Storytelling is one of those marketing buzzwords you hear all the time. Let’s use storytelling. Can you add more storytelling? Just throw in some storytelling.

But what does it actually mean? And how can you use it to make your copy better? Let’s dive in.

What is storytelling?

Storytelling simply means using stories to make a point, get your message across or make your reader feel a certain way. The story might be a personal anecdote, a made-up metaphor or a lengthier customer narrative. It might just be a quick one-sentence example.

We use storytelling completely naturally in our everyday lives. Think about the job interview where you weave in a narrative from your previous employment to prove that you’re a reliable and trustworthy hire. Or on that first date where you use your favourite anecdote to make your chosen hottie laugh. Or when you tell your kids the story of Red Riding Hood to teach them about stranger danger. Or when you beg your kid brother not to guzzle 20 Nando’s Extra Hot Wings by reminding him what happened last time.

Why does it work?

It works because we’re a species that loves a good story. Ever since we could communicate, we’ve been sharing stories. Stories help us connect to one another. They help us remember information. They help us teach or explain without feeling teachy or preachy. Need convincing? Most religions are centred around stories. Many of the world’s best speakers use storytelling (just watch a few TED talks). Hands up if you watch movies, devour podcasts or read books in your free time? Culture is all about stories too.

So if we can harness that magic into our copy? We absolutely should.

How to use storytelling

Here’s the tea: something about the idea of storytelling in our marketing really freaks people out. Maybe it’s because it feels vague: what do we actually have to do? Maybe because we associate it with school: writing something with a beginning, middle and end. It feels overwhelming. Maybe it’s because we struggle to make the link between the point we want to make and the story we want to tell. Or maybe it’s because it feels a bit creative, a bit ‘art class’, a bit interpretative dance.

But if we take away the word storytelling and I ask you to just chuck some anecdotes into your copy. Doesn’t that feel much more manageable?

Start with a point you want to make, a feeling you want to evoke or a message you want to share, e.g. We’re a bespoke furniture brand and I want to tell our Instagram followers how well-made our tables are.

Think about a story, anecdote or narrative you could tell to convey that message.

So I might tell an anecdote about the time a client paid me double for their beautiful table and couldn’t believe that I’d invoiced correctly. Or I might tell a story about what happened when a client bought a crappy table and it ended up breaking mid-meeting and losing them a life-changing deal. Or I might talk about the years that a customer slouched over an ill-fitting table spending hundreds on osteo appointments instead of investing that money in a well-made table. You get the idea.

The trick is to think about a story that puts your target audience and their needs front and centre. They need to see themselves reflected in your narrative.

Where to find stories

You might be thinking, “That’s all well and good, Sally. But where am I supposed to come up with all these stories?” I hear you. And that’s often the trickiest part. But once you start looking, you’ll notice that stories are happening all around you. You just need to see them and note them down. Here are my top tips:

Scour your testimonials or customer reviews: they’re absolute goldmines, and the stories you dig up are super powerful because they’re told by your customers.
Revisit your customer enquiries or FAQs: what do people ask? What particular aspects of what you do interest them?
Think about how you approach your work: break it down into different stages – tell the story of how you design a table or what the finishing process looks like.
Think about interactions you’ve had with colleagues recently: what conversations are you having? What changes are taking place in your industry?
Look at your case studies: think about the before, during and after of your customer’s experience with your brand. What’s the story?
Think about real-life scenarios that you can relate to what you do: maybe it’s not about tables but about the time you suffered in an ill-fitting pair of shoes for months.*

Create a note in your phone to keep a list of stories you might be able to use. Add ideas as they come to you.

A word (or two) of caution

We’ve all seen those posts that randomly turn a story about homelessness or pizza into a serious business message. It doesn’t always work. Make sure it feels tone appropriate for the platform and audience. Make sure it doesn’t exploit the subject.

Then again, if you’re writing for a sober-seeming SaaS platform and you want to liken its problem-solving abilities to snagging the last slice of pizza, you could be on to something. Consider your storytelling in the context of your brand’s values and goals, and that should steer you right.

And finally, when you’re choosing a story, pick one that feels interesting enough to tell. You might want to give the narrative about your Uncle John’s stamp collection a miss.

Use your story

It’s time to work your story into your copy. Here are some tips for nailing it:

Keep it brief: stick to only the essential details. We don’t need to know that it was the second Tuesday of February 2002, on the night of the full moon.
That said, unexpected details make it more interesting: maybe a character in your story has a quirky name or wore an interesting hat or wrote with a lurid purple fountain pen.
Make the connection between your story and your message explicit: don’t assume your readers will infer your meaning. This isn’t Brothers Grimm.
If you’re trying to create an emotion or mood, choose your words carefully to build that mood.

See storytelling in action

White background with bold lower case black text from Notion's website about page reading: A story about tools and the future of work

White background with lower case black text from Notion's about page describing how people are working now, in a cluttered unorganised way and how they can help improve this

The Notion About page is a masterclass in storytelling, and they aren’t subtle about it. Just look at that headline. What I love about this is they weave in narrative about you, the reader, with a more historical yarn before bringing it all together with an introduction to the tool. It’s smart, it’s creative and the simple language keeps it engaging. Go check it out.

Advanced storytelling

Once you’ve got the hang of it, you’ll be chucking anecdotes around more freely than a stand-up comedian. Then, give these little tips and tricks a try to really level up your storytelling.

Start at the middle (or even the end)

Find the most gripping part of the tale and open with it. A story about a shark attack is always going to be gripping, but what about starting at the bite moment rather than the relaxing on the beach moment. You’re straight into the action and you can fill in the gaps later once you’ve reeled your audience in.

About page screen grab from the website for Who Gives a Crap. White background with bold black text. Under the header text is an image of a man on a toilet and two rolls of toilet paper and text next to this about the company

Toilet paper brand Who Gives A Crap do this on their About page. Imagine if they’d started the page with: “In 2012, Simon, Jehan and Danny launched WGAC”. Yawn. Whereas by starting with something quirky and funny, they grab our attention before taking us back to the beginning of the story.

Use dialogue

Dialogue brings your scene to life, helping it feel more real, more immediate. You can even have a bit of fun with humour between your different speakers.

You might relay a conversation you had in a LinkedIn post. Or chop words from a testimonial for your headline. Eddie Shleyner has a really good example of this.

Tell a one-line story

It’s a myth that storytelling is only good for long pieces of copy. You can tell a story with a beginning, middle and an end in one line, like the famous six-word story attributed to (though probably not by) Ernest Hemingway:

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

Sage green background, white writing top and bottom of the image with a bottle of StrangeLove ginger beer in the centre. Text is humorous and reads, Made from an old family recipe. That we stole. From and old family.

I love this example from Strangelove. It boils the story down to its essentials and make us laugh into the bargain.

Screen grabs of advertising boards for Zapp. Each of the three images has a mid blue background with white text at the top and images underneath to represent a night in for fun or sadness. — (Image courtesy of Jonathan Bunkall on LinkedIn)

And these from Zapp each tell a mini story in just a few words. To apply this to your brand, think about what situations your product or service comes into its own and write as short a story as possible about those scenarios.

*Both the Strangelove and Zapp examples come courtesy of Dan Nelken’s Writing Under Pressure course. Highly recommended if your job requires you to write creative copy to a deadline. (Affiliate link)

If you’d like to chat more about writing for your business, I’d love to hear from you.

What is storytelling and how can it make my copy better?