5 Ways Marketers Can Become Better Storytellers

In a world flooded with information, stories are one of the most effective ways of marketing your business. They’re more memorable than any other form of content, and they give people a personal connection to your brand.

In this TTEC article, “The Emerging Power of Visual Literacy,” visionary filmmaker George Lucas argues that young people must be taught a new language of expression in order to succeed in a world where visual communication is as strong and powerful as the printed word.

“There are rules for telling a story visually that are just as important as grammatical rules or math terms…. There is grammar in film, there is grammar in graphics, there is grammar in music, just like there are rules in math that can be taught. For instance, what emotion does the color red convey? What about blue? What does a straight line mean? How about a diagonal line?” Lucas said.

The same story-telling theory holds true for today’s marketers. But, there are five key challenges organizations often face when using storytelling as a marketing tool.

1. Write what interests your audience: Marketing is about giving people what they want; successful content marketing does just that in an uncomplicated engaging manner.

2. Keep it simple: Always think about how your content can simplify your marketing, remove extraneous steps in the sales process, simplify your message, get straight to the point, and shorten the distance between the prospect and sale.

3. Solve your customers’ problems: Smart content marketing helps prospects understand the benefits of solving their problems in a certain way. In order to give your content credibility and authority, make sure your readers walk away from a blog post, case study, eBook, or infographic with at least one thing he or she can do to improve.

4. Include a call to action: Successful content marketing doesn't end with blog posts. You need to convert that traffic to your content into leads, and if you've written some amazing content, your readers will probably want to learn more. Therefore, create relevant content that drives readers to a product or service you’re promoting. 

5. Amplify your message: Today’s busy consumer is active across multiple channels and devices. Therefore, businesses must routinely promote their content beyond their websites to increase click rates and reach. This means more than just monitoring your Twitter stream for activity; it means visiting related forums within your industry, as well as outside, to post your content that’s relatable to specific communities and can offer targeted advice. 

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