Reflection: Using Storytelling in marketing

Challenge

As a copywriter for a marketing agency, I work with dozens of clients in various industries.  The majority of the blog posts I write are selling a product or service. The challenge I face is  finding a narrative thread in every subject and making my writing engaging. With clients  including military radio producers and steel girder suppliers, this isn’t an easy task.     I need to find a way to increase the readership of the work that I produce for my clients,  especially a new series that I had to write for my steel girder client about a new line of steel  beam they were using in a building site.    Connecting products that may only have a specific connotation to certain people and making  that data widely accessible and easily digestible in every blog is my target for this project.

Selection

Stories engage people. They help to find common ground between people. They help to  connect people to concepts that may otherwise seem entirely unengaging or passable.    In trying to sell a product/service, or give people more information about a business’  benefits, you need to find a way to connect readers online to this information.     They say advertising is a statement; marketing is a question, giving readers the chance to  engage with an idea. It’s an exchange; the writer gives you information, and in exchange the  reader has the potential to become a customer. That’s why I’m selecting storytelling as my  design thinking tool to increase the readership of the work that I produce for my clients.

Application

The first thing that I did was to step back from my individual writing projects and look at my  client’s brand stories as a whole. Every company has ideas and messages that they want to  communicate through simple things such as their logo, slogan and even their name. So I  went through my clients one by one and created an illustration visualising words that  represented each company’s brand and words that each company would like their clients to  associate them with. I validated these thoughts in discussions with each individual client.    After coming up with this list of words, I thought about each business’ product/service from a  narrator’s perspective to see how I can help satisfy business’ potential customer’s needs. I  considered points such as “Would this story be better told from a customer or a client  perspective” and “What problem does this product/service fix and do customers know this’.     From there, I was able to work out a new perspective for viewing each business and  determine a more accurate tone of voice and style of communication that I could use.    One example of this is a series of blogs I wrote for my steel girder supplier client. Their  products, while niche and not in and of themselves engaging, were being used to construct a

new bridge. Tracking the development of this bridge presented an opportunity to create a  story around an area that was developing and improving the lives of the people that lived  and travelled there. Now information about steel girders could be translated into a narrative  centred around urban growth and the business’ and communities that would benefit from it.

Insight

Reframing my work as stories that need to be told rather than products or services that need  to be promoted has drastically changed how I write and even how I think about companies.     With more work than ever being produced online, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. If people  are online looking for answers to an issue they have, they will ignore content they deem to  be tone-deaf or focused on a company’s need to sell rather than on their problem at hand.    In the case of my steel girder client, I can see that using storytelling helped me to apply  context to what was otherwise a niche product. It helped me to give readers a narrative  thread of development, from Point A of a construction site to Point B of a finished bridge.

Approach

Looking at my approach to this project, I still think that storytelling was my best design  thinking approach to achieving my end goal of improving a business’ blog readership.     However, next time I would take this storytelling approach one step back to consider if a blog  is the best communication medium to tell this story. There are many ways of connecting a  business with a potential client, and perhaps reading a lengthy blog is not the best one.     The ability design thinking has given me to stand back from a task and think outside the box  makes me think that perhaps a video or short documentary, tracking the building of the  bridge, would have been a better way of storytelling in this case. It would have been able to  tie together a narrative while still showcasing a business and its product in a succinct way.


Reflection : Using Storytelling in marketing Challenge As a copywriter for a marketing agency , I work with dozens of clients in various industries . The majority of the blog posts I write are selling a product or service . The challenge I face is finding a narrative thread in every subject and making my writing engaging . With clients including military radio producers and steel girder suppliers , this is n’t an easy task . I need to find a way to increase the readership of the work that I produce for my clients , especially a new series that I had to write for my steel girder client about a new line of steel beam they were using in a building site . Connecting products that may only have a specific connotation to certain people and making that data widely accessible and easily digestible in every blog is my target for this project . Selection Stories engage people . They help to find common ground between people . They help to connect people to concepts that may otherwise seem entirely unengaging or passable . In trying to sell a product / service , or give people more information about a business ’ benefits , you need to find a way to connect readers online to this information . They say advertising is a statement ; marketing is a question , giving readers the chance to engage with an idea . It ’s an exchange ; the writer gives you information , and in exchange the reader has the potential to become a customer . That ’s why I ’m selecting storytelling as my design thinking tool to increase the readership of the work that I produce for my clients . Application The first thing that I did was to step back from my individual writing projects and look at my client ’s brand stories as a whole . Every company has ideas and messages that they want to communicate through simple things such as their logo , slogan and even their name . So I went through my clients one by one and created an illustration visualising words that represented each company ’s brand and words that each company would like their clients to associate them with . I validated these thoughts in discussions with each individual client . After coming up with this list of words , I thought about each business ’ product / service from a narrator ’s perspective to see how I can help satisfy business ’ potential customer ’s needs . I considered points such as “ Would this story be better told from a customer or a client perspective ” and “ What problem does this product / service fix and do customers know this ’ . From there , I was able to work out a new perspective for viewing each business and determine a more accurate tone of voice and style of communication that I could use . One example of this is a series of blogs I wrote for my steel girder supplier client . Their products , while niche and not in and of themselves engaging , were being used to construct a new bridge . Tracking the development of this bridge presented an opportunity to create a story around an area that was developing and improving the lives of the people that lived and travelled there . Now information about steel girders could be translated into a narrative centred around urban growth and the business ’ and communities that would benefit from it . Insight Reframing my work as stories that need to be told rather than products or services that need to be promoted has drastically changed how I write and even how I think about companies . With more work than ever being produced online , it ’s easy to get lost in the crowd . If people are online looking for answers to an issue they have , they will ignore content they deem to be tone - deaf or focused on a company ’s need to sell rather than on their problem at hand . In the case of my steel girder client , I can see that using storytelling helped me to apply context to what was otherwise a niche product . It helped me to give readers a narrative thread of development , from Point A of a construction site to Point B of a finished bridge . Approach Looking at my approach to this project , I still think that storytelling was my best design thinking approach to achieving my end goal of improving a business ’ blog readership . However , next time I would take this storytelling approach one step back to consider if a blog is the best communication medium to tell this story . There are many ways of connecting a business with a potential client , and perhaps reading a lengthy blog is not the best one . The ability design thinking has given me to stand back from a task and think outside the box makes me think that perhaps a video or short documentary , tracking the building of the bridge , would have been a better way of storytelling in this case . It would have been able to tie together a narrative while still showcasing a business and its product in a succinct way .