Storytelling is an art – literally. It’s taught in art schools for majors like film, because it is actually really difficult to tell a story in a way that would keep your reader engaged. It is something that highly impacts the way you and your work are both perceived, because this form of communication is quite often one-sided, which means your audience’s entire attention is on you.

Now, let’s talk about its importance when it comes to content marketing, because even professional content writers might struggle with this part. There’s a psychology behind this. Dig into your brain and you’re sure to find a part of it that’s attracted by stories. We all love them, it’s part of our nature. It is quite understandable why storytelling would help in making content more appealing, isn’t it?

Several hugely successful brands and channels have made storytelling a part of their regular advertising, including National Geographic and Nike. They use it to the best of their advantage, as they should. Here’s how storytelling has helped our content flourish.

Who doesn’t love a good story?

It has been seen time and time again that the kind of content that attracts the largest audience is one that tells a heartfelt story. It’s part of basic human nature to be attracted to what appeals to it emotionally, and a good story is very capable of touching people’s hearts and thus, appealing to their minds, simultaneously. This makes making your content story-based a great idea

When our company started, we began by using the most common, basic manners of creating content. Thinking outside the box is often risky, so the safer approach seemed like a good way to go. But on not receiving too great of a response, we decided to change up our strategy a little bit. Appealing to the empathy already present within our viewers showed a drastic improve in our statistics, and we realized we’d discovered the key to content-based success.

Add some authenticity to that tone

Telling a story to your audience is an amazing way of gaining their trust, especially if the story is your own. Understanding how to make your audience trust you is one of the most important things to consider when marketing your content, because the success of it is based entirely on whether or not they are willing to invest into your services.

If you give them something before asking for something in return, it will naturally feel more like a gesture of kindness and a bonding exercise, rather than a business setting. Practically applied, this technique will do wonders, as far as the impact of your content goes.

• This is great for marketing due to the fact that people will want to talk about your content once they feel connected to it at a personal level.
• Gaining their trust will ensure a loyal audience, so you most likely will not have to worry about gaining new customers every month or so. In this way, you can focus on increasing your numbers instead of trying to maintain your already existing numbers.

They’re in your world now

When invested in a story, people tend to get sucked into the world that you’ve created for them through it. They will most likely not question much and go with the flow. This is the one major difference between conventional methods of writing and storytelling – the worldly beliefs of your readers will be molded through what you now make them belief. Storytelling gives us power over the minds of our readers, which makes them as invested in our content as ever.

• Understand your power and use it in a way that your content will make your readers want to come back for more.

Competing to win

Now, surely by this point you’re wondering why any of this is relevant. All you need is for your consumers to pay for your services, right? As long as you’re getting money, why should it matter whether or not you incorporate storytelling into your content or not? Well, there is a very simple and obvious answer to this question.

In recent times, supporting brands and companies that you have developed an emotional attachment to has become a huge trend. People will often only buy products from certain people and places which they have grown to trust over years of being their consumers. This is where storytelling comes in.

• It will help you gain long-term customers that will keep coming back to you, once you’ve successfully managed to build a connection with them.
• Understanding the importance of your relationship with your consumer is incredibly important. Ignoring this factor would be an amateur move and will keep your content and businesses from flourishing and living up to its true potential.

When closing the deal, make sure you’ll be remembered.

Making a mark on your target audience is one of the most difficult parts of this entire process. Someone with a hundred distractions and several other products and services on their mind that can do the exact same thing you can is really difficult to impress. Why should they choose you? Stand out amongst the competition. Make sure your exit is flashy and unique. Make them understand exactly what you can do for them, and why you’re the perfect candidate for the job.

• A great way to get recurring customers is by standing out amongst everything else they might have seen.
• Just like in any good story, an impressive, promising ending will ensure that you make a lasting impact on your consumer.

If you can do these things, you’re all set. Customers will surely be pouring in from all over.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gerard- Hanson  has a PhD in accounting, along with being a part-time writer, due to it being a great passion of his ever since he was a little kid. He writes regular blogs for Content Majestic which are loved by the rapidly growing audience, and in his free time, he likes to paint and read classic literature.