Good storytelling includes bringing facts to the table along with the extra information that brings the reader closer to the storyteller. The aim is to weave a compelling story that pulls the reader in so that they really care about the outcome of the story. The more a customer cares about your story, the longer they will remain customers and demonstrate brand and product loyalty.
* Create an Email Series – A good way to get your audience primed for an emotional story is to start small and deliver the story in pieces via an email series. Keep each email short, about 350 to 450 words, and to one small point.
* Incorporate Video – Using video for part of or even your entire story can help bring more emotion to the story because people generally feel more emotional when looking at people and images than just by reading text. Using both text and video can be the best of both worlds.
* Include Testimonials – Text and video testimonials from your satisfied customers can evoke emotion from those who haven’t purchased from you yet, because they will want what your satisfied customers want. They will also trust you more when the videos are very authentic and real.
* Put Customers First – In every story it’s important to put your customer first. Get to know everything you can about your customers and incorporate the things they care about within your stories. This shows that you know them well and can speak about the things that concern them the most.
* Get Attention with Negative Stories – Pull the emotional strings to get their attention with negative aspects of a story that will be resolved by using your products or services. You don’t want to traumatize your customers, only evoke emotions.
* Calm Fears with Positive Stories – Tone down the negative with some positive stories of people who have used your products and services with good results. Bring them back up after you brought them down.
* Reinforce with Neutral Stories – Tell them the “who, what, when, how and why” of your products and services using stories to guide the discussion that are less emotional and volatile.
* Recognize the Relationship – When you are telling any story, it’s important to recognize the relationship between you and the receiver.
* Remember the Imagery – It’s important to ensure that the images you use match the emotions you’re trying to evoke, otherwise your story will be confusing to the reader/viewer.
The fact is that emotions drive us to do more than we would like to think. From buying a house, to choosing a book to read on the weekend, we are driven by our emotions more than we are by logic.
However, as you try to evoke emotions in your viewers, it’s important to also bring in elements of logic so that your viewer or reader trusts you to buy what you’re offering. Otherwise, they might feel as if you’re manipulating their emotions too much.