In a world where everyone wants to position themselves as the brand to go to, telling your unique story is a way to cut through the noise. Storytelling gives you leverage as the story is peculiar to your brand. No matter how you tell the stories, it is guaranteed to give you an audience that will stick around.
What is Storytelling?
Storytelling is the art of crafting a narrative that takes readers on a journey and retains their attention. Instead of presenting your audience with the hard facts, you can create a plot they can see themselves in. Creating a story your audience finds relatable makes them connect with your brand, and trust you quickly. For example, you can use a story to explain how you came up with a new product idea. This is more engaging than just explaining your product and outlining the amount of money spent on it. The attention span of consumers is shorter these days, and telling stories helps them to remember your brand.
Why do you need storytelling in PR?
- Captures Attention:
To be able to build a relationship with relevant stakeholders, you need to get their attention. Storytelling helps you to do PR differently, as your stakeholders are attracted to your brand and what it represents. Stories make us feel like the writer understands us; this is the feeling you want to evoke in your audience.
Instead of sticking to the conventional method of only putting out press releases, you can use a story to announce a new event. For instance, if you are a skincare brand launching a product, you can tell a story of how women use skincare to feel more confident about themselves. This will lead to a conversation and lead to more engagement because many women can relate to this.
- Builds Emotional Connection:
When you connect emotionally to people, they will listen to you. Emotions can be very strong and can make your audience loyal to you. Adding emotion to your message will appeal to your audience than if it were just an ordinary message.
You can attach a message from your brand to a relevant societal issue in order to give it more awareness. In this way, you would be drawing attention to a relevant issue and connecting with your audience at the same time.
- Increases Credibility and Trust:
Through storytelling, you can increase your audience’s trust in your brand. This is because stories make your brand feel more human and less like a distant entity. By talking about the challenges and achievements of your business, you get closer to your audience.
In turn, they will start to see you as a friend. Many brands use stories to humanize their brand by using public figures their audience knows to tell a story.
- Increases Brand Memorability:
It is easy to fall into the trap of only talking about facts when doing a PR activity. However, this makes brands easily forgettable, as people are unlikely to remember numbers and names. Placing these numbers and names in a story would help your audience to remember as it has engaged them.
For instance, a brand that creates supplements can choose to talk about their products in a way that brings their audience closer. They can use a real person who had dietary issues but was able to recover due to their supplements. This will help consumers remember more details about the product than if it was just written out plainly.
- Drives Action:
Public relations is about building relationships that give mutual value. Telling interesting stories can help you do this as they inspire people to take action. When your audience cares about your message, they will engage in your brand activities and spread the word about your brand.
If the story addresses a real-world issue, it might even push them to contribute to it in their own little way. They can either choose to volunteer or donate to a fund that works towards solving that issue.
- Creates a Community:
Stories have the power to build communities as long as they have shared values. By engaging your audience with compelling stories, you create a sense of belonging and get an audience who only cares about your brand. Whether you are a big or small brand, the power of community cannot be underrated.
What should I keep In mind when using storytelling?
- Identify Your Audience:
Who are you trying to reach? Understanding their needs, motivations, biases, and challenges is crucial for crafting relatable stories.
- Find Your Brand’s Narrative:
What story do you want to tell? What are your core values, and how do they translate into this story?
- Develop Various Content Formats:
Use different storytelling formats like video, written content and carousels to reach your audience where they consume information. This will ensure that the different groups in your audience see your story in a format that appeals to them.
- Focus on Authenticity:
Don’t fabricate stories. Always say the truth, and this will endear your audience to you and prevent future issues.
- Measure Your Impact: Track engagement, shares, and key metrics to see how effective your storytelling is.
By incorporating storytelling into your PR strategy, you can move beyond boring facts and figures, forge emotional connections, and make your brand stand out. People remember stories that made them feel something, and you should always remember this. Ready to craft your unique PR strategy? Let us help you tell your story!
