Storytelling is the Foundation of Content Marketing

Great stories are able to transcend the page or screen. They’re able to grip your attention and take you on an emotional, captivating ride. Writing engaging content means creating stories that move your audience on many levels. How do you do that? The answer isn’t as complicated as you might think. Apply proven writing techniques to your blog posts, social media posts, etc and create stories that your audience won’t be able to take their eyes off of until they read the last word.

What’s the Problem?

Always begin by establishing the problem. What is the issue and how can we fix it? Your answer to this question needs to be phrased properly and in a way that doesn’t detail the answer. You want the reader to read on, so keep the answer locked and loaded for later in your post. Example: “I had to come through, but I just didn’t know how.”

What’s at Stake?

Mounting Tension

Now that your problem and stakes are clearly defined, your goal is to build tension until the end of your article. Tension will be what grips the reader and makes them hang on. Tip: The mention of time or a deadline is always a good tension builder.

Hit all your Plot Points

Every story needs a clear structure: beginning, middle and end. The middle is the “body” of your story, where the bulk of your story takes place and where your main character establishes a new rhythm, battles obstacles, dips down, gets himself together and ultimately reigns supreme. Each plot point should be easily identifiable.

Play to their Emotions

You can have a great story (think Lord Of The Rings), but without emotional attachment from the reader, it’s not likely to be relatable or even memorable. Emotions are often best established through the characters in your story as well as their trials and tribulations. For example, it’s one thing for your main character to take a journey, but it’s another to take a journey to be reunited with his mom who he hasn’t seen since birth.

Create Empathetic Characters

The characters that you create should be easily relatable to your audience. In marketing, your main character should represent your audience because in the end, it’s their story, not yours. You characters can also represent characters that your audience has a penchant for. For example, stories with animal characters tend to have an instant emotional appeal and are cared about by a large amount of people.

Use all the Senses

Being detailed about your setting and surroundings helps the audience paint their own picture of where the story is taking place. Additionally, the setting can have deep effects on your audience as characters. Use the setting to further enhance sights, smells, sounds, etc. Visuals can also be a great way to help set the story line.

What’s your Theme

The plot of your story has been clearly detailed in the body of your text, but your theme needs to be clear as well. What is the purpose for telling your story? For example, “true friendship can overcome any obstacle.” Make sure to have a clear scope for your theme and that it clearly rings through.

The Answer

Writing Engaging Content

By following the steps above, you’ll tell an engaging, informative and relatable story that will grip your audience and keep them coming back for more. Need some help with writing engaging content? Look no further than Carte Blanche Media!