Esther
Good morning and welcome to the Monday morning marketing podcast, I'm Esther.
Melanie
And I'm Melanie.
Esther
And today we're talking about storytelling for marketing.
Melanie
Yeah, it's an essential part of everyday life, certainly for marketing. And as a marketer, you have to consider lots of different things when you're doing your storytelling, how often you do it, why you should do it, where you should do it, and positions of engagement, and of course, analyzing your performance.
Esther
Yes, definitely. So how often do you do it, Melanie?
Melanie
Well, I probably should do more storytelling than I currently do. In fairness, I think I've kind of dropped the ball recently because I've been staying home quite a bit more. But my strategy going forward is to improve on my storytelling, not just through the medium of blogs, which is what I do considerably more than anything else, but also storytelling on videos and preferably on lives as well. I mean, what about you? How often do you do it?
Esther
Like yourself, not very often at all, not as often as we should. OK, so a lot of people think that there's a magic number and that, you know, three times a week, five times a week, it's entirely up to your business and what you actually need to be doing and where you need to be doing it, because that's another point we're going to be talking about. But an important issue is why, why we should do it at all? Like, what benefit is that to tell people stories or tell our story in an interesting way?
Melanie
Well, obviously, the first thing it does is help your business grow. That's why everybody should do it at least two or three times a week. By doing proper storytelling throughout the week, not just leaving it for the weekends, which I know frankly, we have a lot more time because, well, hopefully, we're not seeing clients during the weekend or doing too many Zoom calls, which would be a disaster, certainly for me, because I need the time with my family. But the hope is, is that by doing proper storytelling, you're not just encouraging people to visit your website, you're encouraging people to understand you better, what makes you tick. You know, we're more than just a face or a logo on our website. Speaking as a solopreneur, you know, I don't have staff. I probably should do greater exposure because, frankly, all I'm doing at the moment is just talking about my services. If I talked about myself and gave a more finite, you know, explanation of what I do and why I do it, what the passion is behind my business. I mean, very few people know my story.
Esther
Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's the case with a lot of people. Most people just go into business and think, OK, it's a business, it has to be straight down the line. It has to be you know, there's no weaving in and out. There's no chance of, you know, talking about family in business. There's no need for it. There's no need to be so open or so, you know, honest about things. You know, I was listening to a podcast the other day about imposter syndrome and how many people have it or have had it. And don't mention it at all because they think, well, if I mention it, they're going to think I'm weak or they're going to think X, Y, Z, you know, they're going to think that they can't come to me because I obviously don't know what I'm doing because I feel like I don't know what I'm doing. Even though you might be the most educated and prepared person in the world, you know, there's that stigma about some things that you feel that you can't tell your story about.
Melanie
Oh, no, you're absolutely right. In fact, you just reminded me of something to do with storytelling. I did a talk last year, at Blanchardstown for the LEO Fingal down here. And I did talk on imposter syndrome. And I spent the next two months having the busiest two months of my time of year ever.
Esther
Wow.
Melanie
Just because I showed my vulnerability.
Esther
Yeah, and that's the thing about storytelling, it doesn't have to just be how great you are and how wonderful you are and how fabulous you are and how many clients you've helped. You can also show your weaknesses by saying, I don't know about this. And then people will come alongside you and help you out and, you know, you'll feel so much better about it as well. I'm not saying just, you know, to go out and complain about stuff.
Melanie
No, no,
Esther
That's not what storytelling is.
Melanie
But part of the storytelling is not just admitting the weakness it's also giving up the solution and how you worked around it or improved things or overcome your issue. And I know it doesn't sound like this is the best marketing in the world, but it humanises the brand.
Esther
Yeah,
Melanie
And that's what people buy from, and even more so now because we all feeling a lot more vulnerable. Both my husband and I both work from home like everybody else at the moment and, you know, it's quite normal now to, because he's got the printer in his office it's quite normal for one of us, me or the kids, to go in the background, pick something up we've printed, especially in the mornings when the kids are doing school. So absolutely. It's being honest, being authentic.
Esther
Yes, yeah
Melanie
If you can tell a story doing that even better.
Esther
Yeah. And especially going back to the point where you said about showing how you overcame it, I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who are going through something that we've already been through or that our listeners have already been through, but they haven't come to the light at the end of the tunnel yet. And it could seem very dark and very, you know, it could be something really in a way simple. You know, it doesn't have to be a deep and meaningful "oh, I have a huge, big problem", you know, but it can be something that you just can't find the answer to and having a post, seeing a post come up on Facebook or on Instagram or, you know, this is one of the other things we're going to talk about where to post your stories. Having it even on a story inside Facebook, Instagram, etc., it could give somebody that hope of just going "I'm not alone". Somebody else has done it and come through. Or if you haven't come through it yet, somebody else could come alongside and go "oh, well, this worked for me. Try this. Do this" You know? And it could be something not related to business at all.
Melanie
Oh, no, absolutely, you're well on point there, when it comes to where you should do it, because it can be through YouTube, it can be through Facebook stories, I think they're neglected far too much Facebook stories. People always remember Instagram stories, but they neglect Facebook stories. And I found I'm getting more and more reach and more and more views in my Facebook stories than I ever had before, again, probably because we're in lockdown, which is a lot to do with it.
Esther
Could help. Yeah.
Melanie
But it's something to watch. But then, when it came to like, positioning of the engagement, I think that would be... Storytelling is quite long-winded at times and that you can't expect instant gratis, instant results, instant... It isn't, we don't work that way. We're not wired that way. So it's a journey, isn't it?
Esther
Definitely. Definitely. And you can't just come out from nowhere or having not posted for two or three years and go "hey, this is me, this is what I do, this is why you should come to me" whenever people are like "What? Who are you again? You know, we don't remember who you are". So remind them. "Oh, remember when I talked about this?" or remember whenever like Melanie's kids, which you were saying there, but I spoke at X event or this place or the other place, you know, maybe they'll remember you from there and go "Yeah, I saw her lovely face before" you know? So give them a reason to remember you as well.
Melanie
Yeah
Esther
Don't be controversial though. Try not to be controversial.
Melanie
Well, although that does help with a story, it helps you get remembered, but you don't have to be.
Esther
No, I mean, that could get you remembered for the wrong reasons. OK, so we don't need to have to come in and spin stories just to make people look better. You know? Just your story should be open, honest, straight, you know, straight from your heart as well. I mean, heart sells.
Melanie
Oh, and then finally analysing your performance. Now, by doing this, I was actually talking to somebody earlier on about likes being a metric that shouldn't really be measured, it's a vanity metric, at the end of the day. What you should really analyse is engagement and conversion, and conversion can mean lots of different ways. It could be bums on seats at an event, buying tickets, you know, joining a webinar. It could be downloading something from a website or downloading an app. Help me out here. What other things could it be engagement-wise?
Esther
It could be your views on the different on your blogs. For example, checking through your analytics, shares, are almost better than likes because that way then more people are getting to see it. And but yeah, definitely the clicks and the downloads are where it's at. OK, people might not want to click like on some stories, it might open them up to vulnerabilities. And again, I was talking to somebody earlier on, that her line of work is a minefield and people don't want to admit that they're going through that problem and so she'll not likely receive many likes on her posts or anything. But if she can analyse her clicks and analyse her downloads, analyse even her email responses, you know, people sending emails going "thank you, needed that, that was great". That's more valuable than any likes in the world.
Melanie
Well, subscribers, subscribe to your email or people subscribing on to your YouTube channel, let's say, because essentially once they've subscribed, it means they've gone from cold to warm and they're a hell of a lot easier to convert than cold people.
Esther
Oh, definitely so. Definitely. But yeah, stories do help you sell in a roundabout way. It's not it's not a magic bean either. We always have to put the work in. There's nothing that we're telling you here on these podcasts that are magic. Just use the ones that work for you and you'll see results.
Melanie
So if you've got any comments about this podcast, do send us a message, you'll find us on all social media, and do check out our website.
Esther
Thanks. We'll be back next week for more, bye-bye
Melanie
Bye.