Storytelling has been an essential part of human communication for thousands of years. It is a way of sharing our experiences, values, and beliefs in a way that engages and inspires others. In recent years, storytelling has become a powerful tool for small business marketing.
Whether you are launching a new product, trying to increase brand awareness, or looking to build customer loyalty, storytelling can help you achieve your goals. This article will explore why storytelling is a game-changer for small business marketing and how to use it to grow your small business marketing.
1. Storytelling Creates Emotional Connections
Storytelling plays a profound role in selling your product because consumers are likelier to purchase brands they know and hear great things about. By telling a story, you can create an emotional connection with your audience, making them feel more invested in your brand.
When you share your company’s story, you share your values, goals, and mission, which can help customers feel more connected to your brand. When they feel like they know you and what you stand for, they are more likely to choose your products or services over those of your competitors.
2. Storytelling Makes Your Brand More Memorable
To establish your brand presence focus on creating memorable experiences for your customers – on and offline; This includes through your social media profiles and in your storefront if it applies.
Small Business Marketing- Storytelling is an effective way to do this. People are more likely to remember a story than a list of facts or features. When you tell a compelling story about your brand, it will stick in people’s minds, making them more likely to remember your company the next time they need your product or service.
3. Storytelling Differentiates Your Brand
Storytelling can help differentiate your brand from your competitors. Your products or services may be similar to those of other companies, but your story is unique. By telling your own story, you can show your customers what differentiates you from your competitors.
You can highlight your company’s values, your unique approach to your industry, or your history of innovation. By highlighting what makes your brand memorable, you separate yourself from others within your niche or industry and attract customers who share your values and appreciate what you have to offer.
Looking to boost your brand’s visibility and reach? Our copywriting and publicity services can help you achieve just that!
4. Storytelling Builds Trust and Credibility
Trust and credibility are essential for any small business marketing. Customers want to feel confident that they are making the right choice when they choose a product or service. When you share your company’s history, values, and mission, you show your customers that you are transparent and authentic. Being transparent will help build a strong relationship with your customers and create a sense of loyalty.
5. Storytelling Drives Action
Ultimately, the goal of marketing is to drive action. Whether you want customers to buy your product, sign up for your service, or engage with your brand on social media, storytelling can help. When you tell a compelling story, you can inspire your audience to take action. By tapping into their emotions and values, you can motivate them to choose your brand over your competitors.
We recommend Unleash the Power of Storytelling: Win Hearts, Change Minds, Get Results by Rob Biesenbach – a comprehensive guide that teaches you the art of storytelling and how to use it effectively in your personal and professional life. With real-life examples, practical tips, and exercises, this book will help you craft compelling stories that connect with your audience, build trust, and inspire action.
How to Use Storytelling in Your Small Business Marketing
Now that we’ve explored why storytelling is essential for small business marketing let’s look at some practical tips for incorporating storytelling into your marketing strategy.
1. Find Your Story
The first step in using storytelling for your small business marketing is to find your story. What is your company’s history? What are your values and mission? What makes your brand unique? Once you clearly understand the message behind your story, you can start to craft a message that will resonate with your audience.
2. Know Your Audience
To tell a compelling story, you need to know your audience. Who are they? What are their values and interests? What motivates them to make a purchase? When you identify and understand how your audience connects with your brand, you can tailor your storytelling to resonate with them and make a stronger emotional connection.
3. Use Multiple Channels
There are many ways to tell your brand’s story, and using multiple channels to reach your audience is important. You can use your website, social media, email marketing, and even video to tell your story. Each channel has unique advantages, so use them to their fullest potential.
4. Be Authentic
Authenticity is critical when it comes to storytelling. People can tell when a story is not genuine, and it can damage your brand’s reputation. Be true to your values and mission – authenticity sells, and be personable! People connect with authenticity, so be honest and transparent in your storytelling.
5. Make it Compelling
To make your storytelling effective, it needs to be compelling. Your story should be exciting and engaging, making your audience feel something. Use vivid descriptions, personal anecdotes, and relatable characters to bring your story to life.
6. Use Storytelling Throughout the Customer Journey
Storytelling should include more than just your marketing efforts. You can use storytelling throughout the customer journey, from the first time a customer interacts with your brand to the post-purchase experience. By incorporating storytelling into every step of the customer journey, you can build stronger relationships with your customers and create a sense of loyalty.
In Summary
As you read above, storytelling is vital to small business marketing. By creating emotional connections, making your brand more memorable, differentiating your brand, building trust and credibility, and driving action, storytelling can help you achieve your marketing goals.
By finding your story, knowing your audience, using multiple channels, being authentic, making it compelling, and using storytelling throughout the customer journey, you can use storytelling to grow your small business marketing and build a strong brand. So start telling your story today and see how it can impact your small business marketing efforts!
Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you want to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!
Are you looking to hire a publicist and wondering which publicist would be the best fit for your brand? Whether your goal is to raise brand awareness, generate new leads, or get featured in the media, this post highlights six steps you can take when hiring a publicist.
Before starting your research, here is a quick tip to keep in mind: Publicists have different specialties and offer various services. While some publicists may only provide traditional media outreach campaigns to present your brand for media coverage in a newspaper or magazine, other publicists or public relations agencies provide coaching services for public speaking and brand communication strategies.
Understanding areas of specialization will help you narrow your search to those publicists within your industry. After spending 16 years working as a publicist in the music & entertainment industry, I understand how confusing and overwhelming the process of hiring a Publicist for your project can be. After reviewing the following six steps, you will better understand vetting the right publicist for your brand.
1. Know what your goals are for hiring a publicist.
As a business owner, it is up to you to determine what your goals are for hiring a publicist in the first place. Publicists achieve results based on your brand’s goals and campaign objectives.
Knowing the purpose of your campaign will help you find the right publicist for the job. To help you narrow down what your goals are for hiring a publicist, consider the following questions:
Is it to get more media coverage?
Grow and increase social media engagement?
Create a content calendar to highlight a specific product or service?
Increase brand awareness?
Generate leads?
Once you specify the goals for hiring a publicist to represent your brand, you will be better equipped to hone in on the right person or PR agency for you. Knowing your goals will also help the publicist with creating a personalized campaign strategy to achieve goals.
2. Find a publicist who specializes in your industry.
When looking for a publicist, it is crucial to look for someone who specializes in your industry. Hiring a Publicist helps brands get featured in media outlets such as newspapers, magazines, blogs, podcasts, and radio & TV. If you have a fashion brand, look for a publicist who has experience working with fashion brands. Another example would be if you run a company specializing in software for startups, and then search for publicity experts who have previously worked with similar companies.
In some cases, specific industries intersect where a publicist with a background in planning corporate event marketing and planning can utilize that skillset to help a client who, for example, is an author planning a speaking tour or book signing for their new book. Hiring a publicist who is proficient in this regard could potentially be ideal.
3. Please do your research on the publicist to determine whether they are a good fit for you.
Start with doing your research on Hiring a Publicist and their clients. You can use a tool like Google Alerts to help you find out if the publicist has been featured in any media outlets during their career. You should also check out the websites of brands who have worked with them; this will give you insight into how successful the publicist has been.
Hiring a publicist is a collaborative partnership that can last for months or years, depending on the type of campaign or service your publicist provides. A good rule of thumb is understanding who you will work with and how they communicate and oversee their clients. When speaking with them and learning more about their process, ask yourself is this the right business partnership for me?
A few additional questions to ask to learn more about how a publicist works are:
Do you work independently or with a team?
Who would be my point of contact throughout the campaign?
What campaign-related reports are provided, and how often?
What’s expected from the client / What does the client need to provide?
4. Know what you need from the publicist.
One of the common issues I have experienced throughout my career as a publicist is consulting with potential clients who need help understanding what a publicist does and the role a publicist plays in helping to build a brand. Before you talk to a publicist, ensure you know what your company is looking for in terms of services and ROI.
This means understanding what a publicist can do to help you reach your goals. Determine what roles the publicist will play within your organization.
Will they only be responsible for media outreach? Or do you need help with social media management as well? You should have an idea of what type of work they specialize in so that you can see if it matches your needs.
5. Ask questions about their process.
Before you talk to a publicist, be prepared to ask questions about their campaign process. It would help if you asked them how they work and which platforms they use to manage a client’s project or publicity campaign. Be bold and ask about their track record.
You should also ask them if they have any resources or project samples that they can provide to you. Are there articles or blog posts that they’ve written? Do they have access to certain media outlets in your industry? Most publicists have an online portfolio of articles, media clips, and campaign work.
6. Ask about their media contacts and what publications they will pitch to for your brand.
It would be best to ask the publicist about their media contacts and what publications they will pitch to for your brand. Knowing this will remove any guesswork from you wondering which publications your brand may be featured in. You can also ask how many pitches they send out each day, week, or month. This will give you an idea of how effective their outreach is and whether hiring a publicist for a specific project is worthwhile.
Wrap Up
It’s important to know what you want from a publicist and find one who can deliver the right results for your brand. Before you hire a publicist, you will want to confirm they have the experience and qualifications relevant to your industry. Doing research ahead of time will help ensure you find the right publicist for your brand.
Keetria is an entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and brand strategy coach for creatives & entrepreneurs with 16 years of public relations expertise working with some of the world’s leading brands, startups, media personalities, and entertainers. If you want to work together, don’t hesitate to reach out!
You’ve likely seen a makeover montage on TV or in the movies before. An ugly duckling (usually a woman, sadly) is taken through a variety of wardrobe changes, hairstyles and other beauty training, usually emerging as a beautiful swan after the process is complete. On the big and small screens this process is hackneyed, but it’s something that can be extremely useful in the world of branding.
Giving your online brand a makeover is no small feat, especially if your brand is well established. Just remember – if the big dogs of business can reinvent their brand image, so can you.
Attracting Different Customers
Sometimes a brand matures or finds a new purpose in the business world. This isn’t bad marketing – sometimes it’s entirely necessary. No matter the reason, it can be hard to take on a new consumer demographic, especially if you want to include a broader audience without completely alienating the original consumers.
The solution here is to isolate the pain point most experienced by your newly desired buyer. Once you discover how to sell to this demographic, you’ll more easily discover how to brand yourself accordingly.
Reestablishing Brand Voice and Personality
Think about one of your favorite companies that has been around for at least 30 years. Do you think their brand voice was the same in the 90s as it is now? Even going back five years can show you a drastically different brand voice a business once held. Times change, and so must a brand’s personality and voice.
A big catalyst for this change is usually culture itself. Think about the year 2016 and how it is extremely shaped by pop culture and global headlines. The way a business speaks reflects that change, and your business must too.
A brand voice and personality doesn’t have to lose professionalism, however. Just because you’re aware of trends and current times doesn’t mean your company has to tweet and post like the average millennial on Twitter. Establish a voice that’s personable and a personality that is friendly and you’ll do just fine.
Upgrading Visuals
Many businesses need to be forced into 2016. What gives away their anachronistic ways? Namely their website and visuals. You can always spot a business that’s anti-modernism based on what their website looks like, and that’s a crowd an innovative business doesn’t want to be lumped in with.
One of the easiest ways to give your brand a makeover is to upgrade your website. Current site designs are minimal and svelte; they retain function while cutting out the fat. How does your current website stand up to the trends of today?
Competition Analysis
If your competition is undergoing a brand makeover, you may want to consider doing the same. Businesses that rebrand themselves introduce themselves to a new spotlight, and you could be left in the dust if your competition beats you to the punch.
Do your research. Does your competition have flaws? If so, what are they? When you compare your own company to your competition, who wins and in what areas? How can you fix this problem? Once you answer these questions, adjust your brand accordingly.
