Creating and sharing stories is something we have been doing since the earliest of days. It’s about sharing our experiences with others, letting them know what we did with our time.
Now here’s the thing, not everyone knows how to tell a great story. For some, the best-case scenario is to invest in audiobooks and expert books but these can be expensive.
So to help you out, we have gathered some great tips for you in this post.
But before we kick-off, I wanted to quote Seth Godin here:
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories, you tell.”
Make them short:
Your target audience is no more interested in reading or watching stuff that takes more than 3 minutes.
Stick to the main points of your story. Set it up, show where is the conflict or talk about the pain point you are trying to solve, provide the solution.
I understand that sometimes you have more information that is equally important but try to avoid stuffing it in your content.
Remember always, that you can share it again next time you are writing a blog post, creating a video, or simply sharing a Facebook post.
If you’re looking for inspiration, check out our post on the 2019 Oscar-winning animated short film, Bao.
Try to make it personal:
The storytelling of Noah Kagan the founder of AppSumo is the perfect example of ‘making it personal’. He is working towards building his personal brand image on YouTube. Kagan gives information and criticism while talking about his personal experiences.
For instance, he shares the very true and raw tale of how he was fired from Facebook in this video:
Think about it, as soon as you tell someone that you have a great story, everyone looks up to you. They want to know what’s so interesting that has you so excited and eager to share your story.
You should try to be personal in your online content as well. When you talk about yourself or your business in the same shoes as your customers, the message resonates better with them.
Be funny – it works:
Every now and then, it’s good to start with humor. It entices your audience and helps them remain engaged with you.
Many brands have used humor in their explainer videos to attract and engage customers. CEOs even use humor when they are about to present their new products or services.
One of the best examples here will be that of Late Steve Jobs, who at one of the most monumental moments of Apple, made a slight joke about the first-ever iPhone. Here’s the clip:
Here’s another video that talks about Farts. Yes, Farts, one of the most uncomfortable things to talk about, and Men’s Health, a popular men’s fitness and health magazine created a wonderful video using humorous elements. Check it out:
The need for authenticity:
With years and years of brands trying to shove their products and services on their customers, everyone loves authenticity. Here’s one of the latest examples where authenticity has worked:
The brand did a survey and found that its customers deeply care about the fact that the clothes they wear are sustainable and ethically-made. That’s why it decided to show its dedication to the cause.
This was the first-ever TV commercial by Patagonia in 44 years and it had nothing to do with clothing. Instead, it was focused on awareness of a critical social issue: the protection of public lands.
This TV ad has led to many other authentic messages and support for different social issues.
Storytelling in business must always be authentic. It is not worth the backlash on your credibility to make up stories or to spin the truth.
Find out what your target audience wants and what they think about you, integrate it into your content for better storytelling in your online content.
And remember, the saying – ‘don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story’ does not apply to authentic business storytelling.
Constant Velocity:
No, I am not going to give you a physics lesson (I wouldn’t know how to give one) but understand that it’s important to maintain momentum in your story.
Whether it’s an explainer video or a promotional video, make sure that you say it all fluently, in a pre-defined structure so that your audience doesn’t lose interest.
Now, this also doesn’t mean that you have to go very fast like a rolling stone over the edge of the mountain. A story should have a lot of energy, move briskly, and shouldn’t be interrupted by anything useless.
Here’s something we made for one of our clients, Varselor, we wanted to explain how their business works and we did it in just 1:45 minutes.
Whatever happens, never underwrite the power of storytelling. Consider this, Amazon purchased Twitch.com for $970 million. Twitch.com is a platform where gamers can live stream themselves playing videogames. In 2015, it was reported that Twitch.com had more than 1.5 million broadcasters and had monthly traffic of 100 million visitors. This shows that if done properly, anything can be entertaining as shown by Twitch where gamers use funny remarks, react with the game story, etc.
