We’re exposed to so many messages in a day that it’s easy to tune them out. That’s not good for advertisers, of course. So how do you get your marketing efforts to break through the noise?
The trick is storytelling. A good story appeals to the audience’s humanity – and maybe even makes them laugh. Combining the storytelling tricks of movies and fiction with your marketing efforts can be used to great effect in promoting your business.
Stories are memorable. Think about the TV advertisements that we remember even years after they were on the air. Apple’s “1984” ad, comparing the debut of its new Macintosh computer to a rebel taking a stand against Big Brother.
Stories are shareable. How many TED talks do you see in your social media feeds on any given day? We are mesmerized by people who can tell a good story.
Good stories create an emotional connection with the audience, as in a video we produced for the Boys & Girls Club.
Stories help people understand why they should care. That’s one of the reasons Upworthy’s pieces go viral all the time – and why every media company is scrambling to replicate its headline style. The titles make a promise that you’ll care about the story, and you click through to get the payoff.
Even though stories can be told via social media and video today, the principles of fiction writing still offer some of the best pointers. Much of this advice from Writer’s Digest on writing a novel can be translated to creating a good marketing campaign:
- Avoid saying too much or too little: You have a limited amount of time to catch and keep the audience’s attention.
- Start your story in the right place: Usually this isn’t going to be “The company was founded in 1894 and ever since…”
- Skip the boring stuff: Great storytelling cuts the fat and gets right to the meat of what matters.
- Build conflict: Probably the most essential part of any story, this helps people understand why they should care and follow through to the end to get the payoff.
What story do you want your business to tell? At St. Gregory Group, we’ll help you create that story. Let us write your chapters.