People love stories. They are hard-wired into us from our childhoods. They are the way that we relate memories, history, and experiences to each other. They are the best way we have of expressing complex, captivating ideas to one another while creating memorable and impactful content.
Stories have been lost in the traditional forms of media, like TV and print ads, for dozens of years. However, we started seeing this love re-emerge through the YouTube explosion and some brands are taking notice. Brand stories like Ryan’s unforgettable Mother’s Day delivery to Mom by Teleflora and the Thai life insurance commercial move viewers with emotion, creating engaging content with high brand recall.
While not all video content needs to be highly emotional, we do believe this type of content has its place in this sales funnel, specifically with engaging viewers in a non-branded way. Due to this conviction, we’ve compiled our four biggest reasons why marketers should be utilizing stories in their campaigns and promotions:
- Stories are Emotional: People have told each other stories for centuries. From cave-paintings to the most recent blockbuster, we are hard-wired to latch onto the messages that stories convey and process them in deeper sensory, emotional ways. People may forget facts, but they remember feelings. Harnessing those feeling can go a long way towards keeping your audience engaged and interested in your services.
- Humans are “Story-Listeners”: From our earliest years, we listen to and process stories as a way of learning about the world. We play, pretend, explore, and create stories of our own to make sense of our experiences. These early experiences of hearing and relating to stories give us a permanent foundation as “story-listeners,” making us continually responsive and captivated by engaging stories. Take advantage of the natural inclination to listen to stories and you’ll find that your audience is sticking around longer and is more open to the ideas you’re presenting to them.
- Stories Remind Us of…Us: When people listen to, watch, read, or engage in stories in any way, they naturally put themselves in the perspective of the characters they perceive. We view stories as metaphors for our own lives, which leads us to feel as though there is common ground between the stories that we experience and ourselves. If customers are caught up in your content, they will be much more connected to your brand. Telling stories shows that you are aware you are connecting with people, not just customers who purchase your product or services.
- People are More Receptive to People They Trust: Stories are far more than simply entertaining. Telling a powerful, gripping story in your marketing efforts will engage your viewers as well as bring them to trust your brand and establish brand recall. In fact, a 2015 study by Google of 50 Fortune 100 brands showed that the use of video and story campaigns yielded a 94% significant lift in ad recall. Using the powerful emotions in your stories will make your viewers feel those same things. By making that emotional connection with your audience before offering any services or solutions, you will make them more receptive and open to the information that you’re giving them.
Harness the power of storytelling in your marketing efforts and we’re sure that you will find a more satisfied, interested audience. If you’d like to learn more about incorporating stories into your marketing videos, give us a call or send us an email inquiry. Be sure to check out our other blogs and to subscribe to our YouTube series “The Fresh Take” for the latest updates on the world of video marketing!