We all know that storytelling is powerful. But knowing where to start when you’re stuck for inspiration can be hard. These cool writing ideas can help you build a storyline that captivates your readers and keeps them turning the page.
Introduction to Storytelling
Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal as a marketer. It’s an essential skill to master. To be great at marketing, learn how to tell great stories. Here’s what you need to know.
Creativity is about stepping outside the box, being you or someone else, and seeing things from different personae or perspectives. If you can find the time to think creatively more often, then you’ll be able to get “off your lazy butt.”
A television ad in which the Realtor never says a word? Irresistible! But not anything quite as unique as a story is given that title. Getting emotional or depicting a moment of passion can be as effective as pulling an all-nighter, at least for an audience.
Skillshare teaches storytelling. Skillshare’s workshops equip you with tools, techniques, and methods for telling great stories. Although I love all forms of stories, the increase in sales I’ve seen from honing my skills with concise, concise reports has been impressive.
Whether telling a breaking news story that changes a single character’s fate or creating a philosophical problem, great stories are a great way to engage your audience and keep them engaged throughout the buying cycle.
This graphic illustrates a story about a woman taking a road trip to escape the judgment she’s faced in her personal life. Sure, the graphics are breathtaking, but who wouldn’t want to take a road trip with a desirable guy? Check out more on the website canibewriter.com posts in case you want to see more examples.
An example of the type of storytelling I’m referring to? See this post about the catchphrase “your money or your life.” It was written in response to the financial crisis of 2008 and how the musician himself took a stand by performing a benefit concert in front of the crippled remains of the Kennedy Center building.
Develop the Storytelling Plot, Setting, and Characters
Before you start writing, it’s essential to figure out your setting, your characters, and what your plot is going to be.
Think about your favorite TV show, movie, or book. What makes it so good? It’s the characters, the setting, and the plot. Once you have those elements figured out, then you can start writing.
Some writing tips are story-based and help you tell your story in the best possible way. These tips will help you flip that script and use your fictional storyline to deliver information, increase audience engagement, and draw them into your post.
Starting a Conversation
You’ve got your set in place and the story in mind. Now it’s time to flip the script and talk to your audience. This tip uses the “Flip the Script” technique to have readers relate to your words and engage with your story.
Using Your Props
Your props (also known as visual aids) can provide a believable and aesthetically pleasing look to your content.
A standard prop for blog posts is a whiteboard. Virtual whiteboards available on sites like Skillshare use cardboard or aluminum to create digital whiteboards that can be downloaded.
Some websites that also use whiteboards include:
- UgoTheHamburger
- ZoomStockPhotos.com
- Designs.com
Props that are valuable to humanize your content include:
- A human face.
- A plausible voice.
- A commonly used hierarchy.
- A few relevant (and strongly distinct) colors.
- Read more tips on adding a human element here.
Storytelling Analysis Paralysis
Once you have your characters, setting, story, and props, the next step is to analyze. I imagine you hit a wall and can’t get writing moving. Neither can I.
Write until you stop, and don’t stop, and don’t stop and clean up until you own the content you are working with.
Incorporate Humor into Your Storytelling
When you’re writing for the web, it’s essential to keep your writing light and fun. Adding in some humor can help you do this. Incorporating humor into your copy can help you get your readers’ attention and keep them engaged.
If you are adding in imagery, make sure you keep your sentences short and punchy. An illustration with a visual description and good, descriptive copy near the top of the page will do a great job of drawing in readers.
Even if you’re not interested in writing for the web but want to get your readers’ attention, these authors are worth reading. Please make sure you look at their writing rather than copy it verbatim.
Even though we know when it comes down to it, we still rely heavily on other people’s written work to get us ideas.
The Tools
Though nothing here is groundbreaking, some powerful tools can help you quickly get your readers’ attention. Content Idea Generator and CopySmith are the tools I use for inspiration. Find these tools below this article.
Buffer
Buffer comes to our rescue time and time again. No wonder it’s one of the best tools for bloggers. While free, you need to set up some preferences to use it.
After that, you can create custom scripts (known as macros) that will pull information from various web places.
It also lets you target Reddit, Hacker News, Pinterest, and more. Buffer could also come in handy for social monitoring, scheduling tweets, and tracking mentions quickly and easily.
Semper Plugins LLC
All-in-One SEO
Like Buffer, All in One SEO is another powerful tool for social monitoring and content creation. With their handy tag cloud feature, you can gather website data quickly.
You can take advantage of this by pulling in social shares, the number of tweets, links, and more from various sources.
With some intelligent tagging, you can quickly find ways to add # hashtags to your content or examples of them under different topic categories.
The Importance of Dialogue in Storytelling
- Dialogue is essential to storytelling because people’s words reveal a lot about who they are and how they think.
- Dialogue can help you get into a character’s head or give you a sense of who they are, depending on how it’s written.
- Dialogue can also reveal much information about a character’s past and present.
- When writing a story, dialogue is one of the first tools you want to use to keep the reader guessing.
- Guess how the story will end and keep them interested in the story moving forward.
A character’s dialogue reveals a lot about them. You don’t want to end your post at a loss for ideas, especially if the end of the post is related to your central theme. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started.
Understand a character’s preferred method of communication.
Imagine the last time you had a horrible day. You don’t remember exactly what it was, but remember the details, rinse and repeat. You probably (and reasonably) assume that your day was terrible because something significant happened. Probably something big (e.g., a shift in your job or finances) happened for a reason.
For example, your boss didn’t like your performance. Your mom started stressed out because things weren’t going well at work. Your aunt was mad at you for busting your butt for a presentation (nerdy, self-conscious, introverted, frumpy, and not the most physically attractive). Or maybe you stopped showing up for something big your boss asked of you.
In such a scenario, your preferred communication method is probably stressed words, annoying tones, angry ranting, crying, or other emotional outpourings.
Descriptive When Storytelling
People like to be entertained, but they also want to be informed. They want to know how your product or service will improve their lives and what it will do for them.
Storytelling is a great way to inform and entertain. Use descriptive language and paint a picture for your audience. Paint a picture of how they’ll feel when using your product.
The art of creating excellent copy speaks volumes to buyers. Still, research suggests talking about your product’s benefits, rather than just selling it, helps your copy resonate with your audience. Therefore, the key is to think creatively about what you can’t get someone else to say about your product.
The following list contains interesting, creative, and downright hilarious examples of storytelling ideas you can use to make your content more compelling. If you use any of these on your site, include links back to the source to ensure they get 100s of shares.
Make it Personalized!
It would not be enjoyable to send messages to contacts you met at a networking event. But what if there was a way to make your message personal and unique to each contact? Maybe it’s time to create a microsite and a for each contact.
Driving through light traffic with a personalized message (ex: Farm Animal Rescue) and a StumbleUpon button (using FollowerWonk) can perform phenomenally better than a generic intro message. Screenshots and videos can show off your business much better than a giant list of benefits.
Give it Personality!
In today’s day and age, digital information tends to be impersonal and impersonal. People want to feel human and to connect with others, particularly in emotionally charged situations.
Conclusion,
Storytelling is an art achieved with practice. People like to read stories. They help build your identity and build trust with the reader.
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Kevin
