Storytelling can be a valuable tool in content marketing. To attract customers and gain their trust, it can be useful to tell personal stories that speak to them. Stories can keep readers from skimming past information and keep them interested.
Even though storytelling with content can be a helpful marketing method, many people make mistakes in practice. To help you avoid some of the most common mistakes, keep in mind the list below as you blog.
1. Telling the Wrong Story. Telling a random story that doesn’t connect in a meaningful way to your content just won’t cut it. Storytelling only works if it actually makes sense in the context of your business, and provides light-bulb insight into your topic. So make it good. Keep these things in mind:
- Does your story directly connect to your topic?
- Does it have a point?
- Only tell the story if it will engage to your buyer persona..
TIP: Avoid topics that could be controversial, like politics, religion and divisive issues, and keep the story related to your industry. If you are trying to attract a certain group of customers, then tell a story they can relate to. Don’t just write a story for the sake of creating a cool piece of content.
2. Rambling and Boring. Just because you are using the term “storytelling” doesn’t mean your content has to be the length of a novel. Like any other content for the web, you need to keep in mind attention spans. Concise is a great word to remember. If you ramble and add extra points that aren’t necessary, your reader will move on. The same goes for anything boring and useless. Keep it interesting and well connected to the topic.
TIP: Choose words wisely! Entertain your reader. Make it count. Maybe use an emotional hook or climax. All in all, think about who is reading your content and make sure your story will be of interest to him or her.
3. It’s Been Done. There are some stories that have been told time and again. Instead of sticking with the cliché storylines, think of something more unique and personal. Something no one else but you will know. Share your experience and what you learned from it. Stories are meant to be meaningful! If your reader has heard it all before, they’ll skim and skip on to the next blog that interests them. Your story won’t be delivering the compelling hook you had hoped for.
TIP: Keep in mind that these stories aren’t all about you: what’s easiest for you, what you want other people to know about yourself, anything along these lines. These stories are still for your customer. They should be at the front of your mind when writing any content.