Leverage the Power of Storytelling to Change Your Business for the Better

Have you ever heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words?” Storytelling is more valuable because it can be at the heart of the business. It’s an indispensable way to connect with your audience, build trust, and deliver a consistent message, as long as it’s memorable, engaging, and informative. Stories are only more effective than lists of facts or statistics—however accurate they may be—because they’re told well, they’re multidimensionally involved—putting people at their center and opening their imaginations. With them, you can build long-term and meaningful relationships by sharing your passion for your business.

1. Forge an emotional connection

The number one problem I see with online businesses that rely on, say, amenities alone is that their products and services tend not to speak to customers on a deeper level. Of course, you can offer benefits to varying degrees, but storytelling builds a deeper emotional connection between the customer and the brand. The classic example is the first iPhone. Steve Jobs famously said that he built “toys for life” experiences, and he… took fantastic products and used stories to make people recognize what they were missing by not having. And even though that sector of Apple’s business is more than a decade old, the emotional connection that customers feel with their iPhones remains solid.

Related: 4 Ways to Leverage Your Stories and Create Buzz for Brands

2. Prominent brand narrative

Why do people bother trying to start a business, when we live in a world full of “get rich quick” schemes? Of course, there are many answers to this question. Most likely, the reason you started your business goes deeper than simply wanting money, or simply to make something happen, given that it takes so much effort, knowledge, courage, dedication, and perseverance to turn that vision into a reality.

Perhaps a better question to ask is, “Are you— believes in the vision, mission and values ​​of your products and services?” If the answer is “Yes”, it is important to capture your “Why”? — the story behind your journey, product or service — to develop a winning brand narrative.

When you create a compelling and consistent story that explains why your company is unique, it makes you stand out from others in the industry. It also helps customers understand how your business works, and in turn how you can help them (what benefits they will receive). It’s “Why?” is the key to turning customers into long term relationships.

Related: Here’s How Writing A Book Can Give Your Brand The Boost That It So Much Needs

3. Share stories of service, not sales

Narratives are powerful because people can relate to them on a human level, so use them to help your audience connect. Cold and separate data; warm and inviting.

With a thoughtful brand narrative, you build a level of credibility among the audience, then the task becomes showing its members how you will solve their problems and change their lives for the better. They will make better decisions if you share related stories, which will dispel mistrust and/or fear. Trust makes consumers buy.

4. Inspire employees and other team members to excel

Storytelling also increases efforts to create a positive organizational culture. The most important part of your job as a leader is to inspire employees to work beyond their current capacities. To do this, you need to connect with them on a human level. Listen to them, be curious about them and try to understand them, all of which will make a connection.

Once you have a broad understanding, share your message with team members using personal stories that show how you have overcome challenges or memorable moments when your company was successful. Whatever you do, stick to the facts, and avoid embellishments. This approach will create a sense of belonging that will make employees feel like they are working for a better future, not just a paycheck.

5. Strengthen online visibility

Storytelling should be the focus of effective social media content. (Without a solid content strategy and creative execution, brand efforts can be wasted.) In the world of social media, countless amounts of content bombard people every day, so make sure yours is valuable — say something unique to get the audience’s attention.

Stories make your brand more human, and yours should connect thoughts, feelings, ideas, experiences, desires, and even failures, so when people read them, there’s a good chance they experience new insights about themselves, leading to deeper relationships.

Related: Take a Deep Emotional Dive to Tell a Better Brand Story

The most important thing you can do to advance this process for yourself is to start. Your story can be about anything from how you got your initial business footing to a compelling product history, and can be told with words, pictures, music, animation, video, even through a series of memes!