Are You in Sales or Marketing? Let’s Talk About Persuasive Storytelling

For anyone in the sales department or a department that requires people to listen to them so that they can consider making a purchase or work with the company, persuasive storytelling is a very valuable skill that you must hone. Persuasive storytelling is not telling lies to benefit yourself, it’s how you craft the brand story to different clients that does the magic.

But before we delve any further, it’s important to know the true benefits of persuasive storytelling;

• Stories help us explain difficult concepts.
• Stories spark our imaginations and generate new ideas.
• Stories allow us to form a shared understanding.

It’s true that every brand has a story to tell, however short or long or boring or interesting it may be. 

So, how do you develop your story? 

Define Your Hero

Who is the Hero in your story? Is the story about you, your parents, your brother or a client who you left so mesmerized she recommended you to the whole village? It’s very important to define who your Hero is because your audience is going to look up to that Hero when purchasing your products.

The Problem

What problem did your Hero have and you solved? Every product is designed to fix a problem. It’s designed as a solution. It could be diet, hair issues, Acne,  weight loss, you name it.

The Mission Statement

After you have identified the problem, it’s now time to come up with a mission statement or better yet the objective. For a brand like Sage Buyer, their mission statement is ‘An iPhone For Every Ugandan’. 

Keep It Human

One of the biggest ways to connect with other human beings is to establish common ground. It forges all connections, all friendships, and relationships of every kind; something of an intro to the memory forging to come.

Now there are some few rules to persuasive storytelling;

Adapt your vocabulary to match your audience

This is very important for every brand and this is mainly because each brand looks to serve a certain target audience save for a few. A store selling kids toys must communicate both to the kid so they can want the toy and to the parent so they can buy said toy.

Appeal to the needs of your audience

After getting the terminologies right, now it’s important to appeal to the needs of your audience. Do they only care about how much the product will cost? Do they want water or coffee as they wait in the lobby? Do they want free delivery of goods?  Whatever it is, you have to appeal to their demands.

Back up your points with real data.

A compelling story is nothing without hard facts to back up the narrative. Use insights from qualitative or quantitative testing to help craft your narrative and minimize doubt and gray area. When questions arise from your audience, you can back up your answers with this data. 

Create an emotional connection with your audience

Emotional resonance is the key to telling a compelling story. Whether through humor, sympathy, or inspiration, appealing to your audience’s feelings will help you connect with them on a deeper level and leave a lasting impression. 

Show, don’t tell

Showing, rather than telling the tale, is a powerful method of capturing an audience’s attention. Add in some pictures and videos that appeal to the customer so as to lure them to you.

Use social proof to influence the audience

This is one of the most essential rules of persuasive storytelling. When more individuals engage in a behavior, it’s called “social proof,” the belief that others’ examples will encourage you to follow suit. This can be done with the use of influencers, content creators or bloggers to leave a lasting blueprint.