Did you know our brains remember stories better than cold hard facts? The art of storytelling is ancient and continues on because it remains an important part of our being and our history. A large portion of our entertainment comes in story form and our mind creates stories where we aren’t being told one.
Have you ever found yourself reciting little stories or rhymes to remember something?
30 days has September,
April, June, and November.
When short February’s done
All the rest have 31
Stories allow us to picture ourselves in situations and forge emotional links, while facts on their own feel somewhat distant and can be hard to remember. Not only does a story trigger our memory but it’s much more interesting to process.
If I want to intrigue you in a product that is hard to break, which strategy would retain more of your interest?:
Strategy 1 – Telling you how strong the product is by listing the materials it is made of.
Strategy 2 – Telling you about how I once witnessed 2 people fighting over the product, tugging it, dropping it and accidentally stepping on it, and it still didn’t break!
While there is a place to inform your customer about the materials in your product, the initial pull towards your brand will more likely come from the story.
The UNHCR website Searching for Syria is a wonderful example of marketing through storytelling. They have broken the information up into small digestible chunks of text supported by images, video and interactive content.
Ways that you can you apply storytelling to your brand:
- Tell the history and journey of your brand.
- Use a real story or create a story about a product or service you offer.
- When telling the story keep your end goal in mind and don’t stray off topic.
- Keep in mind that stories can be told in more ways than just the written word – photos, sound, film, interactivity, etc. are all legitimate communication methods.