Storytelling |
A real sales strategy, storytelling is an excellent way to retain your customers and find new ones. | Source: Getty Images
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A good story is worth more than facts, and that’s the point of storytelling. You can explain to your customers even the smallest specifics about your high-end products, but those facts won’t matter as much as the story behind those products. According to the American psychologist Jerome Bruner storytelling is a powerful asset, because “stories are facts wrapped in context and delivered with emotion. “
A compelling story is not only memorable, but also easy to share. Indeed, a powerful story can easily be transmitted between your current customers and your potential customers: in marketing, storytelling is worth gold.
It is important, even necessary, to bring heart to the book, especially through a story. In a article for the Harvard Business Review, the psychologist Vanessa Boris explains that “the stories of a company and the stories told by its leaders help to solidify relationships, which factual statements locked in lists or numbers are unable to do. In other words, the number of happy customers you have sold your products to or the percentage of positive reviews are nothing compared to real stories about your business and your products.
With this information in mind, ask yourself why you started your business or how your product was created. Behind the success of small family restaurants, where authentic recipes are passed down from generation to generation, lies excellent storytelling that gives customers the feeling of being part of the history of the establishment.
Give a deeper meaning to your product
Certainly, storytelling can discourage more than one entrepreneur who doesn’t have a compelling story to tell about their company. After all, sometimes the story is a little too simple: an idea sprouted and a business was created.
In this case, it’s important to note that your story can also include the relationship you build with your customers. In other words, the “stories” are really just clues about the deeper meaning behind the characteristics of your products. So, it can be about helping your client to stand out or creating personalized pieces through which your client will invent their own story, like Gray Petal and its hypoallergenic knitted sets for babies. So the important thing is not why your product is so great (although, of course, that helps), but rather how your product fits into your customer’s life and how you envision that. In the baby set example, it could even boil down to the first photos of a baby. Now your product is part of a unique story that your customer will always tell.
Finally, your storytelling may simply lie in your efforts to outperform the competition. For example, Ball Point Marketing reinvented direct mail marketing strategies by handwriting messages to customers. It’s a painstaking process, but distinctive for a good reason: the handwritten notes carry deeper meaning and a very real story. They create a human bond that gives the recipient a reason to read them, rather than the cold, calculated feel of a classic flyer. This strategy works, Ball Point Marketing has found that their customers using this method have seen response rates increase by 1-5%.
Help your customers take ownership of their own stories
If you help your client integrate or own their story, you will earn a place in their heart. Emotions drive business decisions, which is why albums and photo frames are staple products around the world. Customers want to tell and remember their own story. This is the reason why they will invest in products that will help them to do so.
Nominal Jewelry, a personalized jewelry company that has gained popularity with its iconic “Name Necklace”: necklaces crafted with the customer’s name in the language of their choice. They have since taken a further step, and the co-founders Akram Abdallah and Lena Sarsous integrated their culture by creating necklaces made up of succinct Arabic words with deep meaning.
“The brand has developed into a sense of pride that goes beyond your name. We celebrate who you are or who you hope to become, ”said Lena Sarsour. “Now customers can choose words in a language of their choice to wear around their necks. In other words, these products help customers tell their own story or remember the one they’re trying to write. “
The stories are so much deeper than they first appear, and there are many ways to bring that sense of human connection and meaningful storytelling to your business. If in doubt, go further. Give your customers the opportunity to deeply connect with your products by sharing your story or highlighting theirs.
Article translated from Forbes US – Author: Stephanie Bruns
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