4 Ways Story-Based Marketing Works
4 Things to do for Story Based Marketing
I remember my grandfather always had a pack of big red gum in his car. You know...the cinnamon gum? It kind of showed how spicy he was. He was involved so much with his community, starting the big brother big sister program at the Y in Mankato, brought Martin Luther King jr to his church to speak, which influenced him so much that he decided to work with a couple of friends Bud Laurence and Ames Owens to help bring reconciliation to the dark past of Mankato’s history with the Dakota people.
He loved his community and did a lot for the town of Mankato. He was an amazing man. Just before he died this past December, I was able to share with him all he had meant to me, sitting next to him in his hospital bed. It is Something I cherish and will never forget.
There is something about people, something about stories that begin to shape us at a young age. Stories have the power to influence us to make decisions and become the people we are today. Stories have a great power because they are built on 5 things that resonate with us and can influence us to make a change in our lives.
Here are the 4 Things That Stories Can Do
1. They appeal to a common emotion in us and can unify people. For instance, if we all hear a joke and laugh, we are laughing because we believe that joke is funny. That common emotion of laughter brought us together in a unified experience.
2. The second thing is something I just alluded to. Stories have the ability to point out a belief we hold. Like the joke, we laugh because we believe what was said was funny.
3. Three. Those Beliefs should help us set expectations. If we believe something is funny, we have the expectation we will laugh. These expectations are based on the emotions we feel and the beliefs we hold.
4. And lastly, Those expectations allow us to set goals or DO something based on our beliefs and expectations. If we find the joke funny, we expect ourselves to laugh, so we DO laugh.
The Pyramid of Story Based Marketing
I call this the pyramid of story based marketing. Understanding this key principle will help you develop better stories that don’t just tell your customers what to think, but instead will influence them to buy your product or use your services. This can be a tool in any form of communications, from emails, blogs, to presentations and videos.
Next time we will discuss the 3 questions you need to ask in order to start working with the story-based pyramid. After those questions are answered, you can begin to craft your story based marketing. I will be sharing with you in the following weeks some tools I have used to help highlight the emotion and belief portions of the story based pyramid. Until then, see you next time.
