6 Tips to Tell More Effective Stories 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 as long as a sleepy goldfish. Even when you have a wealth of information, it can be difficult to reach your audience and engage them. There's a silver lining for all this nonsense, 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. By incorporating stories in our posts, our content is transformed from information that we share into wisdom. We show we're doing what we do for more than profit. we're committed to finding solutions to this issue and assisting our viewers. This also helps to establish a context for all the pieces of content we create as we weave them together in a greater overall picture.

"If you are looking to get people interested then you must tell a genuine and interesting story. Stories are an excellent way 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 make better storytelling happen when it comes to content marketing  

1. Make your audience become the hero.

This is the very first and foremost rule to the art of storytelling in your company. Your role isn't the main character, your customer is. If you are focused on your own interests and your interests the stories you tell appear to be "hype" and create the opposite effect. Instead of creating a connection with your audience and attracting them, your stories will turn off them.

It doesn't mean you should not tell stories about yourself. Sharing your stories is essential. But remember that your audience experiences your stories as if they were living the stories. Make sure the content and experience are exactly the ones they want to hear.

  2. Find out where your customers are within "The buyer's journey"

There are hundreds of stories to share, which will you choose? It is important to tell stories that resonate with your audience and will be relevant to their needs in the present. It is important to tell a story that will help your audience feel energized to take the next step with your help.

The buyer's journey is a useful framework to framework to help us understand the mindset of our customers when they're considering whether or not to purchase from us. The buyer's journey has three basic steps: Knowing that, like and trust. Let's look at each one:

Know: At this stage your target audience only needs to know you exist in any way. They may not even be conscious of an issue that you are able to have to solve. The stories you tell here should paint a picture of the opportunity or problem that will draw their attention and interest immediately. They should be concise (your viewers won't have a lot of an attention span for them yet) and should provide entertaining, emotionally charged or even actionable worth.

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

For many of us, storytelling does not come naturally. We "tell stories" but there's a strategy for telling stories that connects you with the audience. Without frameworks, you're creating a brand new story each time you tell a story. Frames allow us to take on different perspectives and explore new avenues of thought that allow us to escape from the common mental ruts we find ourselves in.

There are dozens of different frameworks available but my favorite to tell stories that resonate with the audience and motivate them to take action is the Crossroads Formula. The Crossroads Formula breaks up the phases of the Buyer's Journey into questions, and matches those questions to the different phases that comprise the Hero's Journey.

  4. Utilize to tell stories using images

Do not limit yourself to only one type of medium for your story telling. Whether you're writing or speaking the stories, you can incorporate visuals to further enhance the emotional experience or idea you're trying to convey.

Visual images are processed more quickly by the brain, and they are stored longer than simple text or spoken words. Visual perception is one of our most powerful senses and the visual signals cut into our unconscious without us even realizing it. They are able to break up huge blocks of text and keep people reading and engaging. They are able to subliminally communicate ideas and emotions in ways that others methods of communication aren't able to.

You don't need an Hollywood budget for film to be successful visually-driven storytelling. Think about Wait, What's the Matter? A blog of Tim Urban with millions of followers ... You'd think with that many followers they'd be able to afford some amazing visuals, but the blog is full of sketches that appear like work done by an 11-year-old with paint software from the year 1995...

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

Screenshots with annotations: No need for expensive layout here. Taking a screen shot with a few quick annotations can increase the value of the concepts you communicate to your visitors by showing real examples that support your writing.

Charts and graphsAll you need to create a compelling story is the line. The graphs and charts help create visual representations of information and tell a visual story with rising and falling the data. Check out how Kurt Vonnegut (my favorite author) transforms classic stories into graphs that are simple.

Memes  Memes Memes are awesome since they can take ideas and characters and adapt them to a new setting of our content. According to the mere-exposure effect, people prefer the ideas or images they already know in preference to those they are not familiar with.

Quote imagesThis is a simple and powerful way to add an image to your content. Any time you add an opinion from an influencer to back your thoughts create an image of a quote. The person who you mentioned look like a rock star as well (which implies they're more likely to spread your content)

  5. Set big goals

It's not enough to look back at your history to discover stories, you can create your own tales by establishing high-level goals for your company.

Stories-driven goals, commonly referred to as goals based on stories, also known as BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) represent the impact you want to make in the world through your work. It's the future that you build day-to-day through the work you're doing.

There are several key benefits to using an BHAG

• It allows you to talk about your business and your company.A big goal is an excellent tool for sparking discussion and interest in discussing your company.
• It is a way to create something larger than your own ego It creates something bigger than you. With a big goal you show that you're doing your work for more than just profit, you're serving a greater purpose. It allows you to involve the people who are interested in your mission and contribute to making the world better through working alongside you.
• This creates more significance for your employees and you. - A BHAG doesn't only impact the customers you serve, but also your team. Your employees will be inspired by the vision you have set, which boosts motivation and loyalty.

To create a BHAG, it is necessary to have a concrete goal which is connected to the story you're telling. If the goal is measurable, you'll be able to share the progress you've made and make it tangible. This should force you to step out of your familiar area. Your goal-setting process should create a little stress and make you think "how do I achieve this?" This pushes your limits and spurs you to act.

For more on how to develop a BHAG, check out: Storytelling Secret Weapons - How to Make A BHAG

  6. Make a "secret recipe"

Do you remember when you were a kid and your mother, grandma or some other significant person who was in your life cooked this special meal that you enjoyed. It was "grandma's lasagna". You loved grandma's lasagna enough that it made it difficult to eat anything who else's lasagna. We'll be honest, your her lasagna wasn't anything special to her lasagna but because of that emotional connection you had with her, the different lasagnas seemed boring...

It is possible to create the "grandma's lasagna" result for your company by establishing the concept of a "proprietary procedure". The term "proprietary process" allows you to share a story about how you achieve a specific result.

Think of Brian Dean's Skyscraper Technique The Skyscraper Technique isn't anything distinctive about the elements of the strategy, but the term "Skyscraper" is now common use by SEO marketers.

Here are the most important components of a custom process:

1. It should be 3-5 steps:3 steps is the most effective because it's easy to remember and comprehend.
2. Show you're ordinary:It should point to the fact that you're human also and shared the frustrations and challenges of your audience.
3. Make yourself stand out:Though you can relate to your customers but you've also completed your homework or discovered a trick that allows you to be uniquely qualified to tackle the issue.
4. Let your heart shine: Connect your efforts to your own personal story or a an analogy that demonstrates how much you value finding a solution for this specific problem.

Here's another example, I guide my clients through the "The Scalable Storytelling Process":

• Discover - We find fascinating elements of your life.
• Define - We get certain of how we wish for that story to be shared.
• Delegate - As an innovative team that you get help in to tell your story.

To find more examples and further information on proprietary processes check out: Storytelling Secret Weapons - A proprietary process.

  Make your story more engaging for the audience with better content  

Storytelling can have a dramatic impact on the impact and efficiency of your content marketing strategy. This can spark new concepts of how to develop your strategy and give new meaning to your purpose that will motivate your team to develop more. Do not be afraid to be transparent and vulnerable, it will help create the human connection your audience is hungry for.

Beginning with the basics of your story and pay close attention at how the audience reacts to your story. Make sure to practice and evaluate your story in normal conversations, and if they pique people's attention, you can incorporate the story in your own content.

     What do you use to create stories through your work? Let me know in the remarks!  

Kyle Gray helps entrepreneurs create powerful storylines for their businesses which drive growth, sales, and engagement. He has collaborated in a variety of startup companies and small businesses to create scalable content marketing strategies. The Book The Story Engine outlines his process for making content marketing and brand storytelling easy and successful.