What is Storytelling Marketing?

There are many different forms of marketing in the industry, each one offering specific benefits to the client. When put together, it can be a recipe for success as each marketing method brings something new to the table. This is no different for storytelling marketing, but what is storytelling marketing and how can it benefit your business in the long run? We’ll be discussing all of these things, and more, in this article today.

What is storytelling marketing?

Storytelling marketing is a type of marketing method used that tells exciting, enticing and compelling stories, all while trying to push the brand message of the business or company. It has a sole purpose of connecting more deeply, on a personal level, with potential customers and website visitors. 

Storytelling marketing is best executed on social media platforms and through the media. While a press release isn’t suitable in this instance, reaching out to the press or a local newspaper in some form or another would be the most effective, telling a story rather than writing a press release to launch a new product, for instance. 

Have you done something good for the community? Each out to the local newspapers, whether online or otherwise, and tell them what you’ve done, for example. If you’re telling a story about your business that will touch people, all while pushing your company, your brand and your values, then that in itself is storytelling marketing.

What are the benefits of storytelling marketing?

You might be wondering what storytelling marketing has to offer in terms of results and performance boosts, and it would be a fair question. Why should you be looking more closely at storytelling marketing as an effective strategy? Here are some of the benefits to be had by choosing to adopt storytelling marketing methods, alongside other, more conventional marketing techniques:

It improves your relationship with your customers 

Customers are more likely to buy a product or commit to a service from someone they can trust, according to Forbes Books. With this in mind, you can use storytelling marketing to show your customers that you and your business are as trustworthy as any other well-established, experienced company. Depending on how touching your story is, your customers will have no doubt that your company is legitimate and can be trusted with providing quality products and unrivalled services.

It increases overall engagement

After hearing the story you’ve told, whether it be about your business in general or one of your employees, your potential customers or website visitors will be further intrigued by you as a company. As such, they will seek you out on different social media platforms, search for your website or see if there’s reference to you and your story in other news outlets. If your story is engaging enough, they will want to know more, and the internet is the best place to feed their curiosity. If your story is compelling enough, then you’ll see your customer engagement boom, in more ways than one.

It lets people know what your business is about

Storytelling marketing is a strategy that is highly-effective when it comes to showcasing your brand, your values and everything your company stands for. For instance, you might sell playground equipment, but you’ve also held a fundraising event to raise money for a local children’s hospital, as a hypothetical example. 

If this is the case, not only are you showing your customers that children are important to you, given what you supply, but you’re also showing them that you care on an even greater, more personal level than just supplying children with equipment to play on. Storytelling marketing needs to go a layer deeper into your current brand values in order to grab attention and gain respect from customers and non-customers alike. 

In addition, your business name will also get about through word-of-mouth, with readers of the story saying to their friends; “hey, have you heard about [business name] donating all that money to charity?”, for example. If everyone knows what you’re about, then it helps to instil trust and generate good publicity, simultaneously.

It makes you stand out from your competitors

Do some competitor research. Scroll through their socials and look around their website and their blog to determine whether they have used storytelling marketing in one form or another to advertise their business and values. If not, then you’ll want to make sure to utilise storytelling marketing before they do, provided you have something you can tell a story about. 

If you’ve looked and it seems as though they have used storytelling marketing, the last thing you want to do is hang about. You need to devise a strategy to jump on that storytelling marketing bandwagon so as not to get left behind. Storytelling marketing isn’t an overly popular marketing method, so you want to make sure you’re using every resource available to set you apart from the crowd, putting the spotlight on you and your business.

Kumo is a highly-experienced digital marketing agency with over two decades of knowledge to draw upon. We have a dedicated team of SEO specialists, PPC professionals, expert content writers and talented website designers, all of which are on hand to provide you with sterling marketing services that will propel you into the spotlight. If you would like further information, get in touch with a member of our friendly, committed team today – we’re always pleased to hear from you.