Storytelling is a dynamic form of persuasive jujitsu that copywriters use on a daily basis. In a market of highly competitive black belt storytellers, budding copywriters better start training…
Expert copywriters purposely fill us to the brim with emotion so we’ll lose track of the logical, abandon our anti-marketing defenses and listen to what they have to say. People are hard-wired to be receptive to stories – so when you’re trying to get a point across, a story is an excellent place to start.
Psychology and Storytelling
“Once upon a time” has hooked children and adults alike for generations, but why? Until the past decade we’ve only been able to speculate about how persuasive stories actually are. Psychologists have now delved in head first in a series of studies to reveal how stories affect the human mind. Results repeatedly show that our attitudes, hopes, fears and the all-important purchasing power are strongly influenced by a good story. In fact, fiction gives more promising results than logical writing.
So why are we putty in the hands of great storytellers? American neuro-economist, Paul J. Zak claimed that Oxytocin (a chemical the brain synthesizes to make people feel more trustworthy, generous, charitable, and compassionate) is released when people hear a good story – meaning good narrative copy can encourage audiences to become more sensitive to social cues and advertising.
Princeton University scientist, Uri Hasson conducted another fascinating experiment on the influential power of storytelling. Her team placed a storyteller in an MRI scanner, monitoring her brain activity and those of the listeners. The results showed that their brain activity synchronized throughout the whole process. When the storyteller’s frontal cortex (the part of the brain that converts thoughts into words) lit up with activity, so did those of the listeners. These results indicate that storytellers have the power to literally transplant thoughts and emotions into their listeners’ minds.
Psychologists Melanie Green and Tim Brock argue that entering the fantastical world of fiction can "radically alter the way information is processed." Studies show that the more absorbed the reader is in a story, the more it affects their mood. Their research also concluded that highly absorbed readers detect significantly fewer "false notes" in stories—(inaccuracies, missteps, incorrect statements or blatant selling techniques).
Brand Storytelling On The Increase
What do F. Scott Fitzgerald, Salman Rushdie, and Joseph Heller all have in common? Yes, they’re all established authors – but did you know they started out as copywriters? In fact, storytelling has helped to build brands all over the world. Copywriters may work within the length limitations of advertisements or webpages, but experts in the field use small anecdotes, sensorial imagery and story fragments to create some of the best tales of the 21st century. Storytelling is constantly woven into marketing and advertising copy.
If your brand doesn’t have a story to tell, it’s simply another commodity – another replaceable cog in a huge consumption machine. According to Adam Gopnik, writer for The New Yorker, great stories “startle us with their strangeness, intrigue us by their originality, and end by rewarding us with the truth.” A recent Guardian commercial upholds this definition to the T by effectively showing customers – “the whole picture.”
our copy needs to differentiate your brand from the competition. Creating a brand story is not just about standing out and getting noticed - it’s about building something that people care about and want to buy into. It’s about thinking beyond the utility and functionality of products and services to create lasting relationships and loyal bonds with your customers. For example, Google’s commercial “Re Union” not only illustrates the meaningful bonds between customers and its service; it gives a huge tug on the heartstrings as well.
The Future of storytelling
So what does the future hold in store for brand storytelling and narrative copy? Our brains value stories over anything else, and as technology advances the stories will just get bigger and more interactive. Consider blogs, e-books, and touchscreen ad-shells at bus-stops… These mediums just scratch the surface of how we will interact with stories in the coming decades.
Consultancy Latitude conducted a study into "The Future of Storytelling", which uncovers consumers attitudes towards marketing content. The research revealed that audiences are looking for companies to “blur the barriers between content and reality in a layered yet cohesive execution.” The company asked "early adopters" (people keen on using the latest technology) around the world how they wanted to experience stories in the future.
“These early adopters claimed they wanted four “I’s” from their stories:
· Immersion: Delving deeper into the story through supplementary context and sensory experiences
· Interactivity: Allowing consumers to become part of the narrative and possibly influence its outcome
· Integration: Offering seamless connection across all platforms, beyond merely replicating content on different devices
· Impact: Inspiring consumers to take action of some kind, e.g. purchase a product, sign up for a service or support a cause"
[To access Consultancy Latitude's article in full click here]