Brand storytelling can be a big differentiator in email marketing campaigns.
Have you ever heard of the expression “selling without selling”? This happens when the sales argument stops being cold and becomes humanized.
People are more receptive to hearing what is being said when humanization is part of the context. And a good narrative has the power to make that happen.
Brand storytelling is engaging because it connects people with people, not people with products.
Remember a great movie you watched. At some point did you realize that this was a story acted out by actors? If not, you experienced the “sell without selling” strategy as a viewer.
And that’s how, by winning people’s hearts, brand storytelling can makes email marketing campaigns more attractive.
It is worth remembering that attracting the public is a specialty of Inbound Marketing, which is subdivided into four main phases: attraction, conversion, closing and enchantment. And storytelling can be successfully applied to all of them.
It’s impossible not to consider the power of this tool as a campaign strategy, right?
Let’s see below how to use brand storytelling resources to transform a simple sales argument into engaging communication.
The protagonist of the story
Your buyer persona is at the center of your story, right? Based on this premise, you need to know what solution your email marketing campaign offers to your audience. This way, you create appropriate communication with they.
Remember that brand storytelling has the role of connecting people with people. This way, email stops being email and becomes a connection channel between you and the buyer persona.
The idea is to create a narrative that symbolizes the buyer persona’s needs. This way, you can create a solid connection through representation.
People feel welcomed when they are represented and introducing this concept in brand storytelling attracts the public to conversion.
How to structure brand storytelling in messages
The Hero’s Journey is the most used technique for storytelling. This happens because the phases described in this method concentrate psychic elements of effort to overcome challenges and recognition of this effort, inherent to every human being.
Some of the most told (and loved) stories in the world follow the archetype of the Hero’s Journey: The Lord of the Rings, The Lion King, The Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, Matrix and so on.
The structure of this technique, presented by Joseph Campbell in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, is subdivided into 12 stages. However, you don’t need to apply them all to your email marketing campaign.
Use brand storytelling in your campaigns based on the following steps:
- Phase 1: The hero of the story (who is your audience) has a problem.
- Phase 2: the protagonist of the story meets with a mentor (which is you). This guide is meant to help you make wise decisions on his journey.
- Phase 3: the hero, encouraged by the mentor, overcomes challenges to solve what ails him.
- Phase 4: the protagonist returns home victorious and transformed (the buyer persona feels satisfied with the experience and recommends your brand to their contacts).
Practical examples for your email marketing
See now how brand storytelling can be linked to Inbound, resulting in fully humanized communication:
- Attraction: your narrative exposes the problem of the public, who identifies with your communication.
- Conversion: you show the path to solving the persona’s problem.
- Close: the audience is interested in what you say and overcomes the challenge of trusting you.
- Delight: the buyer persona feels satisfied and transformed through the journey with your brand.
Did you notice how brand storytelling and Inbound complement each other?
If you build an email marketing narrative based on these principles, the possibility of conversion is amplified.
Conclusion
A person tells a story involving a positive experience with a brand.
The same brand makes a sponsored post on a social network.
Which one has the greatest convincing power?
Humanizing communication encourages connection with the public. Stories convert more because they create representation.
An email can be much more than an email through a good narrative. Consider using brand storytelling in your campaign strategies and reap the rewards.