6 Tips to Tell More Effective Storytelling in Your Content Marketing

Today, in the midst of increasing the amount of information available - both online and off-line - the average person's attention spans are about the same length as a sleeping goldfish. With all the information that is helpful however, it's not easy to reach your audience and engage them. But there's a silver lining to all this noise, because it's left people starving for something very particular: a human connection.

One of the best ways to build a relationship to other people is through stories. By incorporating stories into our content, our content is transformed from information that shared into knowledge. This shows that the things we do to earn more than profit. we're committed to solving this problem and helping our audience. This also helps to establish a context for each piece of content we make when we combine them in a greater overall picture.

"If you truly want to attract people and make them want to listen, then tell a genuine and interesting tale. Stories are a great medium to share your thoughts to people, make them feel valued and create a an emotional connection to them." - Jeff Bullas

  Here are six ways to create better narratives for your content marketing  

1. Create an audience that is the hero.

This is the very first and most important secret to telling a story for your company. Your role isn't the main character, your customer is. If you concentrate on yourself and your interests, then your stories will come off as "hype" and have an opposite impact. It's instead of building connections with your viewers that they'll turn them off.

That's not to say you shouldn't share stories about yourself. Sharing your stories is essential. Remember that your listeners experience your stories like they are living the events. So make sure that the story and the message convey relevant to the audience.

  2. Understand where your audience is in "The buyer's journey"

You've got hundreds of stories you can tell, which will you choose? The stories you tell should be ones that will be a hit with your viewers and will be relevant to their needs right now. It is important to tell a an experience that helps them feel inspired to move forward by working with your help.

The buyer's journey provides a useful framework to framework to help us understand the mindset of our clients when they're considering whether or not to purchase from us. Buyer's Journey includes three fundamental steps: Knowing, Like and Trust. Let's take a look at each of them:

Be aware: At this stage your target audience only needs to be aware of your existence in any way. They might not be aware of problems that you can resolve. The stories you tell here should paint a picture of the opportunity or problem which will entice them and encourage them to investigate fast. These stories should be short (your viewers won't have a lot of a focus on them yet) and offer either entertaining, emotionally charged or even actionable value.

  3. Avoid reinventing the wheel. use frameworks

In many cases, telling stories is not something we do easily. Sure, we "tell stories" however there is a method for telling stories which really resonates to your viewers. The absence of frameworks is similar to creating a brand new story every when you tell a story. Frames allow us to take on different perspectives and explore new avenues of thinking that help our minds to break free from the common mental ruts we find ourselves in.

There are dozens of different models available. My favorite for telling stories that truly connect with your audience and spur action is The Crossroads formula. The Crossroads Formula breaks up the stages of the Buyer's Journey into questions and then matches those questions to the different levels of the Hero's Journey.

  4. Make use of to tell stories using images

Do not limit yourself to only one medium in your storytelling. If you're either writing or telling the stories, you can include visuals to enhance the emotional experience or message you want to convey.

Visuals are processed faster by the brain, and they are stored longer than simple text or spoken word. Vision is our strongest sense and visual messages cut straight into our unconscious and we don't even realize it. They are able to break up huge texts and keep people reading and interested. They are able to subliminally communicate ideas and emotions in ways that others methods of communication aren't able to.

It doesn't require to have a Hollywood budget for film to be successful visually-driven storytelling. Take a look at Wait But Why? A blog of Tim Urban with millions of fans ... It would seem that there would be a chance to be able to afford some amazing visuals, but the blog is brimming with stick figure drawings that look like work done by a 13-year-old using paint software from 1996...

Here are a few easy methods to include images to your content:

Screenshots that include annotations No need for expensive layout here. Taking a screen shot along with some quick notes can increase the value of the concepts you communicate to your visitors by showing actual examples to support the content you write.

Charts and graphs -All you need to tell a good story is a line. The graphs and charts help take information and create an image-based story that reflects the rise and fall of the information. Take a look at how Kurt Vonnegut (my favorite author) transforms classic stories into easy graphs.

Memes  Memes Memes are fantastic as they use familiar concepts and characters and adapt them in the context of our content. According to the mere-exposure result, people prefer concepts or pictures that they are already familiar with rather than those that they haven't yet encountered.

Quote imagesThis is an easy and effective way to include an image to your content. Any time you add an opinion from an influencer to support your ideas transform it into an image of a quote. It makes the person quote appear like a rockstar also (which implies they're more likely to spread the content)

  5. Set big goals

Don't rely on your past to find stories, you can create your own stories through setting big goals for your business.

Story-driven goals, often known as the BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) are the kind of impact you wish to have on the world with your efforts. The future you create day by day by the things you do.

There are some key benefits to using an BHAG

• It allows you to discuss your company and your company.A major goal can be an excellent tool for sparking discussion and interest in talking about your business.
• The HTML0 code creates something greater than you The result is something greater than yourself. with a major goal you demonstrate that you're doing the work you do to do more than earn a profits, but also for more than just profit. It allows you to involve the people who are interested in your mission and play a part in making the world better through collaboration together.
• The creates greater meaning for both you and your team It is a way to create more meaning for your team and you. A BHAG isn't just about the customers you serve, but also your entire team. Your employees will be inspired by the vision you have set, which increases loyalty and motivation.

In order to create a BHAG you must have a goal that is measurable which is connected to the story you're telling. If it's measurable you can communicate your progress and also make it concrete. This should force the person to go beyond their comfort zone. Your goal-setting process will cause a bit of worry and you'll be wondering "how will I achieve this?" This pushes your boundaries and prompts you to take action.

For further information on how you can make a BHAG, check out: Storytelling Secret Weapons: How to Create A BHAG

  6. Develop an "secret recipe"

Remember when you were young and your mom, grandmother or some other significant person you knew would prepare that special dish that you adored. We'll call it "grandma's lasagna". It was a dish you loved enough that it made it impossible to enjoy anyone else's lasagna. It's true, her lasagna wasn't anything special to her lasagna however, because of the personal connection that you felt with her, all the different lasagnas seemed boring...

You can create that "grandma's lasagna" impression with your enterprise through the creation of an "proprietary method". A proprietary process can be used to create an account of the process that helped you can achieve certain results.

Think of Brian Dean's Skyscraper Technique The Skyscraper Technique isn't anything unique about the individual aspects of this technique however the phrase "Skyscraper" is now a common usage among SEO marketers.

Here are a few key aspects of a process that is proprietary:

1. Make it 3 steps3 steps is best because it's easy to remember and comprehend.
2. Let people know that you're not atypical:It should point to your humanity too and have shared the frustrations and challenges of the people you are promoting to.
3. Make yourself stand out:Though you can relate to your customers however, you've done your homework or discovered something which makes you uniquely suited to address the issue.
4. Let your heart shine toonnect your work with your own personal story or a an analogy that demonstrates how much you value solving this particular problem.

Another example: I guide my clients through the "The Scalable Storytelling Method":

• Discover - We find some of the most intriguing elements of your life.
• Define - We get clear on how we want that story to be shared.
• Delegate - We create an innovative team that you have help telling your story.

For additional examples and details regarding proprietary processes, refer to: Storytelling Secret Weapons - A Proprietary Process.

  Get your message across to the world with better content  

The art of storytelling can have an enormous influence on quality and engagement of your strategy for marketing through content. It can inspire new ideas of what to create and give new meaning to your purpose that will motivate the creator to come up with further. Be confident and open about being open and honest. It helps create the emotional relationship that people are searching for.

Start small with your storytelling and keep a careful watch on how your audience responds to what you share. Additionally, you should practice and test your story in normal conversations, and if they pique your audience's interest, then try it in your content.

     How do you create stories through your work? Please let me know in the comment section!  

Kyle Gray helps entrepreneurs create compelling stories for their business that drive sales, growth and increase engagement. He has collaborated in a variety of startup companies and small-sized businesses to develop efficient strategies for marketing through content. The book The Story Engine outlines his methods for making marketing through content and brand storytelling easy and successful.