Everybody loves a good story. In fact, we’re hardwired for them. Whether it’s a fact-based nail-biting true event, or a fictional fairytale with a damsel in distress – getting lost in a captivating narrative is what makes us human. Our biological predisposition to stories is why effective storytelling holds so much power; it has the ability to keep you hooked, wanting to keep reading (or listening) to find out more.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that this is also why storytelling is so useful when it comes to online content marketing. Advertising and selling a product or service online can have its challenges, but they’re all made easier by getting a memorable and authentic story on your side. With so many competitors and alternative companies within the same industry, standing out has never been more important.
Why Tell a Story?
Telling your own unique brand story gives you the opportunity to really stand out. Your brand story is what stops you from blending it with other businesses in your field, and it allows you to create an emotional connection with your customers.
It’s not just “nice to have” an emotional connection with your customers; it’s essential. In fact, storytelling is so ingrained in humans as a species that our emotional brain is evolutionarily older than our logical brains. So much so, that studies have proven we make our decisions (including purchasing decisions) with our emotional, subconscious brains, and justify them with our (evolutionarily younger) logical minds afterwards.
No matter how logical you think it might be for a customer to purchase from your business, you’re likely to get lackluster results if you only appeal to that side of a consumer’s mind. Instead, wrap a story around your product or service to appeal to the emotions.
The Human Touch
I hear you – how can storytelling be done effectively? Well, as we’ve said, it’s important to focus on the human aspect of your brand. The best way to achieve this is by focusing more on why you sell or provide your particular product or service, and then go onto explaining how you do so before revealing what it is you’re selling.
This can be visualised through The Golden Circle, a practice coined by marketer Simon Sinek in his book ‘Start With Why’.
As you can see here, why is at the centre of the circle. It should be at the centre of your storytelling too.
So many companies neglect their ‘why’. They may have simply forgotten, or not have even thought about why they created their business, or why they operate in the way they do, so they don’t explain it to their readers either.
Expanding and focusing on the why of your business allows for a more personal narrative that the reader can relate to. It also provides the path to getting a reader interested in how you’ll solve their problems, and what it is exactly you are selling.
Humanising your brand and providing your readers with more than just data and factual information, shows them there is more to your company than just a product or a service. It reminds them there is a human behind the screen that is passionate about helping their consumers and making a positive impact and change in society.
Bubbli the Brand
Good storytelling doesn’t only have to be about your company’s product or service, you can provide a human touch by actually talking about the humans behind the brand.
Let’s start close to home, with Bubbli. We’re a top-notch digital marketing agency (if we do say so ourselves) that helps companies have a strong online presence through great content creation and effective SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices. A great tagline, right?
Well it’s all well and good knowing what it is we do and how it is we do it, but the question of why we do what we do is at the heart of Bubbli as a brand.
Bubbli’s why has been made clear to me since joining and becoming part of the Bubbli family, having learnt so many new skills and writing practices that can make the biggest difference to a company or business has also made a huge difference to me. To dig down into Bubbli’s ‘why’, I’m going to start by telling you a little story about myself.
The Story of Me
I’m writing this blog right now – hello! And all you know is that I’m a human on a keyboard telling you all about storytelling (hopefully thinking I’m a brilliant writer too). But there is so much more to know and explore about little old me that in turn can tell you so much more about Bubbli.
Let’s start with the basics – I’m Maria, and today I’m a copywriter at Bubbli – but that wasn’t always the case. As a 26-year old female writer trying to build up a career in the creative and digital world, landing this copywriting and content creation role in a company that allows me to unlock my creativity, whilst teaching me about the wonderful world of technical SEO, was the dream.
My journey began after being told I wouldn’t amount to much by my A-Level English teacher (screw you Mrs Ariswala!), which made me more determined than ever to prove the haters (mainly her) wrong, and worked hard not to give up on my love of writing.
I’m proud to say that the hard work I put in paid off, and I graduated from university with an English degree before going on to embark into the big bad world of work. I was fortunate enough to land some great opportunities in various magazines and publications as a freelance writer, and was even employed by my church to create a monthly newsletter for all their churches in the UK.
My itch for copywriting and creating a range of different content still hadn’t been satisfied, however, and I was desperate to find a role in a company that would guide me at a steady pace while still challenging me to be more creative and improve my craft every day.
Fast forward to the start of 2020, and I find myself in the Bubbli offices being interviewed by Bubbli’s enthusiastic, friendly founder Neil (just inches away from a rowdy office ping-pong table) and I knew right away that this was the place for me.
It wasn’t just the table tennis or the pick’n’mix nut station or cool bean bag chairs that got me, but the range of clients, all of whom offered new opportunities to grow creatively. Straight away I could see that the Bubbli team were interested in pushing the boat out, trying new things, and a collaborative approach to content marketing. Since joining, my expectations of versatility in work tasks, and learning so many new skills have been more than exceeded.
The great thing about Bubbli is that there’s a deep family feeling that comes from close collaboration, despite the team working across several different countries and time zones. The reliable team has provided me with particular and focused guidance, which other teams in larger, more anonymous companies cannot provide.
This focused concentration and attention is also given to the various clients on the Bubbli books. Being an agile, growing company allows for new joiners and employees, such as myself, to build strong and deep connections with clients. These connections are reflected in the content created – as we get to the why of each of our clients a lot quicker, and are able to tell their story for them authoritatively.
One of my favorite projects since joining was creating personal case studies for FSB (The Federation of Small Businesses) where I had the opportunity to interview FSB’s members and create a long-form story of how FSB have helped them personally. (Another powerful story-telling method!)
On top of this, I finally feel like my copywriting hunger pains are satisfied, as I am able to write about so many different topics, for different clients, on a daily basis. From learning about the best teeth whitening processes for dental clients, to the best electric gates for business security, and radiators for people’s homes. Every client has an interesting story to tell, and I love digging past the face of the business to the warm gooey story inside.
There are also clients, such as Murphy’s Beauty that allow me to write about my long standing interests in hair and beauty which makes me forget it’s even work at all!
The opportunities, responsibilities and skill set that have been given to me by Bubbli so far have taught me so much, and make me excited to grow in them and learn even more. In the time that I’ve been here, Bubbli hasn’t skipped a beat, even when we all had to start working from home – the same supportive team is right there.
Bubbli is a nourishing and encouraging brand to work for that takes care of its employees and clients alike. I can’t wait to see what the future comes up with for Bubbli – but you can be sure we’ll be ready for whatever comes our way.
What’s your story?
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my little story and that Bubbli feels a bit more familiar to you now.
Storytelling gives you the opportunity to not only give the important message of your company or business, but it gives you so much creative freedom with how to portray that message. Stories leave a lasting impact that you want your readers to feel, and as the old saying goes – most people usually forget what you say to them, but they always remember how you made them feel.