How storytelling is the heart of content marketing

Content marketing has grown tremendously to become one of the most useful tools in online marketing in the last five years. As a necessary ingredient towards brand promotion, content marketing helps to build customer awareness, generate useful leads, and increase conversions. According to the University of Salford, content marketing goes beyond quick and short term returns to advance the long-term objectives of the company. The essence of content marketing is to build awareness and trust overtime, using blog posts, podcasts, digital books, digital videos, and several other materials. However, content marketing cannot be achieved without the art of storytelling. Every brand has a unique story to tell and the ability to use blogs, pictures and graphics, and other digital tools to tell that story is what sets content marketing apart. The human brain is a pretty complex organ that and, despite what we like to tell ourselves, the brain can lose focus many times a day. In a recent post, the Ariel Group revealed that the brain engages in about 2,000 dreams daily and spends 50% of its waking time wandering. Hence, arresting the attention of your audience requires patience. Why storytelling is important in content marketing? Storytelling is captivating. It is this captivating ability that makes it a powerful tool in communicating the brand’s information the right way. It can also help sell ideas and products, while also building beneficial relationships. Its role in content marketing cannot be overemphasised because it enforces the message the brand is telling. Below are some reasons storytelling is so powerfully important. Storytelling creates an emotional connection between the storyteller and the audience. In this case, the brand is able to penetrate the thick skin of its target audience using good, compelling stories which psychologists often refer to as a narrative transport. The audience is engaged emotionally and begins to build empathy for the brand (storyteller). As this connection builds, the listener begins to feel drawn or connected to the brand, manifesting in visiting their website and following their progress. Storytelling also helps to synchronize the brains of the storyteller with that of the audience. This mental symphony is the result of the effect that the brain creates, as the listener begins to experience the same neural patterns that the storyteller has psychologists call this situation “neural coupling”, where coherence is attained between the brains of the speaker and that of the listener. Storytelling also lights up the brain far more than other formats like factual reporting. Some studies carried out over the years have shown that unlike factual reporting which only lights up two regions of the brain, storytelling does way more than that. What the listener/audience feels at that point is the illusion that the event is actually happening at that time. This is good for both the storyteller and the listener. Storytelling commands attention. Remember when we established that the human brain wanders many times a day? Storytelling can help to address that issue. As long as the story is interesting, the attention of the audience can be arrested and this helps to build exposure for your business. Storytelling enhances memory and affects behaviour. The reason why many kids can sing many rhymes and understand quite a number of things in life is because these things are told in a story. It is easy to remember a fact when it is told in a story. In the same vein, behaviour can be affected and action triggered when stories are told. One social experiment illustrates this point effortlessly. Some testers sold trinkets worth $129 on eBay for more than $8,000 simply because they told personal stories around the products. Truth is, storytelling is the heart and soul of content marketing. This step from the fact that weaving a good, captivating story is such an important skill and the person who can do this effectively has the power to change perceptions, influence attitudes, and lead to improved brand identity and overall sales. The writer is an Independent Journalist, Author, Entrepreneur. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.