In recent years, content marketing has become the focus for many marketers. Businesses want solid content that engages an audience. Something that adds value but also adds interest and top of mind recall.
There is likely no better place to start than with a good story. Story telling is as old as time. Ancient history and mythology relied on storytelling to pass on facts, context, outcomes and lessons. Storytelling will do the same for today’s marketer.
Country music’s really good about telling a story, so I want songs that tell good stories where people can say, ‘That happened to me!’
Lauren Alaina
As you consider how to apply storytelling to your marketing media, here are 5 key ingredients to include.
The central character
Audiences like to identify with a character in your story. The success of the TV show Friends is in part attributed to everyone being able to identify with one of the characters.
Your character may be an actual person, or a fictional character who finds themselves in a specific situation, facing a crisis or dilemma. Spelling out some of the characteristics or traits of the central character can help your audience identify with the story from the outset.
The quest
If you are marketing a product or service that provides a solution to a business or personal dilemma, start by describing the obstacle and make the story about the quest to overcome the challenge.
The story can develop with what the central character experiences as they progress towards the solution.
The route
Stories typically develop over time, and solutions that come about immediately are not engaging. Storytelling in Hollywood often describes a road with bumps and setbacks. These headwinds often reveal more about the character or context, and make the solution far more significant at the end of the story.
Make the story easy to follow
For the story to be engaging, the audience doesn’t just need to identify with the central character and the quest. It is also important to carry the audience along as the story progresses.
A helpful technique is to start with a summary outline of what you want to say. This will help you stay on track as you write your story. Then consider what is important to explain the context, obstacles and the point of the story.
Make sure your story has all the important details, and nothing that distracts. Successful writers add as much impact in a few words as possible. Select precise adjectives and descriptive visualisations to tell your story. Likely, your story will go through multiple rounds of edits. Always ask yourself, “How can I say this with fewer words?”.
Add something unexpected
A surprise always makes the story memorable. It acts as a memory hook that makes a story worth repeating. How many times have you watched a movie and rated it based on the twist in the story? Or wrote off the plot because it held no surprise?
The twist can come anywhere in the story. There may be several surprises in smaller obstacles to overcome along the way, and how these affect the central character.
Even if your story is a quarterly business update, you can add surprise by speaking about the hurdles your company encountered over the preceding months, and how these needed to be addressed to achieve the current results.
As you consider and plan your multimedia and digital content, consider what you can do to spice up the message and engage (even entertain!) your audience.