Traditional advertising, which encourages us to buy a product by emphasizing its positive aspects, has lost its relevance. The future of modern advertising is storytelling. Storytelling is stories with emotion, messages wrapped in stories. This is a specific message conveyed by a company through a story. When making a purchase decision, quality and price alone are no longer enough, you need stories that are associated with this product. Standard advertising activates only certain parts of the brain with boring data. When telling a story, our brain reacts as if we were also participants in the process. Through stories, information and facts are connected to emotions, which reaches the heart of the target audience. The goal of storytelling is to activate the listener's attention, awaken their emotions, delight them and ensure their attachment to the product. That is why construction companies no longer show us apartments in their advertisements, but the dream of living harmoniously in their own home. Car manufacturers no longer sell cars, but the feeling of being on the beach with a loved one. Food is no longer just food, but a guarantee that we will live longer with the help of healthy eating.
The role of storytelling in business and marketing is growing day by day. It has the potential to be a very powerful tool for mass influence. Stories, human stories, can change our attitudes and behavior.
Humans are empathetic creatures. Stories have a unique ability to connect people, to empathize, to share. Large and experienced brands know this well and attach great importance to building strong and trustworthy relationships with their audiences.
What should Storytelling be like:
- When storytelling, consider the target group, their needs, and issues.
- Tell one story, deliver one message. People cannot process and remember multiple messages at once.
- Tell a credible, compelling, and relevant story. The closer the story is to the real world, a specific event, or a current issue, the stronger its impact.
- You can use stories about the founding of a company, the development of a brand, the creation of a specific product, or the story of an employee or customer who is related to your company or your product. The role of the narrator can be a customer, employee, company founder, outsider, etc. Emotional personal stories are especially interesting, although fictional stories are also useful.
- Tell the story emotionally. According to neuroscientists, if the story does not leave an emotion, it will not remain in the memory. An emotionally told story awakens curiosity and imagination. It makes the listener feel like a participant in the story. Keep in mind that not only positive emotions - joy, a sense of security, trust, and others - can remain in the listener's memory, but also negative emotions, such as fear. However, an exciting story leaves the greatest impression.
- Tell a story, not a fairy tale. Tell it briefly, concisely, and simply. When telling a story, it is best to express the message directly. An abstract, metaphorical, and complex statement that the listener has to decipher is tiring. The listener does not want to strain their brains with thought.
- Tell a story that as many people as possible can relate to. Connect the story to the values that your brand stands for.
- Tell a story with pictures. The human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text. Choose images that evoke associations and emotions. Make comparisons. This way, your message will easily reach the listener and remain deeply in their memory.
- Include characters in the story that they trust. Storytelling requires characters with motives and goals. This character can be a person, an animal, a fictional creature, or a mystical character. The viewer or listener will be interested in how well the character will achieve their goal.
- A story should be able to hold the attention of the audience. So create a dramatic plot that has a beginning, development, and an end. Keep something that will be covered with the effect of surprise. With such an approach, you will easily reach people's minds and make them imagine the character's situation, which will make the story much more memorable.
- End with a Happy Ending. A positive ending is more memorable than a sad ending.
Useful themes for storytelling include: love, youth, dreams, family, desires, wealth, respect, appreciation, freedom. So-called "first time" stories are effective. For example, the first time you walked by, the first time you kissed, the first time you fell in love, the first vacation, the first purchase, etc.
Share your stories in catalogs, newsletters, annuals, brochures, websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Good storytelling will find its way to the heart of the consumer. And if you want to learn more about storytelling, join us for our seminar « Branding, Sales and Consumer Psychology » And together we can create an interesting story about your brand.
