First things first, let’s acknowledge that emotion is an essential part of storytelling and that stories would be void without it. Secondly, the stronger the emotion, the more likely people are to remember the details. So it’s safe to assume that adding feeling to your brand’s digital story doubles the impact. Emotion and being able to evoke emotions from your audience is centred around brand building and plays a part in a business’ long term growth.
Digital marketing has allowed for more interaction and more emotion since it opened up a two-way communication system that was never possible previously through traditional media. This has resulted in both B2B and B2C brand audiences being eager for more and more online interaction with brands over the years. In response, businesses need to get creative with digital brand storytelling to allow for audience’s active participation. When audiences participate, it translates into effective engagement and ultimately, an outstanding campaign performance.
The demand for storytelling and interactive content experiences in particular from B2B audiences is growing, so it’s advised that as a business you look into creating your own digital story if you haven’t already.
Here are the three building blocks that you will need to create a captivating and emotive B2B tale.
The hook
The hook is what gets people’s attention and makes them want to look closer. When writing the hook, analyse the various problems that your audience faces and pay attention to what they are emotionally invested in. Once done, include those problems and interests in a scenario-based story that resonates with your target audience, plays to your brand’s strengths and allows for some uniqueness to separate you from the competition.
The narrative
Okay, so you’ve grabbed the attention of your audience with a great hook, now what? Now you have to think about the narrative which is the most important part. Remember that your digital story, including what you want to achieve, will inform the direction of your narrative. The narrative needs to include a hero, what they are doing and why? Your narrative should be telling a story either about your business, your service or your ideal client. Whichever one you choose, remember to keep it authentic and relatable.
As for the structure, a good narrative always includes a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning should start with an incident (something that has happened) and should lead to action that is built up by anticipation. Lastly, the narrative should include a resolution that provides relief and satisfaction for your ideal audience.
Choosing the correct words and phrases when looking to evoke an emotional response through a digital story is vital, so make sure that your copywriting reads as professional and polished. The narrative should also speak to your brand voice and values so that people are aware of what you stand for.
The medium
The medium defines how your target audience will experience your digital story, so decide on one that will convey your story most appropriately. To help you decide, look at where your target audience spends the most time online. You can also mix things up by using a variety of content as long as it’s well-executed, complimentary and is based off a single objective.
Use social media channels as a medium to tell a broader digital story and give your audience a chance to interact with your brand directly. Include high-quality images, videos and animations. If you are explaining a difficult topic, create an infographic to help make your content more engaging.
Gamification is another option that you can play around with (pun intended) to tell your story. It is an effective medium that automatically makes the user the hero of the story, making for a highly immersive experience for your audience. Gamification digital storytelling is also great for getting an emotional response from your audience because people will always remember feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment when winning a game.
Evoke feeling
The reason people have a favourite story is because of how it made them feel. B2B brands don’t often include emotion in their marketing campaigns and the results are usually quite underwhelming. Using non-fiction stories as a way to tell a digital story is a great way to evoke emotion from B2B audiences. In fact, it would be safe to say that non-fiction stories are arguably the most emotive of all because they are real!
