9 Places To Use Stories To Get Better Results in Your Marketing

Five years ago I launched a local Social Media Workshop and it failed spectacularly.

Here's my story. I started out my freelance career by offering Social Media Consulting and wanted to get my name out there, so I figured why not start locally?

I printed some invites, hand delivered them to various businesses and shared it in my online circles. Here's a copy of my invite:

On the evening of the event heart racing, palms sweating, I stood before my audience. They looked at me with expectation written all over their faces; then I started talking.

Do you know what happened next dear reader? I'll tell you in a minute.

Looking back I realized there were a few things I could have done to make the made the presentation compelling. One of those things is stories. Not just one but a few interwoven throughout the presentation.

Why Stories Really Work

The best story is the one that convinces your customer. 

Once upon a time, there was a story. Just how he came about no one sure. Some claim he was created by cavemen who didn't have words so instead used pictures to communicate.

But either way, since he came into the world, he has been used for centuries to stimulate, to encourage, to energize and to motivate others to action.

And you know what?

He has never failed to deliver those things.

Think back to the last good story you heard. How did it make you feel? Content? Jovial? Happy? Sad? Only you know the emotion the story evoked, but it did something because that's what stories do.

Countless research indicate that stories do things to our brains that ordinary words can't. A good story will make your audience laugh, cry or think while at the same time get the message across.

On my quest to find out more about storytelling what I found was businesses don’t communicate well their own stories, yet this offers a clear advantage of positioning their brands, their vision and their values.

And boy do they have many stories to tell.

But don't take my word for it; there's actual science to back these claims up. Take some time and go though the research when you're able to.

Inspire your customers to Take Action With Stories

After all, that’s your objective, right? A story shows problems and possible solutions in a soft, non-intrusive way and I share with you below just where you can begin to use stories in your marketing.

9 places to use your stories

1.   Emails

Why use stories here? Because your reader must have a reason to look forward to your weekly emails. Some stories you can include in your emails are:

• origin stories
• vision stories
• rapport-building stories
• testimonials

When deciding how to tell your story, ask yourself what is my angle? Am I disruptive or innovative? An eccentric, playful persona?

Ensure your story has a good introduction and a captivating end.

Bryan Harris does a great job at starting with a story in his emails, I generally look forward to reading them!

2.   Homepage

Aah, the homepage - the concierge of your website. It's one of the first places a visitor sees. But what exactly will she see when she lands: a boring brochure detailing all the services you offer?

No! No! No!

One of the key ways to keep her from clicking away is to connect with her. You can form that connection either through shared values or evoking emotions. Either one can be communicated through stories.

And because your home page does the heavy lifting of any page on your site, make sure it does its job well. I see so much untapped potential o home pages I visit

Stories you can use on your homepage include:

• Personal stories
• Historical stories

3.   Landing page – You may be wondering, is there enough space on a landing page to tell a story?

Of course there is. And a persuasive one too. Your landing page is a one-page story.and you have a limited time to get the message across.

Stories that work well on landing pages include:

• the personal story ( “walk” people (step-by-step) through a painful problem you went through and how you achieved the result your readers are looking for).
• image based stories
• problem solving stories
• Goal achieving stories

4.   Video

Video can combine movement, human faces and music – all powerful ways to capture the user’s attention. It also has more potential to go viral on social media than links and text combined. Embedding a video doesn’t have to be tricky either.

Stories that work well here include: 

• Product in action 
• Concept stories
• Usage stories
• Explainer
• How-To
• Demo
• Personal Stories

5.   About Page – another one of the most visited pages on your site. You have a greater ability to hone your storytelling skills there.

This page is about you and your company and it is where you share your story or journey.

If you've ever heard of Neil Patel, you should check out his About Page at Quicksprout. This screenshot at a glance tells you a lot about him in a fun, quirky manner.

The key elements of your About page should include an explanation on how you got to where you are today. while keeping it interesting. Enable people to understand how you know what you know.

Stories you can use on your About page include:

• How Did I get Here
• The Journey Story
• Anecdotes
• Stories which share where you want to go as a business

6.   Case study - ok, this one is basically a story in itself. It has all the elements of a good story: hero/antagonist; a beginning and an end.

The moral of the case study story is to keep people from frustrating experiences and mistakes all while presenting a solution.

A case study presents an awesome opportunity to sprinkle stories throughout to maintain attention. Stories here include:

• concept stories
• anecdotes
• personal stories

But when it comes to telling a story, people want to hear about your failures. Human beings relate to failures because we are all flawed.

People don’t connect with your successes, they connect with your messes John Bates, CEO of Executive Speaking Success & Business Coaching

7.   Articles/blogs

I'm sure you've been told many times that business is business and personal is personal and never should the two meet in a business space. But you know what?

Not only were they were wrong but it's a missed opportunity!

Using stories in your blog or articles allows you to show your human side, the one that isn't necessarily visible to your visitor; but just by being willing to open up a little about what goes on in your company or your private life (just a little) makes the human connection even more poignant.

Stories you can use here include:

• anecdotes
• customer stories
• stories which share a common ground between the technical and the personal

And if you remembered from above, I started mine with a story too!

8.   Advertising

So your job as a storyteller is to provoke an emotional reaction — to break down people’s defenses and leave them more open to influence.

And there isn't much I have to say about using stories in advertising: it's done all the time!

Stories here can include:

• the historical story
• Inspirational stories
• Stories that reflect company values
• Stories that reveal your human side

9.                     Social Media

The guys at Buffer shared how you can use stories in Social Media here. I've shared a few things from them below:

a.    Instagram - tell a visual story with your profile and curate user generated content with videos and Instagram stories

b.   Facebook Post - write an entire story in a post or create a photo album

c.     Twitter - use a Tweet Storm ( a series of Tweets detailing a story). Tweetstorm from Steak-umm is a tongue-in-cheek example of how to create a compelling tweetstorm.

Every business, company or organization can absolutely have a story! You have a culture, a personality, a mission, a purpose, and lots of experiences: trials and errors but also triumphs and victories.

Take a moment and think of where you are now and reflect on how your company or business started. There's a story right there, yes indeed. Chances are your ideal prospect has had some of those same challenges and your story can help them see that you know exactly what you're about.

Don't keep it to yourself. 

 Your reader is always want a resolution. If your story is well-planned they’ll keep reading it to find out how it ends.

Oh and that workshop? It ended badly. No, there's no happy ending to the story. The upside is I had to take a hard look at what I wanted to accomplish and to take the necessary steps to get it done.

Learning about storytelling was one of those strategies. And I'm happy to say the results don't lie.

Over to you. Do you have any other places where stories can be used? If you do, can you do me a favor and comment below?

Thanks!

About the author: Tasia Gonsalves-Barriero is a freelance content writer and blogger who writes for the B2B Industry. Follow me here on LinkedIn to get more content like this.

#storytelling #freelancewriter #B2B #BusinessWriting @Natalie Burusch @Ranjana Agrowal @Sumit Seti @Demi Patel