6 Tips to Tell More Effective stories in your content marketing

In these days of increasing volume of noise, both on and off-line - the average person's attention spans are like a sleepy goldfish. Even when you have a wealth of information, it can be difficult to connect with your target people and keep them engaged. However, there's a bright side to all this noise, because it's left people starving for something very specific: a human connection.

One of the greatest ways to build a relationship to others is through telling stories. When we incorporate stories into our content, you transform the content shared into knowledge. This shows that our work for not just the sake of profit. we care about finding solutions to this issue and assisting our audience. Also, it helps create a sense of context among the different pieces of content we create as we weave them together in a greater picture.

"If you desire to draw people in then you must tell a genuine and interesting tale. Stories can be a powerful way for expressing your opinions, impress people and make a human connection with them." Jeff Bullas Jeff Bullas

  Here are 6 ways to make better storytelling happen in your content marketing:  

1. Create an audience that is become the hero

The first and most crucial aspect of storytelling for your business. The hero is not you, your customer is. If you focus on yourself and the things that interest you the stories you tell appear to be "hype" and have the opposite effect. It's instead of building a connection with your audience, they will repel them.

It doesn't mean you shouldn't share stories about your life. Sharing your stories is essential. Remember that your audience experiences your stories as if they were living the stories. So make sure that the experience and message are relevant to the audience.

  2. Know who your target audience is within "The The Buyer's Journey"

There are hundreds of stories to tell, which will you choose? The stories you tell should be ones which connect with your readers and are relevant to them today. The goal is to share a an experience that helps people feel encouraged to take the next step with them.

The buyer's experience is an excellent framework to help us understand the mental state of our audience as they're deciding whether or not they want to purchase from us. The buyer's journey comprises three main phases: Know the Trust, Like and Know. Let's take a look at each of them:

Learn: At this stage, your audience just needs to know you exist in any way. They might not be conscious of problems that you can have to solve. The stories you tell here should paint a picture of the opportunity or problem that will grab their attention and interest fast. These stories should be short (your audience won't have much of a focus on you yet) and provide either entertainment, emotional or actionable worth.

  3. Do not reinvent the wheel. make use of frameworks

Many of us find that storytelling isn't something that comes naturally. Sure, we "tell stories" but there's a strategy for telling stories which really resonates to your viewers. Without frameworks, you're trying to reinvent the wheel every whenever you tell a tale. Frames help us discover fresh perspectives and take new routes of thinking that help us to escape from the common mental ruts we are stuck in.

There are many different structures available, but my preferred method of telling stories that resonate with the audience and spur action is the Crossroads Formula. The Crossroads Formula breaks up the phases of the Buyer's Journey into questions, and matches these questions with the various stages in the Hero's Journey.

  4. Utilize the power of visual storytelling

Don't limit yourself to just one type of medium for your story telling. When you're telling or writing your stories it's possible to add visuals that improve the emotional impact or idea you're trying to convey.

Visual images are processed more quickly by the brain and retained more effectively than text or spoken word. Vision is our strongest sense and the visual signals cut through to our subconscious without our conscious awareness. They break up big texts and keep people reading and engaged. They're able to communicate concepts and feelings in a way that other methods of communication cannot.

It doesn't require to have a Hollywood budget for film to be successful in visual storytelling. Take a look at Wait But Why? A blog of Tim Urban with millions of fans ... It would seem that the blog would have some cash for incredible visuals, however the blog is full of pencil drawings of stick figures that look like work done by an 11-year-old with paint software in 1996...

Here are a few easy ways to add visuals to your content:

Screenshots accompanied by annotations: You don't need a costly design here, a screenshot that includes a couple of quick annotations could enhance the worth of the ideas you present to your visitors by showing real examples that support your essay.

Diagrams and charts -All you require for telling a great story is a line. Charts and graphs help you make sense of data and tell an image-based story that reflects the rise and fall of the data. Take a look at how Kurt Vonnegut (my favorite author) transforms classic stories into simple graphs.

Memes HTML0 Memes Memes are fantastic because they take familiar ideas and characters and adapt them to a new setting of our material. According to the simple-exposure effect that people are more likely to choose ideas or images that are familiar to them over those that are unfamiliar.

Quotes imagesThis is an easy and effective way to include some visuals to your content. When you include an influential person's quote in support of your idea create a quote image. This makes the person you quoted look like a rockstar too (which makes them more likely to share your posts)

  5. Set big goals

Don't rely on your history to discover stories, you can create your own stories by setting big goals for your business.

Story-driven goals, often known as goals based on stories, also known as BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) are the kind of impact that you'd like to create in the world through your work. This is the world you create day by day by the things you do.

There are a few key benefits to using an BHAG

• It allows you to talk about your business It makes it easy to talk about your businessA major goal can be a powerful tool to spark discussion and interest in talking about your business.
• It creates something bigger than yourself - With a big goal it demonstrates that you're performing the work you do to do more than earn a profits, but also for more than just profit. You can then engage the people who are interested in your mission and play a part in making the world better through working with you.
• This creates more significance for you and your team - A BHAG doesn't only impact your customers, but the team you work with. Your employees will be inspired by the vision you have set, which increases loyalty and motivation.

For a BHAG to be created, it is necessary to have a concrete goal that's connected to your story. If it's measurable you can show your progress and make it tangible. This should force the person to go beyond their familiar space. Thinking of your goal can cause some anxiety and leave you wondering "how do I achieve this?" This pushes your boundaries and prompts you to take action.

For further information on how you can make an BHAG, check out: Storytelling Secret Weapons - How To Create A BHAG

  6. Develop a "secret recipe"

When you were young and your mom, grandmother or a significant other you knew would prepare that special dish that you adored. We'll call it "grandma's lasagna". It was a dish you loved such that you found it impossible to enjoy anyone other lasagna. It's true, grandmother didn't do anything distinctive to her lasagna due to the personal connection that you felt with her, all the others' lasagnas were bland...

It is possible to create that "grandma's lasagna" effect with your business through the creation of a "proprietary method". The term "proprietary process" is a way to tell a story about how you can achieve certain results.

Imagine Brian Dean's Skyscraper Technique It's not anything special about the various aspects of this technique however the phrase "Skyscraper" is now common usage among SEO marketing professionals.

Here are a few key elements of a proprietary process:

1. Create it in 3 steps3 steps is the most effective because it's easy to remember and conceptualize.
2. Let people know that you're not atypical:It should point to the fact that you're human too and have shared the struggles and frustrations of your audience.
3. You're different:Though you can relate to your customer, you've also done the job or discovered a secret that makes you uniquely suited to tackle the issue.
4. Make it clear that you are interested by attempting toonnect your efforts to an individual story or even a metaphor that shows why you care about solving this particular problem.

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

• Discover - We look for fascinating elements of your tale.
• Define - We get clear on how we want that story to be shared.
• Delegate - We create a creative team you can get help in telling your story.

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

  Engage your audience with better content  

Stories can have a significant effect on the level of quality and engagement of your content marketing strategy. It can inspire new ideas of what to create and create a new sense of the purpose of your marketing that can inspire your team to develop even more. Be confident and open about being open and honest. It helps create the emotional connection your audience is hungry for.

Start small with your storytelling and keep a careful watch at how the audience reacts to what you share. Make sure to practice and evaluate your story in normal conversations, and if they pique the listener's curiosity, try using it in your writing.

     What do you use to use storytelling in your content? Tell me in the comments!  

Kyle Gray helps entrepreneurs create strong narratives for their companies that drive sales, growth and increase engagement. He has collaborated with hundreds of startups and small companies to design effective and sustainable strategies for content marketing. His book The Story Engine outlines his method of making the process of creating content marketing as well as brand storytelling simple and successful.