly text and some images, making it the most affordable and attainable storytelling medium. It can be displayed as articles, books, or blog posts. All that you need is a word processor, or a pen and paper.
Spoken Story
A spoken story is live storytelling through a presentation, pitch, or panel. Its nature is unedited, so practice and skill are highly valued to convey messages and touch audiences’ hearts. Talks at Google is a notable example of spoken storytelling.
Audio Story
Unlike a spoken story, an audio story is spoken aloud but recorded. Podcasts fall under this category, and in this day and age, they are easier to make and are more accessible than ever.
Digital Story
A digital story is packaged through a variety of media, such as animation, video, interactive stories, and games. Digital stories combine different mediums of storytelling and are most effective in eliciting audience emotions, which is precisely why it is the most expensive to execute. Not to worry, the editing or video quality does not matter as much as delivering a powerful message.
In Conclusion
As a business owner, using stories to better engage your audience and potentially lead them to convert can be proven crucial. It takes more than just good grammar, spelling, and well-written content to evoke emotions and hook your target audience. We at Digital Squad, a digital marketing agency Auckland, have been backed by multiple awards and are looking to help even more clients to grow fast. Reach out for more information on how we can help your content to tell stories that lead to conversions.
