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Telling Stories That Will Captivate Your Audience

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When it comes to telling stories in the world of marketing, this goes much further than talking about our product and its advantages. Stories allow us to connect with our audience in a much deeper way and generate positive emotions towards our brand.

One of the keys to generating powerful and effective stories is to know our audience. We have to understand who they are, what they like, what motivates and excites them. Our stories must activate their emotions and imagination and connect with them in a way that it moves them to share the message with others.

When we are developing a content marketing strategy,  there are some elements we need to factor in to get the audience to engage and connect with us as a brand. 

Connection

First, we have to make sure that the story is connected to our brand, even if it’s not the main focus, our product always has to be present. We could be facing the risk of having a great story but the audience doesn’t know who is telling it. 

 

Emotions

Our story must have an emotional element that resonates with the audience. It has to generate some sort of reaction; happiness, intrigue, curiosity. Anything that gets the audience interested and they feel identified and motivated to engage with us. This is the best way to establish a dialogue, we want to encourage them to tell us their own stories and express themselves.

 

Delivery

Finally, we want to make sure we are using the right channels. In digital marketing, storytelling can happen in many platforms, and social media is a great tool. We can share videos, images or create an entire multi-channel approach. The important thing is that the story gets their attention and involves the audience.

Buzz Marketing and The Power of the Word of Mouth

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I remember way back in my college days how many professors would stress to us the importance of word-of-mouth in marketing. Even before the digital age, consumers have always been one of the most powerful advertising agents. Although brands can spend millions of dollars in amazing advertising campaigns, sometimes it just takes a “free” reliable recommendation to make up a consumer’s mind. 

Word of mouth has gained even more valuable meaning in the digital age. It has evolved from a personal one-on-one conversation to a very public and loud statement. And today, with the overwhelming amount of options and online advertising invading our daily lives, marketers are always trying to find new ways to cut through the noise and generate connections with their audience that can eventually grow to the point of advocacy. 

Buzz Marketing is a great way to achieve that. With the right content, you are not only going to create awareness and get consumers interested in your brand, but you want to get them talking. The more the consumers talk, the more interesting your brand becomes. Getting that “buzz” or word of mouth is not an easy task. We have to create a compelling story, get the audience interested in it and facilitate its distribution. So it’s not only us, the brand, telling it, but the consumer itself, sometimes even in their own words, sharing our story with others, making it more believable.

You can check out this fun example https://www.buzzfeed.com/jeannettevigil/top-5-bourbon-drinks-you-must-try-this-summer-20t9fr2zyq

Fake influencers, fraud and the dangers of “shady” practices online

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Today it is almost impossible not to have heard the term “influencer”, and even though this strategy is not entirely new, since brands have been using celebrity endorsement way before the appearance of Instagram, Youtube or Facebook, its use has been growing increasingly with the rise of the internet and social media.

Big and small brands continue to incorporate influencer marketing into their marketing plans, from macro-influencers with millions of followers to more accessible or local micro-influencers with follower counts in the thousands. In all cases, marketers and brands are looking for more effective ways to reach their audiences in an overly saturated market, and influencers provide a platform to engage with consumers through someone they trust, is an expert in the industry or even admire -as is the case of celebrities.

 

But as popularity rises concerns do too. With an industry that is growing so much that is expected to be worth up to $10 billion by 2020, everyone wants their share and shady practices started to come into attention. Fake followers, bots, fraud and false advertising are some of the topics that concern both brands and consumers. It doesn’t take more than a quick search on Google to discover tons of internet “companies” offering followers for a very low price and with “instant delivery!”, proving that there are still a lot of regulation issues that need to be addressed.

For companies, investing thousands of dollars on fake influencers or fake engagement can not only affect them in their wallets, as they will see little or no return in their investment, but could potentially ruin the relationship with their consumers, perceiving them as untrustworthy. On the other hand, consumers may be affected by deceptive advertising, as popular influencers and celebrities share sponsored content with products they really don’t use, of dubious effectiveness or even promoting, without knowing, potential scams (Fyre Festival anyone?).

In summary, what we must rescue from all this is that any strategy that we implement for our brand has to be done right. When it comes to influencer marketing we have to do the research, make sure accounts are trustworthy, that their followers fit our target market, that there is an authentic relationship between influencer and brand and to avoid at all cost any dishonest practices.

Why should marketers care about Storytelling?

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One of the goals of most brands when deciding to invest in digital marketing is to make real connections with their audience in the best ways available through the many platforms that we have available today. Costumers want to feel that brands understand them and that they provide valuable content that truly speaks to them. When costumers feel that they are taken into account they are more likely to be loyal to a brand and consequently generate conversions.

Storytelling is one of the marketing approaches that helps brands reach their audiences in a much more personal level than traditional advertising. As its name suggests, storytelling makes it possible for brands to tell their stories and help them build their identity and reputation. This story conveys values and ideas that will make a stronger bond between brands and their customers.

That’s what consumers care about at the end, especially the younger generations. They are interested in what a brand promises them, what it makes them feel and how they see themselves in that social spectrum consuming that brand.

Today the big challenge for marketers is to create the best stories to get attention, to entertain and persuade in a few minutes, that’s why social media is an amazing tool that brands need to take advantage of when telling their stories. Taking social media, not as another distribution channel, but a channel to spark conversations and transmit genuine experiences.