Storytelling Is A Business Strategy

WHAT IS YOUR STORY?

People love stories. We grow up listening to them, telling them and creating them for fun. It's central to how we work and play. They also influence how we do business and who we do business with. Commercials are stories. Effective brands convey strong stories. So, are you leveraging storytelling as a strategy for your business? If not, these are some advantages that you are not utilizing:

• Storytelling Helps You Connect With Your Audience

• Storytelling Can Help You Stand Out From The Crowd

• Storytelling Can Help You Build Trust And Credibility

• Storytelling Can Help You Inspire Action

• Storytelling Can Help You Build A Strong Company Culture

Consider how you can use storytelling more effectively to achieve these goals. A brief summary is provided for each bullet point below.

STORYTELLING HELPS YOU CONNECT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

After you are able to correctly identify your target audience, it's time to connect with them. This should be fairly simple considering the identification of them is probably one of the most challenging parts of marketing. Because you have done your research and tested your assumptions, you should know a lot about this group. Take into consideration what they like, what they like to do, and how they like to communicate. If you study generational groups then you know that Gen Z and Millennials like short-form video. So, you may want to focus on TikTok, Reels and Shorts to reach them. And when you do, it matters what you say, how you say it, what music you might use, the camera angle and how often you post. Of course, this changes with different demographics. You should be thinking of this like any relationship and making it your duty to show up informed and ready to engage. The brands that do this extremely well are able to connect with its audience over time.

Storytelling Can Help You Stand Out From The Crowd

In a crowded marketplace, your business should be looking for ways to distinguish itself from its competitors. When your competitors are heavy into selling to the audience, your business can set itself apart by telling great stories. However, if your competitors are great storytellers, your business has to figure out how to tell its story as authentically as possible. It does no good to copy a competitors style but you can study their approach. Take note of what is and isn't working for them and use those notes as leverage to be unique and true to your brand. As long as you are telling your distinct story and a way that only your company can, you will not be compared to your competition. When you are able to figure this out, simply work on perfecting this skill.

Storytelling Can Help You Build Trust And Credibility

Use your company's stories as ways to share with your audience like you would with a best friend. Be open, vulnerable and transparent. Find common ground with your audience that is relatable and create an opportunity for them to share with your company. This feedback will inform your business about what they like and don't like about your product or service when they trust your brand. And if your brand is nimble and can respond to that feedback, they will know that they were heard, which will boost your credibility with them. Effective brands listen to their audience in order to give them what they want. I was listening to a business owner on TikTok talk about how she continues to observe her customers in the clothes her company makes in order to make improvements on the fit of its garments. She even went as far as to send a customer a refitted dress when she noticed from a photo the customer shared that appeared to be ill-fitting. This also helped the owner perfect the fit for that size overall. I can only imagine how that customer felt from her response and her level of brand loyalty.

Storytelling Can Help You Inspire Action

We've all heard about the importance of having a call to action in marketing. Without it, the audience is not always sure what to do. But you may not get the response you were hoping for just by giving commands. That's where storytelling comes in. As you are telling the story of your business, the call to action should be woven in but not so blatant. You can certainly tell a story about how someone else took the action you are inspiring the audience to take without telling them directly to do the same. If your solution helped someone else, your audience will start to wonder if your solution can also help them, assuming your story is effective. Sometimes that is all it takes but when you do choose to be more direct, it should always be done in a way that does not make them feel bossed around. Just provide a gentle nudge. You do not want to give them the impression that you do not think that they are smart enough to come to conclusions on their own. You are approaching them like best friends, remember?

Storytelling Can Help You Build A Strong COmpany Culture

This (and any of the other points) only works if the storytelling is sincere. When your company culture and its stories are aligned, it can attract customers, employees and partnerships alike. However, when the stories do not align with the culture, those same audiences can lose its trust and credibility with your company. It seems to be more and more common for consumers to boycott brands or adopt new ones when certain values, changes and practices are shared through its advertising (ie. Bud Light). The same goes for job seekers. Many younger job seekers are interested in a prospective employer's social initiatives or how it demonstrates its values through company culture. Business owners can no longer disregard that people are paying close attention to what decisions are being made because it is likely that some action will be taken as a result.

Naturally, this process will take time to perfect. You have to be willing to test out some ideas and possibly fail at them. However, when you find the sweet spot that reflects your brand's authenticity and resonates with the audience, you can create so much growth and opportunity. And as always bestie, if you are looking for help finding your voice as a business, Intentional Professionals is an option that you can explore by booking a Strategic Consultation today.

Sincerely,

-M