Elevate your ecommerce: Digital storytelling for your brand

The best way to differentiate from the competition is with a really good story. Whether it’s on social media or through other creative content, nearly all ecommerce businesses’ seem to be promoting the same product in the same ways. In a market where first impressions mean everything, standing out is how brands will stay afloat. Every small business has a story. Why not tell it?

Marketing your business is all about connecting with your audience, building that background, and telling your story. But we know brand storytelling is often easier said than done. That’s why we’re here to walk you through the tips and tricks that will take your creative marketing and advertising to the next level.

What is storytelling marketing?

Storytelling marketing is exactly what it sounds like. Using a narrative to communicate a message, the aim is to connect with your customer and audience in a way that inspires them to take action. The goal is to humanize your brand, and pull away from the big “mightier than thou” communication of so many of today’s ecommerce businesses.

Studies show, telling a story makes information way more memorable. Psychologist Jerome Bruner found we are 22 times more likely to remember a fact when it’s been wrapped in a story. Even better? Stanford’s Graduate School of Business found that when being presented with a pitch, only 5% recalled a statistic but a vast 63% remembered the stories. Storytelling is key to growing out your business and making an impact, one message at a time.

This type of storytelling does more than just connect with the audience. It also cuts directly through the noise and distractions of traditional advertising methods, reeling your audience in from the get-go. Stories create trust, and trust creates brand loyalty.

This new ecommerce marketing approach can be taken to a variety of formats, including:

• Social media
• Video marketing
• Website
• Print
• Visual communications

Try not to confine your creative marketing to the written word. Well-developed commercials, art pieces, and other formats can add a storytelling approach to your ecommerce brand that makes people want to know more.

Building your story

Your business is doing more than just selling a product or service. Brands try to capitalize on brand loyalty, built through developing strong customer connections.  

Looking to get started building your brand story? Ask yourself these key questions:

• Why does your brand exist?
• Who are you? What’s your brand’s history?
• What’s your corporate mission and vision?
• Have you had failures along the way? How and what did you do to succeed?
• What are your goals?

This offers your business the opportunity to create content that goes beyond your product or services. Offer your audience valuable content. Give customers something meaningful that will help them connect with you and your brand. It’s all about the humanity behind the sale, after all.

Using storytelling for marketing

Here are a few techniques to connect your story to your ecommerce marketing:

1. Identify who your customer is and what they’re looking for your business to provide.
2. Identify the problem they are facing that is preventing them from getting what they want. (Solve it! That’s what you’re here for)
3. Position your client as the main character. Your business is the supporting character, always! Act accordingly.
4. Define your call-to-action! Tell your customers what you want them to do: Book Today, Buy Online, Apply Now. (Your CTA is about building your revenue) Use it strategically to drive customer action.
5. Identify what success looks like for your customer. How is life better after engaging with your brand? Think benefits and improved living.
6. Define your plan. The objective will always be to reduce the friction a customer feels when it comes to the buying process. Make the steps to get them to their goal simple.

Bring your stories to life

We said it earlier and we’re saying it again: Your content can assume multiple formats, not just a landing page paragraph about your business. Your story is worth more than that. Visual communication is ruling content nowadays, across numerous platforms.

As much as 80% of the content you take in gets processed through your brain’s visual pathway. This means visual communications provides the perfect format to process content in an easy to understand and creative way. That’s not saying you should forfeit written communication (exactly the opposite), it just means your business would benefit from new and creative digital content. Options for visual storytelling can occur through:

• Livestream videos
• Scripted commercials
• Behind-the-scenes images
• Past pictures that offer insight into company history
• Product images with data
• Creative infographics

Showcasing your products capabilities in a video, sharing a throwback of your business starting out, or creating a livestream with information about shipping and handling offers your audience hands-on content that keeps them connected to your business.

Content for your customers

Getting creative with your ecommerce marketing is key to building out your brand, by any means necessary. It’s hard to go wrong when you’re telling your brand’s story. As long as you’re aiming to be vulnerable with your audience, consumers will see the humanity behind your business. They’re more likely to trust what you have to offer when you’re sharing genuine content that speaks to their emotional side.

Digital marketing allows us to better understand and connect with our customers and the emotions that lead them to make a purchase. At the end of the day, we buy from brands we like and trust. The power of story continues to help companies establish and nurture these customer connections we all hold dearly.

If you haven’t put much time or planning into storytelling for your business, it’s never too late to start. Spend as much time developing your creative marketing and advertising that you do on your businesses’ fulfillment and logistics. Moving your business to a co-warehousing solution like Saltbox offers you hands-on care with your warehousing and shipping without the expensive price tag. Book a tour today and let’s get started growing and scaling your business together.