In my recent posts, I have discussed why brands need a content strategy, 5 Content Marketing Do’s and 5 Content Marketing Don’ts. Obviously, creating content to tell your brand’s story is something that I am passionate about and feel that all brand’s should be doing. Storytelling is a part of our everyday experiences, from the news we watch, the sports we consume, to our conversations with others, etc. Every brand has a story to tell, and telling those stories allows them to connect with consumers through shared experiences. Storytelling isn’t just about writing a blog post or adding content to a page on your site, it’s about extending that story, through memes, photos, videos, and connecting with the audience. Consumers like to connect with and share stories that tug at their emotions. In tourism, by telling the story of spring break or summer vacation in your destination, you are hitting on the consumers emotions of what they envision their vacations to be.
This is why storytelling is extremely effective in your website content, blog posts, social media posts, and throughout your entire marketing. Storytelling helps you build a relationship with your consumers and allows you to provide the value they are looking for.
Tips to Connect with Audience Through Storytelling
Include Your Brand’s Personality Into Your Story
Your brands blog and website content are not advertisements or sales pitches, they are experiential stories to connect with the consumer. These stories should be written to showcase the brand’s and the writers personality. The reader needs to be able to hear your enthusiasm and excitement for the topic and how passionate you are about it. Stories that are filled with personality will attract visitors to your site and keep them returning.
Allow Readers to Envision Themselves in Your Story
As tourism marketers, you want to allow the consumer to engage with your marketing, whether it’s a blog, photo, video, TV commercial, etc; which they can see themselves in the experience that you are marketing. If the consumer can see themselves or their family in your story, they are more likely to take action. In tourism ads, to make that happen, you want to incorporate a universal theme to connect with your viewers; target their wants and what they envision as their dream vacation or getaway.
Be Authentic
Your story needs to be authentic, it is important to showcase your destination / brand with real people and what your community / product is all about. If you are not authentic or truthful, people will know. It’s not a good idea to embellish your stories just to earn the attention of your audience. That is not sustainable marketing, and people will catch on. By being authentic, viewers will view it as valuable content and not just as an interruption to their viewing habits.
Understand the Importance of Data
Data is critical to the success of your story and tracking its performance provides you with insight to make your next story even better. Your data allows you to understand what your consumers want and are looking for. Your content needs to be created at the right time, in the right place and targeted to the right audience. You can learn a lot about your consumers habits through your sites Google Analytics and Facebook Insights. Use that data to help you create your story.
Social Media has Changed the Storytelling Game
Consumers are constantly talking about your brand, and real-time responses has changed the game, to where brand’s can now interact with consumers immediately. When a consumers sees your hashtag in a commercial, they will interact with it almost immediately on social media. This allows the brand to connect with the viewer and continue to tell the story. Your brands social media can be more powerful in shaping the perception of your brand, than its’ own communications. The messaging in your traditional marketing should be along the same story lines as your online marketing.
User Generated Content has Allowed for Consumer Participation
In today’s marketing world, everyone has the opportunity to add their own twist to the story. It breaks the traditional marketing mold of the brand’s narrative and allows the consumer the chance to be in the story. With Instagram Stories, SnapChat Stories, and now Facebook Stories, everyone is creating their own version of the story while they are on vacation in your destination or experiencing your product. Plus, you can also incorporate the users content in your marketing, with their permission of course, adding real people to the story.
The basic core of marketing is storytelling. Our advertising campaigns take consumers on an emotional journey that appeal to their wants and needs, while telling them about our destination or product. With so much data and information being shared today, consumers likely won’t remember too many facts, but they will remember the story you tell them. How are you telling your story? Any other tips you would add?
