Creating a positive online reputation in today’s cut-throat competition isn’t a cakewalk. With the digitization expanding, you must think of ways to stay connected with your audience. You might ask – What is the best way to build a connection? The answer lies in one simple word – Storytelling.
Storytelling is not just an Art, but a Science. A science that can make or break an article or a conversation quite easily. Other than entertaining the kids, even the organizations have started using stories to expand their business globally. So, if you represent an organization, check out these simple hacks to connect with your potential customers:
Understand your Target Audience
You must understand your listener before you initiate your story. Having proper knowledge of your target audience can help your organization flourish and can also help in persuading your audience much more cleverly and quickly.
Make it Sound Realistic
We being humans have an inane quality to connect with emotions better. Take advantage of this ability and make your storyline people-centric. Understand what makes your target audience tick and connect with them on an emotional perspective.
Strategize on Your Pitching Technique
Your marketing tactic to pitch your storyline will define your organizations’ next step to success. So, work on it properly if you wish to retain your customers. Depending on how your organization function, pick out your options: Q&A (Question and Answer) format is surely worth to consider, but statistics say otherwise. As per the statistical data, people find videos much more appealing than Q&As or even the power-point presentations. The videos are known to improve your overall conversion rate, so prefer them to deliver your stories.
Another good way to reach out to your target audience via stories is through social media. With the advancement of technology, platforms like LinkedIn have come into the eyes of the public and storytellers are using it as well. So, if you have a well-structured storyline, go out to LinkedIn (or any other platform of your choice) and pen it down right there.
Practice What You Preach
Being a part of an organization, ensure everyone keeps an eye out for a good storyline. Irrespective of their position, persuade them with utmost patience to gain their trust. Practice what you preach to help your employees understand why stories are a good way to retain their existing customers. Once they start seeing positive outcomes, they will join you in the process much more quickly with full enthusiasm.
Another important factor to consider is – what happens when you have a good storyline with you? What is the next step you should consider? These are the two questions you must have answers for. Identification of a good storyline is important, but what happens with it also matters. So, create a perfect roadmap aka a process to follow for storytelling. Depending on the marketing tactics taken into consideration, assign the work to the right person. Find a person within your organization who you believe is capable enough to both train and work with the storytellers. Doing so on a consistent basis will ensure that storytelling becomes an integral part of your organizations’ culture for a longer duration.
Frame out Different Personas
Create a separate persona for every story you create. It will not only give a fresh vibe to your stories but will also keep your customers engaged with your brand. Every customer is different, so use the concept of storytelling wisely. You can try creating your personalities on the basis of stories you curate. However, do take into consideration your audience feedback. Understand what your audience likes/dislikes through e-mail suggestions, social-media posts or through short surveys.
Call to Action
Before you conclude your storyline and share it with your target audience, attach a strong Call-to-Action to it. Having done so will ensure that your audience gets something to ponder on once they are done reading your story. It would also let them connect with you better either through one-to-one e-mail conversations or through the comments section. The mantra is simple: Keep your CTA Simple to achieve good traction.
Every storyteller is different and follows a different style of creating CTAs. So, how to know if your CTA is good enough? There’s an easy way to check if you are on the right track? Here’s the tip: Did your CTA helped your audience connect with your storyline? Does your CTA allow your audience to share their feedback with you? Does your CTA involve your target audience the next time in your story? If your Call-to-Action button answers any or all these 3 queries, then you are good to go and your CTA will surely help you gain some amazing traction.
Verdict
Clearly, stories are important for everyone irrespective of their age, gender, caste or religion. Kids read storybooks for their learning and entertainment, while corporate leaders use them to expand their business. So, avoid technical jargon and keep your stories simple. The simplest you make it, the better your audience will relate to it. It also helps you create a positive online reputation in the eyes of your target audience further strengthening your relationships with them.
Do you think I missed something? What strategy do you implement while framing out stories for your brand promotions? Discuss it below in the comments.
What if you don’t have a specific audience because your content changes? I base a lot of my content on something I have seen, or feeling at the moment or usually within the past 24 hours.
@Debbie Yarbrough – Thank you for reaching out to us with your query. However, that rule applies only for bloggers who target a single niche on their blogs. If any blogger covers multiple niches, then s/he can always change the content and the storyline depending upon the niche s/he picks. Though, mixing of 2 niches in a single storyline is definitely not encouraged as it can have its repercussions.