This is a guest post by Raj Bokdia, he is an internet marketing expert. His love for technology and the internet has led him to venture into internet marketing services. If you are looking for reliable article writing services, visit his website to buy articles at affordable rates. You can also check out his content marketing blog to learn more about how you can leverage content marketing to your advantage.

Marketers employ several techniques to motivate their target consumers to buy. One of the most effective of these is storytelling. Whatever be the key objective you wish to achieve – capturing consumer attention or convincing them to buy a product or a service from you – storytelling helps you achieve them all.

There is a finer point here, though: Storytelling does not mean “fabricating” plots; it more often than not involves presenting real customer stories that drive home the relevant human emotion. What you need are not just languid stories, but ones that can rouse the casual reader into taking positive action.



Storytelling in Business

When selling a product or service, storytelling doesn’t just show what the product is or how it can be used, but explains how the product or service makes a difference in the user’s day-to-day life.

Consider an advertisement for a vegetable cutter. It may be one of the best ones available on the market, but you are not going to convince anyone to buy it if your advertisement focuses on only the technical specifications.

When this same product advertisement speaks of the advantages the cutter offers the user, it succeeds in grabbing the attention of the target audience.

Teleshopping advertising is a brilliant example of the art of storytelling. Observe them closely and you will notice how they base the entire selling on an issue that poses a challenge to the target audience.

Whether it is a weight loss product, a new electronic gadget or an amulet that promises to keep negative vibrations away, all such advertisements hold out a promise of a better life for the person who uses the product being promoted.


Storytelling in Content Marketing

Content marketing is no different from other methods of marketing, and therefore, storytelling works well here too. In content marketing, storytelling is concerned with presenting a plot within the content in a way that effectively grabs the reader’s attention.

To harness this power of storytelling, you need to base all your content – articles, web copy and blog posts – on this premise of appealing to the aspirations and hopes of your target audience.


Storytelling in Content Marketing – Best Practices

• A well defined storyline is the basic requirement. Begin with a description that empathizes with the challenge the reader faces. Allow your content to flow smoothly into presenting your solution and end with a vivid image of the change it can create in the reader’s life. 

• Include different forms of content for better engagement. Use what it takes to retain attention – images, videos and multimedia – and make your story riveting. For example, a video of a customer explaining about his experience at a fitness camp before and after attending it raises more interest in readers and attaches greater credibility to the textual content. If a direct incorporation of such non-textual content is not possible, provide links to them.

• Use a wide range of human emotions to drive home your point. Every human is moved by different emotions and what works with one person may not go down well with another. Analyze what it takes to spur your audience into action and use that, yet always remember to keep your stories rooted in reality.