How To Captivate Your Audience With Stories in Your Content
The value of using story in your content marketing.
Seth Godin says that ‘people buy stories, relationships, and magic’. He also tells us that those that have the highest amount of stories in their content have the most connection, the most readership, the most reached and the most click-throughs.
So if you can captivate your audience with story in content marketing, it means you will inspire, engage and motivate them to do what you want them to do. If you just give your audience 'step-by-steps' and 'what to do's', it will bore and exhaust them. They will feel disconnected and overwhelmed.
The benefit of story
Connect emotionally
On the other hand, stories allow your audience to relax and to connect with their heart. If there's too much going on in the content, they won't be able to connect on an emotional level with you. People connect on emotion and they buy on rationality.
Fast track your message
Storytelling is like fast-tracking your message. It allows people to connect and get a sense of what you're trying to say very quickly. It allows them to emotionally connect with you and understand you.
5 Types of Storytellers
In Gabrielle Dolan's book, Ignite: Real Leadership, Real Talk, Real Results, she talks about the four different types of storytellers that are out there. She talks about the joker, the inspirer, the reporter and the bragger. But I think there are five different types of stories that you can include in your content marketing that will help captivate your audience.
They are:
Historical story: this is a story about somebody from your past or has been in the history of a country or a place or industry. The purpose of the story is to tell the Hero's Journey. The Hero's Journey and The Hero with a Thousand Faces was created by Joseph Campbell. He says that you've got this atonement, a return and an abyss. So the purpose of the historical story is to inspire.
A case study: a case study is perhaps somebody you have worked with or an example of an organisation that has done something. Case studies make it very concrete and real for your audience.
Personal story: Again, this is generally to inspire your audience and would be a hero's journey type story.
Modern metaphorical story: this is something that has a message in it that helps the audience to understand the message that you're trying to say.
Inspirational story: this could be a story about somebody who's done really well and it could also be the story of someone who has overcome adversity.
Let me know your thoughts!
How are you sharing and using stories to grow your business or practice? I'd love to hear how it has worked for you.
Jane Anderson is a communication expert, speaker and the author of 10 books including the upcoming TRUSTED: The Level Above Influence. With over 20 years of experience helping people step into their personal power, she is obsessed about creating human connection to drive business growth in a world of disruption and automation. To inquire about her working with you or your organisation please contact us here.