Storytelling for Businesses: 7 Tactics to Fuel Your Brand's Narrative

It’s no secret that the most successful brands today are storytellers who use empathy to appeal to human emotions. By connecting with their audiences on a deeper level than most others care to, these brands command attention, build credibility, and inspire action that eventually forge a long-lasting connection between themselves and their audiences.

In this blog post, we will tell you everything you need to know to tell great stories!

What is Storytelling?

Storytelling is nothing new. It’s an ancient art form that has been around since the first humans started sharing experiences with one another in order to build a sense of community and pass down traditions. And while storytelling may have evolved over time, its purpose has remained the same: to entertain, educate, and engage audiences.

Why is Storytelling Important for Businesses?

Storytelling is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to businesses. When your brand tells a story, you are making an emotional connection with those who hear it.

Think about the last time you heard an incredible story. What did you do? You probably felt something—maybe happiness, sadness, anger, or excitement. And because of that emotion, you took some form of action, such as buying a product or sharing a story on your social media profiles for others to see.

Today, more than ever, storytelling is at the heart of human motivation. Knowing this, brands are investing in their stories to better tell who they are and why their products or services matter so much.

To understand what makes a good story—and how you can use it to fuel your brand's content marketing goals—here are 7 tactics you should follow.

7 Storytelling Tactics That Can Move Audiences into Action

Find your angle.

Every great story has a beginning, middle, and end. It also highlights an issue or problem that your brand is uniquely able to solve in order to create the desired effect of inspiring action in audiences.

Before your start telling a story, consider the following questions:

• Who's telling the story?
• Why is the story being told?
• When and where is the story taking place?
• Who are the people in the story?
• What are the people trying to achieve?
• What challenges arise?
• How do the characters overcome those challenges?
  

By answering these questions, you will gain a better understanding of what your brand is about and why it matters to audiences, which can ultimately help get them on board with your storytelling.

Keep it short and sweet...but not too short.

While some stories may require several minutes for audiences to become fully invested, it's important to keep in mind that the average person has a short attention span. It's therefore important to keep your stories short and sweet so that audiences can quickly understand what you're trying to say without getting bored.

However, this doesn't mean that your stories should be rushed or incomplete. On the contrary, take the time to develop them fully and convey them in a way that's concise and simple to understand.

Be authentic.

Your business' story doesn't need to be elaborate. In fact, your business doesn't—and shouldn't—craft an Internet-breaking story if it doesn't have one. It's the authenticity in your stories that matter as it helps you connect with your audiences and establish trust. It's also the element that will keep your audiences coming back for more.

Be interesting.

While it's important to be authentic, it's equally important to not be mundane or unengaging as you'll lose your audiences' interest. Instead, focus on crafting tales that are captivating, entertaining, and inspiring. This can be done in a number of ways, such as incorporating suspense, creating a relatable character or situation, or sharing an interesting fact or statistic.

Use humour effectively.

Humour is always the best icebreaker in storytelling, especially when your audiences are meeting your brand for the first time. But don’t overdo it! Using humour effectively should be used sparingly so you can get straight to business without losing the audience's interest.

You can also use humour to surprise your audiences, which can be done by breaking down their expectations or adding an unexpected twist at the end of the story. This is particularly useful when you want to grab someone's attention and make them take action right away, like sharing a post on social media for example.

Strategically communicate your mission, vision, and values.

While humour can captivate your audiences, it takes more to establish a deeper connection with them. This is where your brand's mission, vision, and values come into play. After all, if your brand stands for something that your audiences also feel passionate about, then they are much more likely to support your business.

Be Consistent.

When it comes to business storytelling, consistency is key. This means sharing your stories in a way that's on-brand and taking the time to develop your stories until they're just right. When you stick to your brand's values and express them authentically, your audiences will become more invested in what you have to say.

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The best stories are the ones that make people feel something. They could be touched, inspired, or even amused by it. At the same time, they should always leave audiences feeling like they've experienced something special. By following these storytelling tactics, you'll be able to create content that moves audiences into action while establishing trust and connection with them along the way.