Telling A Story With Online Marketing

Once upon a time…

Everyone enjoys a good story. They can entertain, inspire, make you laugh, make you cry.

Well, stories can also help align your marketing and sales efforts!

It doesn’t matter if you’re an independent start-up or a well-established company, if you’re struggling with your inbound marketing objectives then you need to learn how storytelling can aid your sales and marketing efforts. Here’s how to tell a story with online marketing!

Be Different

There’s a massive chance that there is business that does similar things to you. By simply focusing on the benefits or perks you can offer then you’re not doing enough to entice potential business. Instead, you need to give them something more compelling, so much so they sit up and take notice.

A well-crafted story with online marketing does just that. Rather than talking about what you have to offer, it goes directly to the point of your business. It tells your target audience the why behind you, your cause, your vision and your beliefs.

Stories=Action

According to Hubspot’s 2017 State of Inbound, 63% of marketers see generating leads and traffic as their biggest challenge.

This is particularly prevalent in startups who can be seen as ‘new kids on the block’.

The fact of the matter is with so much choice, people don’t buy what you do anymore. They buy why you do it. This is because our decision-making processes are done in our brain’s limbic region, and this same area controls our emotions.

And that’s why a good story with online marketing is a very powerful marketing tool. A well-crafted story that tells the ‘why’ of what you do rather than the ‘what’ of what you do allows you to communicate with your audience on a primitive level. When that happens, you’re talking directly to the part of the brain that handles decision making, encouraging your audience to participate rather than just spectate.

Your Main Character

Hopefully, by now you know you should be incorporating a story into your inbound strategy, the next question is how.

First, you need to create a story specifically for your buyer persona.

If you’ve done even a base level of online marketing you should know what a buyer persona is. Don’t you? (read this- quickly!). Creating a good buyer persona is the first thing you should do when creating a new campaign or strategy, whether that be on Facebook or an offer on your website. Tailor-made always fits better.

There are several ways you can create an effective buyer persona, but Hubspot’s probably done it the best. Once you’ve figured out who they are, you need to curate your content to suit.

Creating a story for your buyer persona makes this task more enjoyable and makes your potential clients feel more realistic for your business. He or she is no longer someone you just communicate with on a business level. Rather, you make things more personal, so potential clients see your business as not just another startup, but someone who genuinely wants to help.

Ask questions like:

Where does your client live?
What does your client do for a living?
What do they do in their spare time?
Where did your customer grow up?

The more in-depth the better.

You may be wondering if a detailed buyer persona like this turns some people off? Honestly, it might. But, in a good way!

I’ll clarify

By developing a story for both your brand and your buyer persona you’re basically filtering out those who visit your website through your brand storytelling. Those that see themselves in your stories usually stick around, and those that don’t aren’t really your audience. The ones that stick with it are usually close to conversion, and it’s your job, not just as a company, but as a storyteller, to get them over the line.

Using stories in your inbound marketing strategy goes beyond keeping things entertaining for your audience. When done just right, a well-crafted tale will help you reach out to your target market at a personal level and eventually craft a relationship which, in turn, converts them into loyal customers.

Looking for a Charles to your Dickens? A Roald to your Dahl? We’ve been telling small business stories for over a decade now, and we’re ready to tell yours! Call SponsoredLinX on 1300 859 600 today!

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