“Facts Tell, Stories Sell”: 8 Storytelling Strategies

As a professional marketing speaker, Bryan Eisenberg, so poignantly states, “Facts Tell, Stories Sell.’’ Creating a brand narrative that is consistent across all your marketing channels is a powerful way to make authentic connections with your audience and develop the kinds of genuine relationships that nurture and sustain the customer loyalty needed to generate revenue long term.  

Highly effective and successful businesses understand the power of telling stories in their marketing. According to Forbes, a masterfully crafted brand story can cut through the noise and provides consumers with a unique method of entry into your brand. And highly effective marketers utilize storytelling in their content marketing because of its power to make emotional connections with a brand that no other tool can.  

8 Strategies To Master Storytelling For Marketing

1. Allow Yourself To Be Vulnerable. 

Storytelling humanizes your brand because it reveals the person behind it; it is no

longer just a company but an individual with fears, passions, vulnerabilities,

struggles, and successes. 

A good story will capture the attention of your audience and hold it until the very end. 

2. Share A Real Experience

Think of some of the most successful brands. What do they have in common? 

They all tell a story. They create a narrative that allows their audience to experience what their lives will be like with their product or service. The experience is what is being sold and the product is the vehicle to that experience. That is the power of storytelling in marketing. 

One of the most effective ways to do this is to explore universal human experiences in opposition:  hate/love, pain/joy, frustration/excitement, defeat/success, discouragement/hope, boredom/passion.  Share a time when you experienced the negative emotion your customer is experiencing and inform them as to how your brand will usher in the positive side of that experience.

In order to connect the product or service you provide to a real-life experience that your audience can easily identify with, ask yourself, “The problem this is solving is a lot like what?” 

3. Create A Compelling Narrative

Like any great story, effective content marketing has an inciting incident, strong characters, and a sense of action and resolution. Incorporating your ideal customer and your brand into the story as personas, will enable you to empathetically engage in valuable dialogue with your customers because you can play the role of your customers as they get acquainted with your brand. 

4. Share What Is Unique About Your Brand

You have a unique story that represents you and your brand. Tell it! 

When you share the story of why you created your brand and how in a personal and authentic way, you inform your audience about how you are different from your competitors and you create a brand persona that your audience will identify with and align to. In the age of information overload, illustrating what makes you and your business unique is what will set you apart from the rest and engender your ideal customers to your brand. 

5. Educate And Inform Your Customers Through Story

No one likes to have facts spewed at them. Teach your customers about your unique brand and how it makes their lives easier or better through stories instead. When customers are engaged in your story, they will learn about your brand and come to appreciate it without realizing that you were educating them. Understanding will come naturally through the flow of your story. 

6. Develop Empathy With Your Narrative

In order to nurture the level of customer loyalty needed for long term business  success, you have to make genuine connections with your audience at every touch point in your marketing and throughout the customer journey. Tell stories that share your vulnerability, are sincere, and emotionally compelling. When your audience can empathize with your brand, a strong emotional connection develops. It is that strong emotional connection that instills loyalty and your customers will be influential ambassadors for your brand. 

7. Engage All Senses In Your Storytelling

Like any good story, effective brand storytelling should paint a picture and come alive. Incorporate as many senses as possible in your story – sight, smell, touch, sound, and invoke an emotional response. When your audience is fully immersed in the story you are telling them, they will experience it along with you. You will be in control of the experience and the customer will follow you wherever you take them without hesitation. 

8. Think Of Your Story As A Conversation

When creating your brand story, imagine that your ideal customer is sitting in front of you and engage in a dialogue with them. Your story should feel like a naturally flowing conversation with your audience. When creating your story, consider: 

• What questions might your customer ask? 
• How would you respond? 
• What real-life experience might the problem your product or service solve be

      like?

Create an image of an experience they can relate to and connect that to the problem your brand will solve. All the while maintaining a personable, conversational tone. Doing so, will help you avoid being ‘salesy’ which will cause a disconnect between you and your customer. 

The Power For Impact Is In The Story You Tell

Storytelling is the single most powerful way to build relationships between an audience and a brand.  Stories connect us, inform, and inspire. Because of that, effective content marketing is all about mastering the art of storytelling. When your brand tells a story that resonates with your audience, a personal connection is created.

Furthermore, when that story is consistently told across all your marketing channels, your story will be what customers associate with your brand . . . not what you sell. Your story will resonate, align you with the values and ideals of your audience, and impact their purchasing decisions. As time goes on, you will develop a lasting relationship with your customers that will nurture the loyalty needed to generate steady revenue and stimulate sustainable growth. 

So now . . .

I challenge you to dig deep. Let your true self shine through as you share your unique brand story consistently across all your marketing channels. 

Allow it to be messy, vulnerable, and imperfect. The connections you create and the relationships you develop will be well worth it. I guarantee it. 

Jenn