Back to basics: What is storytelling in marketing and why is it important
KW Marketing
Data-Led eCommerce Food & Drink Digital Marketing Agency & Trusted Partner. Proven 70% Revenue Growth for Scaling Brands
Stories are powerful things. A good story is incredibly memorable, builds an emotional connection, and will often be retold and shared over and over. A great story lasts the test of time. Effective, engaging and impactful storytelling is all principles that good marketing should be built on. It’s imperative that CMOs, marketers and brand strategists understand why good stories are so important to marketing, how to build and tell an effective story, and where the most valuable storytelling opportunities lie. In this blog, we’ll explore the components of great storytelling – and explain how they can be leveraged by marketing leaders, business owners and brand strategists. We’ll look at the essential ingredients of great stories, and how compelling marketing stories ought to be structured. Storytelling is such an important foundation of your brand story and we can’t wait to get stuck in. LET’S GO!
Well, what are the essential components of a compelling story?
A sprinkle of magic, a dose of tribulation and an excellent ending. The essential ingredients for compelling storytelling in marketing mirror those found in great novels, films, and even everyday conversation. At a story’s core, you need an emotional arc with rising narrative tension that resolves in a satisfying catharsis. Too many marketing stories simply present a flat, conflict-free scenario of people frolicking through fields in pure bliss after using a product. We know that this isn’t the case. Whilst it might sound nice on paper, it fails to emotionally engage an audience. We don’t connect with stories unless we can first empathise with the struggles and complications the protagonist faces. Any good story needs an inciting incident that disrupts the normal status quo and kicks off a central conflict. There must be obstacles and mounting tensions that prevent the protagonist from easily achieving their goal or desire. Will the hero get the love interest? Defeat the villain? Realise their dream? The audience needs to be compelled to find out, which those rising narrative complications provide. You can’t have the climax and cathartic payoff without first doing the hard work of setting up the conflict and steadily raising the dramatic stakes. But simply having conflict alone isn’t enough.
Within that broader emotional throughline, you need smaller, individualised story beats and specific character moments to make it unique and resonant. Individual scenes need their own micro-tensions and driving narrative questions to earn audience investment. With these key ingredients working in harmony – an overarching emotional arc, rising narrative tensions, relatable character motives, individualised story beats, and unique distinguishing details – you construct a tale that can truly stir an audience. It makes them feel the visceral emotional highs and lows, while also seeing glimpses of their own lived experiences reflected back at them.
How to structure a story in marketing and brand strategy
The structure of a compelling marketing story closely mirrors the underlying structure found in great works of literature and film. As we’ve spoken about, there needs to be a complication or conflict that disrupts the normal state of affairs. The story then follows the protagonist’s journey to resolve this conflict and (hopefully) return to a new normal by the conclusion. Even though creativity can disrupt certain story conventions, you still need to understand those established story structures deeply. The classic three-act or five-act narrative arcs have stood the test of time because they align with how our brains naturally process and connect with stories. In the first act, you establish the normal world and introduce the protagonist and other main characters. Then the inciting incident occurs that sparks the central conflict. The second act develops this conflict, with tensions and stakes steadily rising towards a climax. Finally, the third act brings the climax and ultimate resolution of the conflict. Within each larger act, you build out the story through individual scenes that follow their own micro-version of this narrative arc structure. Each scene needs its own specific tension or driving question to hook the audience and propel the story forward. The key is artfully balancing moments of conflict and complications with moments of relief and resolution. You cannot just show constant happiness without any problems to overcome. Audiences disengage without that narrative tension to latch onto. But you also cannot solely dwell on the negative without providing an emotional release. Structure alone is not enough though. You need authentic, emotional details and character moments to make the story unique and resonant.
Structuring your marketing stories around the three acts
At its core, the traditional three-act story structure involves:
This three-act structure, with a defined beginning, middle, and end, is evident across sprawling narratives like the original Star Wars trilogy as well as shorter marketing videos and ads. The principle is the same – you need to have a certain level of complication or disrupting conflict to make the story interesting and give it an emotional arc that rises and falls along. Most marketing falls short by avoiding conflict and simply showing “people frolicking through the fields enjoying life.” While this seems positive on the surface, it actually fails to provide the essential tension that hooks an audience and makes the uplifting moments resonate fully. The brand strategists at John Lewis have got this structure dead on. They have found immense success with their holiday ads precisely because they develop this narrative structure so effectively. A standard Christmas ad would just show kids happily unwrapping presents, which is the baseline “perfect” scenario. But that becomes the norm if you don’t first see the family struggling or yearning for that joyful moment.The John Lewis ads are cultural sensations because they establish through heartfelt storytelling why the gifts mean so much. They explore the complicated tension or nostalgic longing that makes receiving the present resolution so cathartic and impactful. That’s why millions go out of their way to stream the ads – not just for the products, but for the resonant emotional experience.
What’s the process for creating engaging marketing stories?
So how can brand strategists put this into practice:
Bottom-Up Approach:
Sometimes the spark begins with a fascinating real-life detail or compelling customer anecdote. The story structure then gets reverse-engineered around that differentiated nugget. For example, charities and not-for-profits often structure their stories around who they are helping. The narrative doesn’t start with a pre-defined three-act blueprint, but rather with the often heartbreaking story of the character at the centre of the narrative. Brand strategists built outward from that gripping character detail when building that marketing story.
Top-Down Approach:
In other cases, it’s more effective to map out the high-level story architecture first before getting granular. Define the setup that will establish the initial circumstances, the confrontation that will disrupt them, and the envisioned resolution. Essentially, you’re designing the narrative’s overall trajectory by outlining the key “acts” of the story arc. Then you fill in the particular scenes and details that will bring that planned structure to life in an authentic, emotionally engaging way for your audience. Let the structure guide your strategic choices, not rigidly constrain them. Crucially, the audience (whether current customers, prospects, or the general public) must be positioned as the “protagonist” at the heart of the story whose motivations matter most.
Most importantly, at the crux of it all, brand strategists are aiming to show how your brand, products, or organisational mission make the audience’s life better in an emotionally impactful way. The most compelling marketing stories humanise the brand by placing real people at the forefront through invaluable first-hand insights from diverse perspectives across the company.
Final Thoughts: embrace structure, then transcend it
Embracing the art of strategic limitation and playing within boundaries is what will allow your stories to truly sing. Master that frame, and you can transcend it to make your audience deeply feel your brand’s impact and infinite creative possibilities. That’s the immortal allure of compelling stories.
Storytelling is one of the basics of marketing, and at KW Marketing, we are brand strategists who are on a mission to tell food and drink brand stories. If you’re stuck on how to effectively tell your brand story, get in touch with our experienced team of brand strategists today!