Storytelling is much more than a trend, as it turns out that it has been applied for many years and that some even have the gift of applying it to many things in their lives. Yes, we all have a friend, colleague or family member who tells the best stories. When talking about brands and how to use storytelling to attract more leads, one of the secrets is to follow the example of that person who is very good at telling stories, study where they tend to engage and apply all those steps to your way of communicating. .

If you still do not know how to sell with storytelling, we will detail a series of tactical points that can be very helpful to apply it effectively. Storytelling is the art of telling a story and although there are people who are born with that ease, it is also a skill that can be exercised. With the proper training you can get to tell the best anecdotes, that gives you possibilities to connect with your audience and as a consequence gives you more possibilities to sell.  

What is Storytelling?

The translation of Storytelling into Spanish is “storytelling” but its meaning, more than a method, is an opportunity to connect with other people from the everyday and what ultimately unites us. Many brands such as Starbucks, Coca-Cola and Nike have been implementing it for many years, they are also a reference to the success of Storytelling to create more sales possibilities. 

If you can master what Hubspot says is the heart of Inbound Marketing, not only will you become an excellent storyteller, but you will also be able to convince your community that you are a real brand and worth consuming.

How to tell a story?

The secret of storytelling is to reveal attractive stories, it is not a matter of creating long texts, but the ability to convey facts and create connection based on them. Some strategists associate it with the human things that happen within a brand or look inside their stories for insight to tell them through them. Example of a well-told story: tell what motivates them as a team or what your brand represents for the community, through their experiences. 

Being present can help you tell a story, but starting with the highest point in the story and using attraction techniques is also quite important to know, so take these tips into account to learn how to tell a story: 

1. Use emotional stories that you think can connect: Like the story of your beginnings, an anecdote with a client, showing your position to an event of social interest.
2. Start off attractive: User attention is very short, you must make sure to use attractive posts. The story begins in an interesting and engaging way.
3. Less in more: It is not necessary that you tell a long story, be concise but of course, if you manage to tell the anecdote in a few paragraphs it is much better. 
4. Use points in common with the user: If you have a defined buyer persona, you can research it and tell stories with common themes.
5. Close the ideas: Make sure you tell the story and finish it, nobody likes to be left with the feeling that the story is incomplete. 
6. Take care of the narrative: Make sure your narrative is adequate and stick to the facts with images. 

Secrets to hooking

At this point we will refer to what was discussed at the beginning of this post, the best secret to carry out Storytelling is that you become the best storyteller but since that does not happen in all, you can use certain techniques that are used in disciplines like Narrative Journalism. 

✔ Take care of the chronology, and when you are going to start with another anecdote within the story, close the ideas. This way you can keep the time that is essential.

✔ Make sure you follow the chronology, do not jump from one act to another without first making the previous one clear. . 

✔ Create expectations, add a striking title that invites the reader to read you. 

✔Add details, things that you may feel are too much, can enrich a story hair color, how was the weather that day or the clothes that the person was wearing. You can also add characteristic personality traits of the person. 

✔ Scene by scene narration: show the story in a different way, tell the story as if you were back in the past or were living it at that moment.  

✔ The scene shows that reality, talks about real things and adds more characters to your story. Nobody likes self-centered stories. 

✔Gives different points of view, of different characters, so people can get an idea and connect better. 

Storytelling is the heart of Inbound Marketing

Part of the Inbound methodology is convincing the client from valuable content, how these contents are presented is essential for their success. This is where Inbound enters and that is why storytelling is an ally of Inbound Marketing, because it helps to attract traffic to the web. Just as it happens in social networks when people decide to follow you because they like what you are talking about, on the web the person who is hooked will click and at the end they will make a sale if they like what they see on the landing page.  

Storytelling objective

The main objective of Storytelling is to tell a story to convince. Applying storytelling to your brand can help you close deals but it can also help you attract leads, in this part is where it connects with Inbound Marketing. So you don’t tell the story to entertain, this time you tell it to empathize with your audience. How are you making your audience feel? Big brands are remembered for how they make their community feel, that is one of the examples that must be followed:

• ✔ Coca-Cola: It is a brand that knows the speaker very well, it always looks for a way to connect with its community, creating campaigns that include them, such as customizing cans. 

• ✔ Nike: Everything related to this brand is related to an inspiring story of an athlete, it not only focuses on saying that its product is for this niche, it includes them. 

Elements of a good story

• ✔ You get the idea.
• ✔ It starts off interestingly.
• ✔ It has more than one character in it.
• ✔Has details of the situations and the protagonists
• ✔ Something happens in the story, there is action. 
• ✔People go to the end.
• ✔ Create interactions with users. 

How to make a successful Storytelling?

✔Study your audience : Make sure you know what your users like to consume. Don’t waste your time on content that is not relevant to them. 

✔ Have a clear message: Be clear about what you want to convey with your message, that is the only way to convey a useful message.

✔ Always speak from honesty: All brands aim to sell, but make your message not only sound sincere, that what you want to offer is sincere. 

✔Choose a good story: Although the examples of stories we gave at the beginning may work for you, the difference will be made by the action within it. So if you don’t think your beginnings are interesting, it may be useful to ask someone else how they experienced your beginnings. 

✔Convince from your values: People connect with what they share, so make sure you always make your values ​​as a company clear in your messages. 

✔Place a clear call to action: Make your message attractive but you should also make sure you always improve your CTAs, let them know what you want them to do with that information. This applies to web pages and social networks. 

Best format for storytelling 

According to Forbes data: 64% of users are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video. Visual storytelling is very important to include in your marketing strategy. Stories are easier to understand on video for many people. So working on your video content can help you do better Storytelling.

In this way, the best format is video, but a good text story will never cease to be attractive, as long as you know how to tell it. 

Do you already apply storytelling to your Marketing strategy?