Nowadays, people don’t buy just a pair of sneakers or a laptop. They buy the story behind the sneakers or laptop. That’s why  top brands don’t just sell products, but also a story behind  the products.

If you’re not selling your brand through storytelling, you are missing out on one of the most powerful marketing techniques. In this article, we discuss the importance of storytelling in business and how to set your brand apart through stories. 

Let’s get into it!. 

What is Storytelling? 

Storytelling is an art. It involves using words to impact human emotions by creating a world that connects with the readers. 

Storytelling is also a marketing technique for brands who want to connect better with customers. It involves using data and a strong narration to produce an identity customers can relate to. The most successful business stories grab people’s attention, evoke emotion and compel people to take action.

The Importance of Storytelling in Business

Maybe you’ve noticed how some founders talk a lot about their origin story and the ‘why’ behind their company. They talk about how they couldn’t get through college or had to build their first product in the basement of their grandma’s home.  

What is the point of this?

The point is to shape their brand’s identity and build a relationship with their audience. People are tired of sales pitches, spreadsheets, and promotional emails. They want to feel a connection with the brand they buy from. This is where storytelling comes in. Business storytelling helps you build a solid relationship with customers by inspiring them while staying true to your brand’s mission. 

Here are some benefits of storytelling in marketing when done right:

• Conveys what your company does: your mission, core values, brand story, etc. 
• Humanises your brand and gives people a compelling reason to buy your product 
• It helps you attract the right people for your brand 
• It offers consumers an experience and not just a product 
• Stories bring people together; it inspires and motivates. 
• Boosts lead generation and sales

Using Storytelling to Sell a Brand: How Does It Work

Let’s paint a scenario: 

You are unsure about whether to learn a tech skill or not. Then you come across these two posts on social media: 

Post A:  

Company X is accepting ten new cohorts to their tech school. They highlighted benefits of learning from them, including the fact that they connect students with a job upon completion. The post ended with a CTA to register for the course on their website. 

Post B: 

Company Y is accepting new cohorts too. So they got one of their past students to narrate how tech changed his life. He had a miserable job, and because of his age and responsibilities, he didn’t think transitioning into another career was possible. But his life changed after a friend sent him a flyer of Company Y’s tech school. Now, he earns six figures and swears this was his best decision. He ends the story by encouraging others to rewrite their stories like him. And they could do that by learning one of the tech courses Company Y offers. 

Now, which company’s course are you registering for? 

If it’s Company B, then you’ve just experienced the power of storytelling in business. Now let’s move to how to use storytelling to market a business the right way. 

12 Storytelling Tips For Business Owners

Storytelling is an art, so you must be creative when weaving a story for your marketing campaigns. Whether you’re trying to convince people to learn a tech skill or buy lipstick, you need to do it right.  Here are some tips to help you tell business stories that win customers:

1. Know Your Audience 

The audience is a significant part of storytelling in digital marketing, so you need to consider them. How you’d tell your story if your audiences were middle-aged entrepreneurs would be different if they were young people. We can’t tell great business stories if we don’t understand who the stories are for. 

So before creating a story, ask yourself who you are trying to reach? Who will respond and benefit from this story? Consider conducting thorough market research and developing a target audience persona to understand your audience. 

2. Review your Brand Values

There are so many things going on in the world right now. Gender Inequality. Political unrest. Global Warming. Child slavery. Beauty standards. Now is a great time to let people know where you stand on societal issues that matter to your customers.   People like to buy from brands with values that align with theirs, so let them know your values. 

There are a lot of brands that support social issues, but Dove is one of the most memorable ones. Dove is a skincare brand that consistently tells stories to inspire women to develop a positive relationship with their looks. They create messages that connect with people so much that they don’t have to market their products anymore.

3. Decide What Kind of Story You Want To Tell

There are different kinds of stories, so you need to decide the type of story you want to tell. Do you want to talk about your failures and wins? Convey your values? Educate or inspire your audience? Decide what kind of story you want to tell and weave something your audience would relate with.

4. Think Bigger

Storytelling doesn’t have to be just about telling your brand story or advertising your product. You could go bigger by inspiring or motivating people. Nike, for example, has mastered the art of storytelling perfectly. This brand barely talks about its sneakers in commercials. Instead, they tell stories about real people and encourage people to be the best version of themselves. 

5. Choose a Relatable Character

Every story needs a character. The man whose life changed because he learnt a tech skill. The woman who aced her interview because she felt confident in the cloth she wore. You need a character for your story, and this person should be relatable to your target audience. Ensure your story’s character reflects your customers’ common needs and conflicts.

I left home at the age of 16 after I knew that my parents couldn't afford to sponsor me to University. I worked different odd jobs from being a labourer to a Security guard, to selling recharge cards. Until I met @Fowe. He introduced me to the world of tech and… pic.twitter.com/fW8pIfBKIE

— Adewale Yusuf (@AdewaleYusuf_) October 25, 2021

6. Make it Personal and Authentic

People care about humans, not companies. That’s why one of the reasons why storytelling is important in marketing is because it humanises your business. It would help if you worked on a genuine narrative that would evoke emotions from your audience. 

For example, if you struggled a lot before starting your company. Use this narrative to help consumers understand why it was important to you to create your company despite the drawbacks. When brands are transparent about their story, consumers start to care about what you do.

7. Determine the Outcome You Want

When using storytelling to sell a brand,  it’s best to figure out the outcome you want from your customers. What are you trying to achieve with the story you want to tell? Some brands tell stories to drive social change, some to inspire people or change behaviours. Knowing the outcome you want with your story can help you put together the right story. 

8. Seek Inspiration From Other Brands

A great way to learn the art of storytelling in business is by checking out other brands’ storytelling techniques. There are many brands that use storytelling effectively, and it’s okay to seek inspiration from them. 

9. Choose The Right Platforms

There are a lot of platform options where you can share your stories. You can use YouTube, Facebook, Television ads, writing, podcasts, speeches, etc. It’s essential to find the options that work best for your audience and story. The platform that works for you may also depend on the type of story you are telling. For example, a written story can’t work on YouTube but will work perfectly on your website. 

Also, having a consistent brand story across your marketing channels is essential. A disorganised brand story will only confuse the customers.

10. Throw in Some Facts and Figures 

When incorporating storytelling in digital marketing, you may want to throw in some data to back your points. For instance, you can start the story with statistics on the subject and then paint a story. You can also include data in the middle of a story to prove that your product solves a particular problem. 

Spotify is undoubtedly one of the best companies that tell great stories through data. This music software combines data with the human touch for the Wrapped Campaign at the end of every year. The Wrapped campaign showcases customers’ listening habits, and instead of displaying spreadsheet data, Spotify presents the data like a story.

11. Keep It Simple

One effective tip for storytelling in content marketing is to make your story short. You may lose your audience if you make your story too long or complicated. A business story should be simple, concise, and straight to the point. Also, consider using visuals to make your written stories more compelling to read.

12. Define your Call To Action

Your call to action is the next step you want people to take after listening to or reading your story. Do you want them to buy a product, sign up for a service or make a donation? Or is the goal to educate them? Ensure you establish a clear CTA that guides customers on what to do next. For instance, if your objective is to seek donations, your CTA could be ‘Donate Now’.

Types of Storytelling in Digital Marketing   

There are different forms of business storytelling, and here are some of the most popular ones:

1. Brand or Origin Story

A brand story explains the events or reasons that inspired your company’s inception. An excellent way to create a brand story is by aligning them with your products or customers. Some brand story ideas include:

• A story of your how you formed your brand
• Your brand values and what your business stands for
• A personal story of the founder

Chess in Slum is an excellent example of a company with a compelling brand story. The founder of the story got people’s attention after explaining how he started the non-for-profit organisation. He once walked into a slum in Lagos with chess, and the children enjoyed playing with him. It wasn’t a one-time thing as he planned because the children’s reaction made him go back. Now, Chess in Slum has a mission to educate 1 million children in 5 years by using chess as a focal point.

Happy birthday to the little girl whose smile changed my entire world.
It all started about two years ago when i walked into the slums of majidun ikorodu lagos with a chess board and a pocket full of dreams.

A Thread… pic.twitter.com/FAHmfxYoNL

— Tunde Onakoya (@Tunde_OD) May 26, 2020

2. Customer Story

This form of storytelling in digital marketing focuses on the customer or beneficiaries of your product or services. You can showcase a customer who had an excellent experience with your product or highlight your top customers. 

Airbnb is a famous brand that does customer-led storytelling effectively. This vacation rental company highlights its customers’ experiences or stories and then shares them with the world.  

Also, some brands share stories by focusing on a customer’s journey with their products. For example, Rami Brand, a skincare company, often highlights a customer journey as they use their product. This brand shares stories of customers struggling with some skin problems and documents their improvement over time.  This form of storytelling acquaints the audience with what they should expect from your products.

3. Advertising and Promotional Story

Another way to use storytelling to market a business is through advertisement and promotion. Apple is a brand known for its iconic product and marketing campaigns. That’s why you find people sleeping in the streets to line up for the latest iPhone. This loyalty comes from the fact that Apple provides excellent products and also humanises technology through storytelling. 

 4. Educational Story

Injecting storytelling into content marketing is a great strategy to teach customers things. You can find your customers’ problems and create educational stories about how to solve them. 

5.  Product Story

In product stories, the product is the star of the story. People are becoming more interested in the stories behind products, so show them how your product can solve problems. You can tell the stories of your product by focusing on the pain point of your prospective audience.  Also, you can focus on details about your products, like the ingredients it contains or where you sourced them. 

Start Telling Your Story

One of the importance of storytelling in business is to make your brand stand out. This is more important now than ever that the world is full of content overload.  So as a business owner, knowing how to tell stories is a critical skill to increase sales and retain customers. Determine the type of stories you want to tell, create a story and start sharing with the world.