The term storytelling comes from English and refers to the act of telling a story. Why tell a story? The story or anecdote allows us to mark memories and touch minds. It creates familiarity between the brand and consumers or any other target. The online store, e-commerce site even your social networks are excellent ways for you to tell your story. It brings people together and shows a different approach to the brand than people may be familiar with. An intimacy is established and people identify with it more easily.
By telling a story, the company develops an emotional context which allows the customer or prospect to be immersed in the world of the company. Storytelling thus allows us to break away from common advertising paths and opens up a more human dimension. Likewise, the customer can develop a relationship with the people who put themselves forward in a company, other customers of the company thanks to their content generation (UGC), as Airbnb or GoPro so skillfully does, or met through a media medium such as social networks. E-commerce is a living example of storytelling in many areas.
However, these brands were using it well before the advent of the Internet. E-commerce has not changed this. Perfumes, watches, fashion, etc., these products all have their representation, and each customer identifies with them, more or less closely. For example, Coldplay's tours have become enduring and their audience knows and identifies with it. However, the big difference today is the direct involvement of customers in the brand sphere, in particular with social networks and its shares, but also with their generated content (UGC) where the barrier between the company (the brand) and the customer has become more refined. Influencers also have the art of storytelling, and this language is developing more and more among the younger generation.
Storytelling in 6 points
The story
Present the story and context. We are used to it. A story without atmosphere, without an intriguing beginning, without an introduction will leave your customer without an appetite. Let him comfortably settle into a context, an atmosphere to create this emotion with which you will share the rest of your adventure with him..
Characters
Start creating a thread connecting your story with your characters and their goals. A story full of adventures will always have its heroes, their goals, their quest, a fall but not necessarily an end, because we keep the client in this adventure day by day. Create a bond that connects your customers with, through their goal, their story, their quest or any other significant element that could bring them closer and link them to your characters. Avoid clichés of the perfect persona, as your client will probably not recognize themselves.
The plot, the mystery to solve
The characters discover a mystery or problem to solve. The client becomes attached to the characters by their resemblance, but also their problems. An emotion is born between your customers and your characters. “Friendship” is formed, bonds are broken. Together, you will discover, or rather you will experience, this adventure.
The quest
This time you are there, your customers and your characters experience the adventures together, or at least your customers feel the emotions with each success or disappointment of your characters. So much emotion, so much sharing, so much enthusiasm! Your customers feel emotions about a narrated story, but which could be a real problem with real characters, of which they might be part.
Moral
Morality should give meaning to your characters and the quest they have embarked on. In other words, the journey must be worth it. Your customers must be surprised by the fall and question themselves on this quest. They themselves must draw merit from it, as if they had experienced the adventure themselves..
The relationship with your e-commerce is made in the solution you offer. What service do you provide and what journey did your customers take to arrive at your solution. Do they recognize themselves in the characters, the moral of the story and its quest? Do they share the same problems, the same values and the same questions?
Social networks: fertile ground for storytelling
Getting people talking about the company will help get people talking about it. Social networks are the tools that obviously lend themselves best to this game. The present of a brand is its community because it is this which brings it to life on a daily basis. Even more, it allows it to be appropriated by customers who use it at the time they do so. It is therefore important to involve prospects by offering them the opportunity to be actors in the story. Storytelling is a method very similar to cinema, as well as video games. It’s about defining one or more characters, their conflicts and a plot. The idea is to give power to people so that they can intervene in a stimulating universe where characters and context clash. By sharing a common problem, enthusiasm for an imaginary situation and complicity with the characters, clients see the problem and the “future” solution to the problem. Internet users can thus evaluate the company based on anecdotes told by the company and by other customers. This creates a very strong interaction and generates numerous reactions (written responses, feeling of belonging, purchases, etc.).
Good storytelling to boost your newsletter
The newsletter is a perilous exercise. It is important to inform customers of new developments and developments in the company. However, it is difficult to remain interested, to not become bored when you know that the majority of newsletters received are automatically deleted, often without even being read. This is where storytelling comes in. It’s a hook that retains the reader and, even if the news will still end up in their trash, they will at least have taken the time to read the content and you will have managed to be visible in a positive way.
Storytelling and e-commerce
You are no stranger to the famous online sales site E-bay. Imagine that items were sold for up to 28 times their initial price. For example, a Missouri shot glass originally worth $1 was sold for $76 using the concept of storytelling. This shows that a little story adds significant added value, which the consumer really considers. Currently, the vein is still under-exploited in corporate communication in digital marketing but is developing more and more in view of the growth and craze for mass communication.
Creation of site, e-commerce site, marketplace, Intranet e-shop,
tell your story
Great stories have personality. Consider telling a great story that adds personality. Writing a story with personality for potential clients will help build a relationship connection. This translates into small specificities such as the choice of words or sentences. Write from your perspective, not someone else's experience. Great stories are for everyone, but don’t forget to target your target audience. If you try to write with a broad, general audience in mind, your story will sound false and lack emotion. Writing for a specific person means that if it's authentic to one, it's authentic to the rest of your target audience.
Contact us if you have any questions..
Joséphine Younane
Tell me a story… or the art of storytelling