Why storytelling is important for brands and how to use it in content marketing

Do you want to connect with your target audience on an emotional level, build trust with potential customers and strengthen your brand narrative?

Here’s the secret weapon content experts use: storytelling.

Whether you’re launching a new product, promoting a service or building brand awareness, storytelling holds the key to converting potential customers into loyal returning customers. In fact, interest in harnessing the power of storytelling has increased recently, with online searches for ‘content marketing storytelling’ rising by 100% over the last year (2023) and ‘storytelling in marketing’ increasing by 52% over the last three months.

So what does this mean for your brand? If you’re not already leveraging the benefits of storytelling in your content, you need to be, otherwise your competitors may be connecting with customers on a deeper level than you currently are.

In this piece, we’ll take you through 10 reasons why storytelling is so beneficial for brands and four ways you can harness its power in your 2024 marketing strategy.

Why is storytelling important in content marketing?

You might be wondering, why is storytelling so important in content marketing?

1. Connection – One of the best ways to connect with your audience is through storytelling as it can transport customers, simplify information, and provoke an emotional response. Why is this important? Research shows that when consumers feel connected to your brand, 57% will increase spending, and 76% will buy from you over a competitor!
2. Brand understanding – Getting your messaging right is vital as it provides accurate, simplified information and enables customers to understand your value. Creating a story with your marketing also allows your audience to join your brand journey and understand the history and meaning behind the company. The more invested your customers are in your brand and journey, the more likely they are to continue buying your products or services.
3. Trust – By sharing your story with customers and connecting with them authentically on a deeper level, you are more likely to build trust and loyalty with them over your competitors. The latest stats show that 81% of consumers need to trust a brand before they even consider buying from them.
4. Uniqueness – No other company shares your brand story, history, values, aims and goals. You are unique and this is what sets you apart from your competitors, which is why your customers need to hear about it. Shout about your brand from the rooftops, ensure your USPs are highlighted in all your content and stand out from the crowd!
5. Memorable – Eliciting emotions using tone of voice or body language (particularly in video content) is important because it helps customers to retain more information. You may not know this but building a strong brand narrative makes an impact as, according to renowned Cognitive Psychologist Jerome Bruner, storytelling helps make something up to 22 times more memorable than facts – and that’s a fact! While this may not lead to direct conversions, the next time they hear your brand come up in a conversation or see one of your products online, they’re more likely to remember you.

Now you know why storytelling is so crucial for brands, let’s talk about how to effectively tell your brand’s story through your content. Here are our top four tips for utilising the power of storytelling.

Tip 1: Ensure your storytelling is human-centric

Our first tip for storytelling through content is to take a personal, human-centric approach. What do we mean by this? Put simply, focus on people: Your employees, your customers, the people at the heart of your brand.

Examples of human-centric storytelling include:

• Testimonials
• Case studies
• Reviews
• Employee stories

Telling people-led stories makes your content feel more authentic, which builds trust and credibility among customers, making them more likely to buy from you.

Testimonials and case studies from customers are particularly important because they are the best advocates for your brand. There is no reason for a customer to share their love for your brand, or positive experience if they don’t genuinely mean it which makes them a reliable source for other potential customers.

Reviews, testimonials and stories also act as a form of social proof, which is based on the idea that people are generally influenced by others when making purchasing decisions. According to research, more than one in three customers won’t purchase from a brand if their online store doesn’t show product ratings and reviews. By extending these types of people-focussed data into your video content, you’ll gain the trust of potential customers and effectively communicate your brand’s story to the world.

Tip 2: Take an integrated approach to storytelling

Our next tip is all about how you share your brand’s story across your marketing channels.

You could have the most engaging, well-branded, human-centric content that immaculately displays your brand’s story but if you don’t share it in the right places, no one will see it. Recent research shows 77% of consumers prefer shopping with brands they follow on social media – if you’re only communicating your story on your website, you may be missing out on a huge opportunity for revenue.

Did you know… where you share your brand’s story is part of the story itself? The point of storytelling through content is to take your customers on a journey with you, so that they become invested in your brand, its history and its future.

This journey can be created across multiple platforms:

• Blogs
• Social media platforms
• Your company’s website
• YouTube

This type of multilateral storytelling across a brand creates a parallel communication with customers where they’re part of the journey and thus buy into the product or service you provide. It also ensures consistent and well-aligned brand messaging across all marketing channels which is important if you want to stand out from competitors.

This doesn’t mean your brand should be active on all marketing channels. It’s important to choose the right channels for your brand and audience, but once you have your platforms, coordinate an integrated approach to storytelling across them all.

Tip 3: Make your story compelling and relevant

Our next tip for storytelling through content is to ensure everything you create is relevant, engaging and can elicit emotions.

You might be wondering how to create a captivating story that your audience wants to hear:

• Where possible, use data and statistics to share information that competitors won’t have access to.
• Use interactive features to illustrate your story and engage your audience, from questions to gamification.
• Add a strong call-to-action (CTA) at the end of your story – think about the purpose of your story and what you want customers to do after hearing it. This should be the focus of your CTA.
• Consider any recent trends or new events your story is relevant to and use them as a hook.
• Make your content as relatable as possible. This is why it’s a great idea to tell your brand’s story through customer testimonials and case studies.

Tip 4: Follow a carefully planned out structure

Our final tip for effective storytelling in your video content is to have a carefully planned out structure that communicates your point concisely, emotionally and with authority.

Your structure should include:

• Characters
• Conflict
• Resolution

Let’s delve deeper…

Characters

When we talk about characters, we don’t mean fairytale princesses or imaginary sidekicks. We’re referring to the people within your video content, such as customers or employees. As we’ve already mentioned in tip 1, it’s important to take a human-centric approach to storytelling because your audience will connect and align with the ‘characters’ in your content.

Where possible, stick to a maximum of three ‘characters’ in your videos and provide as much information about them as possible so that the audience gets to know them. Why? The behavioural principle ‘Identifiable Victim Effect’ follows the idea that an individual who is described at length will evoke much deeper emotions than a large group of anonymous individuals.

Conflict

As part of your narrative, you need to highlight a source of conflict, otherwise known as a ‘pain point’. Your conflict will likely be a challenge, issue or problem that your ‘character’ is having. The idea of this is to connect with your customers and find a shared problem (which you will then resolve later in your content).

In doing so, you will also show your audience that you understand them and empathise with the problem they’re having. This may make them more likely to want to become a customer as they feel seen and listened to.

Resolution

The most important part of storytelling as a brand…how have you resolved the conflict? This is your opportunity to highlight to your target audience how you can make their lives better and solve a problem they’re likely to be having.

You may choose to resolve the conflict or pain points through:

• Customer success story
• Product explanations/tutorials
• Data and statistics

Successfully explaining to your audience how your product or service can add value or help them with back up from data or testimonials means potential customers are more likely to invest and convert into actual customers!

By including each of these elements in your storytelling, you will establish a clear narrative that your audience can follow and connect with, leading to conversions, brand trust and loyalty!

Channel the power of storytelling in 2024

No matter which sector your work in, from the beauty sector or technology sector, storytelling is a powerful tool that can:

• Build trust
• Evoke emotions
• Convey value to customers
• Simplify information
• Make your brand more memorable

Whether you’re creating videos, webinars or animations, any type of content will benefit from storytelling. Do you need support to level up your storytelling game in 2024? At Bareska, we are here for you every step of the way through tailored content solutions that communicate your brand’s story to your audience.

Get in touch with us today to find out more about how we can work with you to develop unique, well-branded visual communications for both internal and external use.