Storytelling is an art. But what does it mean?. It is a technique of communication in which stories are told to capture the attention of the public, make discourse more real, and persuade the public of said discourse.
Storytelling has been used since ancient times. For example, the most famous oral storyteller was the Greek Aesop who lived in the 500s B.C.
Nowadays storytelling is used to attract and involve people. Thus, it is perfect for retail. It is considered a marketing strategy to render the brand more human and closer to the customer. Its goal is to convince people to buy and make them loyal to the company. Think about this situation.
Imagine yourself walking into a store without receiving any information about the brand and its products. Even if you are extremely passionate about them, you may struggle in deciding which product to buy. This is all because you missed out on the information and introduction to the product. You aren’t sure about the story and why you should be sold on the item.
A good story should be persuasive, give a sense of authenticity and let people remember it. The company also can let others know about its principles and reinforce the identity; this could emerge into a sense of familiarity with both the brand and the sales assistant.
In addition, storytelling makes the product more beautiful: it helps in creating an atmosphere around it, rendering it something not to be missed.
I’ll give you an example. While working the other day, a customer came in and was looking for the perfect pen for his friend. Two pens are the same style, but the collection differs only in the pattern. Showing both pens, I thought to linger on the limited edition pen, because I thought it to be better, more elegant and sophisticated. The customer said to me, “You know, I keep coming every time I have to buy a gift because of you telling me every single story about pens and so on. And I like the brand for that. I feel every pen I buy is special for a certain reason”. That of course, made me feel proud of what I am doing.
But, is that a reliable strategy in all situations?
The answer is it depends if the objective is only to sell. Telling a story about something untruthfully is both risky and unethical. This is because the story is something that could be unmasked as such and of course, that entails the loss of all the efforts done so far in rendering customers loyal to the brand. They could not trust you anymore and, thanks to word of mouth, the company could lose revenue.
What if a worker still wants to use this strategy? This person should be careful. A piece of advice when it comes to telling stories ethically is to make sure that it happened. Do not make stories look like they are yours even if they aren’t.
To keep up with the latest commercial news, click on commercial to get your daily dose.
Donate & Support