Ways to use digital storytelling to advertise your brand

For centuries storytelling has been a way to connect with others. Graphics can be found at archeological sites and caves to tell historic tales. Elders bonded with youth via storytelling passing on their wisdom and language.  Storytelling has no doubt changed over the years as digital platforms allow businesses to connect worldwide with their audience. If you’re a business owner wanting to connect with your audience digitally via storytelling but don’t know where to start don’t fret, I have put together an infographic of the tops four ways (in my opinion) to utilize digital storytelling for your ads. So, you will swim rather than sink so to speak. This article will go more in depth as to why they are my key points to include in your thought process.

#1 Choose a character based on your audience.

Pinpoint your brands character by knowing which audience is your consumer. If your audience are children, then a cartoon character is suitable, but it is not transferable to an adult audience. The character you choose also has to fit the narrative you want to sell. If it is adventure you are selling than someone outgoing, tanned and toned will give authenticity to the story as they will look experienced in the outdoors. I myself am a soon to be Mom I don’t want to be sold a breast pump by a male, when I go into a Buy Buy Baby I want to speak with an older female sales staff such as an experiences grandma for tips and tricks that are tried and true. Thus, the main character in your story needs to be relatable to your audience for authenticity.

#2 Convey Emotions.

Emotions are a powerful tool to resonate with your audience and inspire consumer decisions and actions. There is a wide spectrum of human emotions to depict in your storytelling and evoke from your audience. No matter which you choose to portray bear in mind the tone in which your story will be perceived by your audience. For more ideas on emotions to use for your brands marketing strategy please read this article by Hootsuite https://adespresso.com/blog/copywriting-tool-wheel-of-copy/

#3 Keep your copy short and sweet.

Keep your audience engaged with the use of pictures or videos. The infographic I created for the purposes of this lessons is a prime example. It had condensed text that still got my message across and the use of illustrations to be eye catching and engaging. Even though this blog article expands on the topic and this contains more text, it is still pleasing to the eye as there are breaks in the text with graphics.

#4 Don’t reinvent the wheel.

The fundamentals of storytelling do not differ from traditional story writing you learnt academically when changing to media advertising. Your story will still need a conflict and resolution to keep your audience’s attention. Don’t spend hours of brain power conjuring up ideas for your story, draw inspiration from your audience to create your story’s conflict and resolution. What is a conflict in your audiences’ life and how can your product or service aid them in resolving the issue at hand?

I hope you find this helpful to get your storytelling ideas percolating for your next campaign!