Storytelling as Marketing for Small Business

There’s nothing like a good story.

You’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t like to read or hear someone relate a personal experience. It doesn’t need to be long. It doesn’t need to change the world. But narratives from real life have a way of captivating our attention. They move us to think and act differently. They change us in big and small ways.

There have been a number of articles and talks online lately about storytelling and how it can apply to business communications. I won’t list them all here, but one in particular stood out to me. Master storyteller and former professional actor Michael Port recently spoke about finding ways to tell your story as part of your marketing strategy.

How can you use storytelling as marketing for your small business?

1. Integrate personal experiences into your marketing message

Your customers do not need to know everything about your personal life, but they need to know you. You’re a real person with experiences that have shaped your business. Michael Port encourages us to know those stories and consider how they fit with marketing our businesses.

2. Use a classic storytelling structure

Port draws on a classic 3-part structure to create marketing stories:

1. Setting.
2. Conflict.
3. Resolution.

Craft your storytelling around this model and it will make them easier to tell in sales meetings, presentations, and in marketing materials. And of course, in your blog and social media.

3. Use storytelling as part of your SEO strategy

Try to integrate real life experience, business history, employee profiles, etc. into your blog posts. Tell short stories through your social media channels. Most of us are familiar with telling our stories on our personal Facebook pages. You can take a similar (albeit more professional) approach on your business social media pages too.

Storytelling is not easy, especially when it comes to telling your business story. But it’s not impossible. Like any good marketing, it takes time and effort to craft and tell stories that will captivate and engage your customers.

How have you used storytelling as marketing for your small business?

Lighthouse Marketing

Lighthouse Marketing Inc. specializes in visually appealing, mobile friendly website design. We are an independently owned 18 year old Canadian company based in the Lower Mainland of BC, and are not affiliated with any company bearing a similar name in other areas of North America.

In addition to our existing website services, the past 3 years has seen dynamic growth in the area of SEO services, particularly with regard to local search. Our evolution to a full service SEO company means that we now offer complete online business solutions that involve Google local search as well as an effective social media strategy.

Lighthouse Marketing services the Surrey, Langley, Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, White Rock, Delta, New Westminster, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, and Abbotsford areas, as well as other locations throughout the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley.