Engaging, and relatable. A prime tactic for generating
positive outlooks pertaining to certain products is the art of utilizing
engaging and relatable stories to target a desired audience. The method of
using a story to create awareness or interest in a product or service you are
selling can sometimes be the most effective way for marketing for several
reasons. Straightaway, the audience is sucked into the thrill and curious to
see how the story will unfold. Not many people would deny the opportunity to
sit in on a quick, compelling story for an advertisement, as opposed to the
traditional informative structured ads which fail to hook the audience.
Generally, hooking a viewer is accomplished more through
stories. Stories are suspenseful and memorable in nature. When someone sees or
thinks about the product, immediately they recall the story and how they were
influenced during the viewing of the ad.
One way of building a good fan base for your product is
through the use of emotion, which is easily achieved through telling a story,
of course. Here's what I mean… When someone sees an advertisement for a product
on TV, in an online advertisement, or through Social Media marketing in a story
telling approach which relates to their current circumstances or unique
situation, that person is much more susceptible to doing more research on the
product, inevitably resulting in a purchase. Since the person was able to
relate to the advertisement, a connection was formed between the person and the
service because the person realized their situation was considered and
understood. Whether it be through positive stories with happy endings to
negative stories with sad endings, once the customer develops a mental
connection with the product or service being advertised, the job is nearly
complete.
Storytelling uses different strategies to gain the
attention from the consumer. For instance, there are positive and negative
reinforcement approaches to enhancing the message. Through the use of a story,
an advertisement has the potential of scaring their target audience into
considering their service (negative reinforcement), or inspiring a person to
consider their service (positive reinforcement). Both strategies successfully
boost awareness from the desired audience, which is the goal of developing the
ad in the first place. In addition to those strategies, many advertisements
often use humoristic or sexual storylines depending on the product and target
audience to increase attention, as well.
Although storytelling may have great impacts on
advertisements, there can be negatives to the approach too. Many times an
advertisement can make a story so good that the audience loses sight of the
goal, which is the product. The point of the story is to sell the product. In
other instances, the story may be incomprehensible, non-relatable, or have
nothing to do with the product or service through the eye of the consumer. A
complete misfire.
