We explain to you what it is storytelling in marketing, what are its objectives and elements. Also, tips for telling a good story.
What is the storytelling?
In the world of marketing and business, it is known as storytelling to the advertising and promotional resource of telling a captivating story to capture interest and the identification of the target audience. This is a term of Anglo-Saxon origin (and therefore written in italics in Spanish), which can be translated as “telling stories”, and which gained a lot of notoriety in the world of digital marketing at the beginning of the 21st century.
Simply put, the storytelling It consists of telling a story using advertising or promotional resources. Said story must point to the values expressed by the brand or the content with which the product is desired to be associated, in such a way that the consumer is offered, along with the good or service offered, a story and an experience with which to identify.
This resource has proven to be effective in building customer loyalty that is, to earn their loyalty over the competition, and has been used in one way or another by advertising strategies since the beginning of the 20th century. Faced with the complexities of the world of digital marketing and social networks, many companies are betting on storytelling as the best way to capture the attention of the 2.0 consumer, characterized by an eagerness for content and little capacity for patience.
Objectives of storytelling
He storytelling The creation of stories and anecdotes is proposed in which the spirit of the brand or product is evident, that is, that reflect the values with which the company wishes to be associated, or that offer the consumer an emotional anchor with which they can identify and bond.
This need arises from the desire for connection that has become manifest in the world of the internet and social networks, in which the concept of the influencer as a consumer promoter: a person who tells their story and shows their daily life, while promoting the services or products of their sponsoring companies.
Briefly, the objectives of the storytelling are:
- Create stories that identify the spirit of the brand and in which the consumer can recognize themselves.
- Invite consumption of the product through said recognition.
- Move away from traditional advertising patterns impersonal and distant from their audience.
Importance of storytelling
One of the traits that define human beings as a species is their ability to tell stories and their desire to listen to them. From time immemorial, the possibility of listening to an exciting or moving story has brought people together and allowed them to build a common identity. That is, for example, the meaning of founding stories, mythologies and even political speeches. He storytelling seeks to connect with that ancestral tradition.
On the other hand, in the context of digital marketing and culture 2.0, traditional advertising has been much less effective than narrative, creative and moving approaches. According to contemporary studies on the subject, The consumer public responds much more to connection than to information when choosing the products to buy, and that is the reason why the storytelling It is imposed as an efficient marketing strategy in contemporary times.
Elements of the storytelling
Broadly speaking, any dynamic of storytelling involves the following elements:
- Characters. They are the “protagonists” of the advertising story, usually with whom the consumer must identify. There may be several or just one, but it is around them and their lives that the story revolves.
- Around. It is the environment in which the character or characters develop, and that in some way participates in the story, either as obstacles on the way to satisfying the desire and also as a final reward once the obstacles have been overcome.
- Conflict. It is the central dilemma of the story, which always revolves around the satisfaction of the desire of the main characters. The conflict is the main element, since without it there is no anecdote to tell, nor is there tension that makes the viewer desire the outcome.
- Message. It is the “moral” of the advertising story, which is sometimes offered as a sloganand it is the final sensation that we seek to leave in the viewer and that we want to associate with the brand. It generally has to do with the values presented in the story, such as security, vitality, positivity, success, among others.
An example of all this could be an advertising message for a sports drink. This message tells the story of the daily life of an athlete from a humble neighborhood in her city, who trains in the solitude of the patio of her house, or in the narrow streets of the neighborhood, where everyone knows her and greets her. Towards the end of her run, a very steep hill marks the end of the workout, and she is shown sweating and determined to conquer the top. Once up, his reward is a panoramic view of the neighborhood where he grew up, and there he finally enjoys a branded sports drink.
Characters: The athlete and the people of the neighborhood.
Around: The neighborhood, the houses, the streets and finally the steep hill.
Conflict: Will the athlete make it to the top of the steep hill or will she fail in front of all her neighbors and friends?
Message: Despite life's difficulties, effort pays off, and this energy drink helps you recover and celebrates with you.
Uses of storytelling
He storytelling It is, in essence, an advertising method. It is used in marketing campaigns, both traditional and 2.0, as well as in the design of business communication strategies.
For example, a company seeks to motivate its employees through the use of storytelling in your internal communications, when you make them protagonists of the work dynamics, interviewing them, telling the rest who they are and what they do and how long they have been doing it. In this way, anonymity can be overcome and a common sense of identity can be fostered among employees.
It is also common to use storytelling in political electoral campaigns in which the voting public is offered a country story, that is, a version of recent history and the things that have gone wrong and, therefore, a proposal on how to remedy them. Hence, many political campaigns seek a connection with national historical references, since through these common stories a national identity is affirmed.
Tips for telling a good story
There are many types of stories and many ways to tell them, but in general a good management of the storytelling is guided by the following:
- Show, don't tell. One of the most common maxims of literature writers has to do with the show, don't tell (in English “show it, don't tell it”): the idea that, to be moved by a story, the reader or viewer must see what happens, instead of being say what happens. It is much more effective, in that sense, to show an athlete sweating than simply saying that an athlete is trying hard.
- There is always a conflict. Captivating stories are stories with a more or less obvious conflict. This does not mean that dramatic stories should always be thought of, but rather that every main character must have a clearly identified desire and there must be some element that could potentially prevent its realization. For example, an athlete's desire may be to climb a steep hill, the height of which threatens to prevent him from doing so.
- Get into the environment. Stories do not occur in a vacuum, but always have a certain context that influences them and that deserves to be told as well. A good story not only has a clearly defined setting, but interacts with it, has to do with it, occurs only in that context.
- Identify the characters. The characters of a story must be clearly and quickly identifiable, that is, they must be distinguished from the rest and occupy their respective leading or secondary role. A story will hardly be able to move you if it is not clear who its characters are, or what they want.
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References
- “Storytelling” on Wikipedia.
- “What is the storytelling And how to take advantage of it on social networks?” at IE Business School.
- “What is storytelling?” (video) by Judit Alcalá – Ideas Empresa.
- “3 Reasons why Storytelling should be a Priority for Marketers” in Forbes.
