Connecting Businesses and Audiences with Storytelling

Stories that Stick. How Businesses Win Hearts and Audiences!

Ferdian Arif
3 min readJun 18, 2023
Storytelling in marketing
Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

With thousands of content and ads bombarding people daily in today’s competitive business world, capturing your audience’s attention can be challenging.

To connect with your audience effectively, you need a strong strategy. One effective approach is to use storytelling in your content. There are 5 things I want to discuss:

  1. The benefit of storytelling for businesses.
  2. Characteristics of a good story.
  3. Elements of compelling story.
  4. How to create a story.
  5. The examples from Nike.

Stories have the power to increase engagement and build meaningful customer relationships. Instead of relying on sales pitches, you can focus on creating valuable content with interesting narratives.

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Now, let’s dive deeper into this topic!

1. The Benefit of Storytelling for Businesses

  • Story simplifies complex ideas: Businesses can effectively convey complex ideas without overwhelming their audience.
  • Story shapes people’s ideas: Businesses can shape how people think about their services, products, or brand.
  • Story unites people: Businesses can connect with their audience on a deeper level, nurturing a sense of community and belonging.
  • Story inspires and motivates people: Businesses can inspire them to take action, pursue their dreams, and make meaningful action.

2. Characteristics of a Good Story

  • Engaging: A good story grabs and keeps the reader’s attention.
  • Credible: A good story presents a realistic version of events that builds trust and engagement.
  • Informative: A good story sparks curiosity and shares valuable knowledge to the reader.
  • Relatable: A good story helps readers recognize familiar patterns in the world around them.
  • Structured: A good story effectively conveys its main message and helps readers understand it.
  • Memorable: A good story leave a lasting impression on people, and humor often makes it more memorable.
  • Trendy: A good story that following the trends, such as using popular memes in social media posts, keeps the story relevant and attractive.

3. Elements of Compelling Story

  • Character: The protagonist or main character who drives the story and engages the audience.
  • Conflict: A central problem or obstacle that the character faces, creating tension and driving the plot forward.
  • Resolution: The outcome or solution to the conflict, providing closure and satisfying the audience’s curiosity.

4. How to Create a Story

  • Understand your audience: Gain insights into who your target audience is, their preferences, and their needs.
  • Define the core message: Identify the key idea or message you want to convey through your story. This message should be clear and aligned with your overall objectives.
  • Determine the story you want to create: Decide the storyline, plot, and characters that will bring your message. Consider the emotions you want to show and the impact you want to make.
  • Craft your Call to Action (CTA): End your story with a strong and compelling call to action that makes your audiences do a specific action.

5. Example From Nike

Look! This advertisement has the character, conflict, and resolution of its story. Nike is trying to motivate the audience and shape people’s minds to “just do it.”

Extreme Example

I know this is just comedy. But Family Guy use all the elements in storytelling. Nike’s advertisement is very memorable. We already know that this is a parody for Nike even without reading the title.

Bonus

Want to get more traffic, improve content quality, and boost your business? Learn all about content marketing with this easy to follow guide. Click now to get started!

THANK YOU!!!

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Ferdian Arif

SEO & Ads Specialist | Website Designer | Part Time Dev