If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.
― Rudyard Kipling, The Collected Works
Writers have long understood the value of storytelling. And today, studies in neuroscience back up exactly what makes stories so powerful. Stories are how we remember the important stuff. We tell each other cautionary tales to remind us not to do things that will get us into trouble. We tell each other gripping stories about hardship and triumph not only to entertain, but to connect with our own humanity, to gain perspective and to remember who we really are.
Rudyard Kipling was right – stories help us remember.
Why does this matter to you, a business owner or digital marketer trying to produce content for your company?
It’s simple – today’s consumers are inundated with so much information that it’s impossible for them to truly remember much of what they’ve seen in any given day. If you want them to remember your brand, you have to make your content memorable.
By understanding a few basic storytelling elements, you can infuse all of your content writing with the magic ingredient that keeps readers engaged and makes them want to share your content. The format doesn’t matter because storytelling can be anywhere – a blog post, an ebook, a podcast, a video clip – even a Tweet. In this 8-part series, we’ll cover the building blocks of storytelling, how they relate to content marketing and what you need to know to start amping up your content with stories. Each section below will become available on this page as we publish.
Character, Conflict and Resolution
Character, conflict and resolution are the three basic elements in every story. A master class on effective storytelling might delve into a host of other things that make up a good story, including dialogue, pacing and voice, but character, conflict and resolution are the legs of your storytelling stool. Take away one of the legs, and you no longer have a working stool. A story is not a story without character, conflict and resolution. The first three parts of this guide address these pillar concepts.
Unforgettable Characters Breathe Life Into Your Content Marketing Campaigns
Crafting characters for your campaigns doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Keeping in mind your audience, your product and the points of view that are available can spark an idea for a character that your audience will fall in love with.
Address Your Customers’ Pain Points By Writing Content With Conflict
In storytelling, conflict is how we relate to the character – we empathize with them because of troubles they are facing. We can often see ourselves having the same problem or struggling in the same way. That’s why conflict is one of the most important pieces of making your content marketing campaigns memorable – you get to speak directly to your customer’s pain points.
Great Content Ends With Great Solutions And A Call-To-Action
Maybe you love a happy ending, or maybe you prefer a finale that makes you fill in the blanks about the rest of the character’s life. Either way, you intuitively know that a good story has some sort of resolution – a solution to the conflict faced by the character. Likewise, your content marketing campaigns won’t be complete without the solution to the problem at hand and a place for your audience to go, whether that’s to take a specific action or to learn more.
Audience and Emotion
Knowing your audience is critical to an effective content marketing campaign, and so is understanding the role that emotion plays in helping your audience visualize themselves in the story you’re telling.
Great Content Only Works On The Right Audience
If a content marketing campaign is like shooting darts, then publishing content that speaks to the wrong audience is like throwing your dart and hitting the target of the teams playing on the next board over. You don’t score any points that way. You have to know your audience to win the game.
Use Content Writers Who Understand The Power Of Emotions For Best Results
Our emotions drive our decision-making process far more than most of us like to admit. Tapping into your audience’s fears, longings, loves, anger and other emotions through storytelling is the quickest way to motivate them to action. Just a glimpse of the powerful connection between storytelling, emotions and how people process information will convince you it’s time to start telling a good story in all of your content.
Visual Storytelling
Why You Should Add Visual Storytelling To Your Content Marketing Campaigns
In today’s fast-paced, information-overloaded world, the quicker and longer you can capture someone’s attention, the better. Sometimes, what you need is an image that tells the whole story without a single word.
Authenticity and Patience
How To Make Sure Your Content Marketing Campaign Is Authentic
Effective content marketing creates a relationship between your brand and your potential customers. As with any relationship, it takes time and authenticity to build up trust – and trust is the key ingredient for making and keeping your customers happy.
Content Marketing Stories in Practice
5 Great Content Marketing Campaigns You Won’t Forget
Real examples of great storytelling – so you can see for yourself how it’s done.
About Virtucom Group
Consistent business blogging yields results – more clicks, more subscribers and – ultimately – more conversions. Whether you’re writing an automotive blog, an accounting blog, a healthcare blog or a home renovation blog, blogging for business and content development are useful for any industry. Follow the content writers at the Virtucom Group blog as they share digital marketing tips and discuss website content writing services that can optimize your business blog.
