Storytelling can be key to effective marketing

FORT COLLINS — Some of the most effective marketing comes not from traditional advertising, but from telling a story that is authentic and resonates with an audience.

“Storified marketing: the illuminating and persuasive craft of business storytelling” was a panel at Fort Collins Startup Week that aimed to show business leaders of any type that telling their story well is one of the best ways they can get their message across.

To be a story, what is being shared must have conflict and must have emotional dynamics, said John Garvey, chief storytelling officer at Garvington Creative.

“The elements of a story matters,” he said. “And knowing what a story is, and how it should be part of your marketing strategy, helps you tell the story more effectively.”

The conflict can be anything, including an internal or a material change. The conflict part of the story is important because conflicts change lives.

“We’ve all been in conflict situations we desperately did not want to be in at the time,” Garvey said. “But we look back on them now and realize we are internally better off. The thing that is beautiful about stories is they challenge us to view conflict through a different lens. They’re not necessarily something we should relish, but at least they’re something that has possibilities we can welcome.”

Stories also have to have emotional dynamics; they have to make someone feel something. Garvey said that especially in a time when there is so much traditional advertising, which can at times include obvious emotional manipulations, it’s important to tell a story that feels authentic and draws people forward.

A case study Garvey shared was a commercial about Tom’s Shoes, a shoe company that became famous for its social impact goal of donating a pair of shoes for every pair that was purchased. But the commercial wasn’t for Tom’s; it was actually an AT&T commercial that showed how AT&T was helping Tom’s in its business as one of its service providers.

The commercial was effective, Garvey said, because it told the authentic story of Tom’s Shoes and its charismatic founder. And rather than focus on an overdog, like AT&T, it focused on an underdog, Tom’s Shoes. AT&T benefitted from an authentic story it was a part of (and also enjoyed the cost savings of being able to use an existing story rather than craft a new ad campaign) while Tom’s benefited from increased brand recognition.

The best stories generate empathy from the audience.

“Have you ever read a book that had a really good plot, but that characters were two-dimensional,” Garvey said. “No matter how good the plot is, if the characters are not believable the story is no good.”

But generating empathy in a story can be simple: All you really need is a name, a few biographical details and a face or voice, depending on the medium you’re using to tell the story.

Another important part of using storytelling in businesses is remembering that you, as the storyteller, are not the hero of the story. Your business is the guide, but the hero of the story is going to be a client, customer, beneficiary or partner.

“It’s easier to establish empathy and not come across as a blowhard if you don’t make yourself the hero,” Garvey said.

When selecting the hero, use an underdog and someone who has vulnerabilities that can allow the audience to empathize.

When going through the process of starting to build a story, Garvey suggested using the ROAM analysis. Determine who your Readers, or audience, are and who you are trying to speak to. Then select the Objective and what you’re trying to do. Determine the Action you want to come from the story and what you want your audience to do after they hear it. Finally, select the iMpression you want to come from the story and how your audience will view your company after hearing it.

on Facebook on LinkedIn