5 Lucrative Storytelling Principles That Help 10x your Marketing efforts
Skyrocket clicks and conversions on your website, emails, and ads.
Imagine you’re on a first date with someone you really like. You know what they like, so you share some of those details. But you also know that there’s much more to them than the interests and hobbies you’ve discovered so far. So, how do you keep their attention long enough for them to see past your first impressions? Respectfully, we should all take dating advice from marketers. It turns out that Tinder success requires more than just showing people what they want to see; it requires knowing what they want to see and then showing it to them in a way they can’t ignore. The very same principles of storytelling apply whether marketing potential partners or marketing products.
How to tell a great story
There are hundreds of tips on how to tell a great story. But before we get into any of those, let’s ask a more fundamental question: What is a story, anyway? A story is a series of events that occur in a specific order and have a certain outcome. A story is not just an isolated fact; it contains multiple facts. It’s the narrative throughline that makes those facts relevant to one another. A story is about characters, not facts. Facts can be interesting, but they don’t necessarily create a story. Facts alone are just data points. When you tell a story, you’re trying to get your audience to engage on an emotional level. You want them to care about what you’re saying.
Build trust with your audience before you pitch
You can’t just walk up to someone you’ve never met and expect them to give you their money. But you can walk up to them and expect them to give you their time. If you have their time, then you have the opportunity to earn their trust. And with trust as a basic foundation, you can then ask for their money. The same is true for marketing. If you want people to buy from you, you have to earn their trust first. And the best way to do that is to offer them value first. In his book Trust Me I’m Lying, Ryan Holiday says, “If you don’t understand the power of first, then you don’t understand marketing.” The first thing you do for a potential customer is to make them aware of your product. After that, you want to offer them value to make them want more. So, you need content that offers real value.
Make your product the hero of the story
A story isn’t just about the characters; it’s also about the protagonist. When you’re pitching your product, don’t make it all about you. Make it about the positive impact your product has on people’s lives. Ryan Holiday, author of Trust Me I’m Lying, says, “No one cares about your product, your service, or what you do. They care about themselves and what you can do for them.” Don’t just say, “Our product is the best!” Instead, say something like, “Our product has helped 10,000 people do X.” This way, you’re not just bragging about yourself; you’re also letting people know that your product has already had a positive impact on other people.
Use visuals to build curiosity and interest
When you read a book, you’re creating images in your head based on the descriptions you’re given. But when you’re watching a movie, the images on the screen are windows into other worlds and other times. When you’re pitching your product, you want to paint a picture in someone’s mind. You want them to create visual images based on the descriptions you give. In the world of marketing, we call these visual assets. They include video, images, and graphics. They’re the tools that you use to paint a visual picture in your audience’s mind. Visuals draw people in. They make them curious and interested in what you have to say. They give them a reason to care about your product.
Don’t be afraid to get weird or wacky
Remember, you’re not trying to convince everyone to buy from you. You’re trying to convince the right people to buy from you. Don’t just stand there and tell everyone why your product is great. Dance around it, make jokes about it, be weird about it. Be silly. Be creative. Be weird. People will either love it or ignore it, but if you’re genuine and authentic, the right people will love it. And as long as you know who you’re talking to, don’t be afraid to get weird or wacky. If you’re being genuine and authentic, the right people will love it.
Don’t forget to make it about more than just your product
Your product is the hero of the story, but it’s not the only character. Your product might be the best way to solve a certain problem, but that problem might be related to other things in someone’s life. Don’t forget to talk about those things too. At the end of the day, you want to create a connection with your potential customers, so make it about more than just your product. Make it about the problems your product solves for them and how it will benefit their lives. You build trust and create a connection based on the problems your product solves, not just how great your product is. Don’t forget to talk about the people who use your product. Show your potential customers that you care about them.
Keep in mind that these are just the basics of storytelling. There are many more principles than these that can be applied to marketing, but these will give you a strong foundation. If you want to stand out in the marketplace, you need to be more than just another product. You need to be a worthwhile investment, you need to be a memorable experience, and you need to be something more than just profit. If you want your product to be seen as an important part of someone’s life, you need to tell a great story.
