According to Forbes, there’s a new technology for marketers out there called emotion analytics. Emotion analytics can be used to scientifically measure the emotional reactions to your marketing campaigns and individual ads. Ethical concerns aside, this technology has the potential to change the way marketers target potential buyers.

Why is emotion analytics making such waves? Because in today’s oversaturated online world, your prospective customers won’t connect with your brand without feeling something first. That’s why thousands of businesses have begun to turn to storytelling.

Storytelling techniques have been around for as long as humans have. And it’s not hard to understand why – stories are the methods by which we connect with one another. Using a brand story is no different.

Curious about the importance of storytelling for your next marketing campaign? Keep reading to find out why you need to use storytelling techniques, and stick around for our top marketing storytelling tips.

The Importance of Storytelling in Marketing

So why is storytelling important for your brand?

With so much content floating around online these days, your brand story can seem like a drop in a bucket on a rainy day. How is a customer supposed to connect with your brand over the hundreds of others like it?

With a brand story, that’s how.

Stories go beyond mere words. Stories evoke emotions and make people want to take action. And that’s no wonder since people tend to make decisions based on their initial gut reaction.

In fact, research shows that the part of your brain responsible for emotions can make decisions up to 5 times faster than the brain areas associated with reason and logic. It takes time to reason, but when you appeal to your prospective customer’s emotions, they’re quicker to make a decision.

That’s not all, though. According to a 2016 study, customers with a positive emotional experience of your brand are:

  • 15 times more likely to recommend your brand to others
  • 9 times more likely to trust your brand
  • 8 times more likely to try new products and services your brand has to offer
  • 7 times more likely to make more purchases from your brand
  • 6 times more likely to forget about a mistake your brand made

If you want to start attracting more references, increasing trust with customers, make more profits, and buffer your brand in case of future issues, you’ve got to make an emotional connection with your customers. That’s where storytelling comes in.

5 Ways to Use Storytelling in Your Marketing Campaign

We’ve told you why storytelling is important. But now, we’ll show you how to do it. If you want to start using storytelling in your marketing campaigns, here are the top 5 things you need to know to do it.

1. The Main Character

When you think of the main characters in your favorite story, what do they all have in common? At the very core, all main characters have a problem that is (usually) solved by the end of the story. The same goes for your brand story.

But contrary to popular belief, your brand isn’t the main character or hero of your story. That role goes to your customers. Because when customers feel like they’re the star of the show, they trust that they’re in good hands with your business.

2. Beginning, Middle, and End

What makes a story different than a collection of words on a page? Stories have beginnings, middles, and ends. Your brand story should, too.

In the beginning, you should present a problem that is happening to the main character, your ideal customer. In the middle, the guide swoops in to offer advice and help the hero come to a solution to that big problem (more on this guide later). And in the end, your story’s main character should be changed in some way by the guide.

3. The Guide

Stories about heroes almost always have a guide character. In the original Star Wars trilogy, Luke finds a guide in Yoda. In the Harry Potter series, Harry relies on the guidance of characters like Dumbledore and Sirius Black.

So if your client is the hero, that makes you, your products, and your services the guide. After all, it’s their story – your job is to help them get the ending that they want. When you try to make your brand the hero of the story, it makes it harder for customers to trust you. But by putting them in the spotlight and making them feel more in control of their own success, they’re more likely to come to you for help.

4. Rhetoric

If you think the only stories that use rhetoric are political ones, think again. Every good story uses rhetoric to get the theme across. Rhetoric is the language you use and the way you structure your story so that you can get the response you want.

Evoke passion with emotive language, appeal to intellect by citing stats and research, and show your social proof with quotes from happy customers.

5. Multimedia

Every truly great story has illustrations to go along with it. And the same holds for your brand story. Every truly incredible brand story is accompanied by animation, illustration, and images to really drive your point home.

Multimedia comes in many forms, but each image or video you choose should further the goals of your story. For example, if your product or service is difficult to explain with words alone, a video showing customers using your products can help. Not only that, you’ll be building trust with your prospects at the same time.

Marketing Agencies as Storytellers

As a business owner, you’re too busy to play the role of storyteller, too. Now that you know the importance of storytelling in marketing though, you don’t want to miss out on any opportunity to engage your audience.

So what can you do, you might ask?

Well, EraserFarm can help you craft a brand that people relate to and connect with. Get in touch with us and let’s chat about how we can create your story together.