The term storytelling is divided into two words: story and telling, which can be literally translated to "telling a story". Essentially, it is a communication tactic that involves narrating stories to capture the attention of a specific target audience.
The medium used to convey the message is precisely the narration of stories crafted to stimulate and evoke a desire in the reader to purchase the product or service being sold, convincing them that it meets their needs.
This communication that utilizes storytelling as its vehicle is very widespread in marketing strategies because it is highly effective and powerful.
Indeed, storytelling has an emotional charge that more convincingly persuades readers and conveys ideas and viewpoints directly and engagingly to the target audience, compared to traditional written advertising.
What are the objectives of storytelling?
To achieve good communication and an effective marketing strategy, one must set goals to be achieved:
- Commercial objectives: when the storyteller needs to differentiate from competitors and must persuade the viewer;
- Political objectives: when finding new voters for a political party;
- Marketing objectives: when capturing the attention of the target audience, stimulating a need and building customer loyalty;
- Advertising objectives: when promoting the brand, and increasing visibility of the brand or company;
Once you have established your goals and understood which target audience you want to focus on, you can create an effective business strategy using the technique of storytelling.
Who uses storytelling?
Storytelling is useful for any company, from small businesses to large corporations to freelancers. The main purpose is to build customer loyalty by engaging them with stories that tell about the brand or promote its product, bringing them closer to the brand and proving to be much more loyal.
Examples of storytelling
The data-driven approach of Spotify
Take the example of Spotify, which tells a data-driven story (they tell stories through data). Every day a myriad of data is collected and then used to tell stories about the brand or label and to create original content. Information is gathered on the types of music listened to.
In 2017, the Spotify service cross-referenced data collected from its system to provide an overview of listening behaviors in American colleges. The website features information about favorite genres and the most frequently chosen playlists, highlighting the listening habits of their most frequent consumers, the youth.
Data Cross-Referencing at IBM
IBM, on the other hand, contributes to the fight against melanoma (an aggressive tumor).
It has developed an artificial intelligence capable of detecting melanoma; it was launched at Australia's Bondi Beach and examined over 800 people in a week, signaling any risks and advising skin cancer risk patients to undergo further testing.
Storytelling is an alternative method for dealing with everyday life problems, as it creates new spaces and different settings in every story, yet all pertaining to what surrounds us.
You can do it too, you just need a lot of commitment and an excellent marketing and sales platform.
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