7 Types of Stories You Need in Your Business
Unlock the Power of Storytelling to Connect, Engage and Inspire Your Audience
Do you want to learn how to tell your business story in a way that engages and inspires your audience? Whether you are a marketing professional aiming to elevate your brand’s presence or a business owner looking to connect with your audience, storytelling is a powerful tool that can transform your business communication.
This article will teach you 7 different types of stories you can tell in your business. Every kind of story has its unique characteristics, and it is essential to understand which one best suits your business message. If you're wondering about the significance of storytelling in today's digital age, especially in video marketing, you can read more about The Power of Brand Storytelling in Video Marketing. We will also show you the effects a well-told story can have on your marketing and business objectives.
So, let's break down the storytelling process!
Like most things in life, storytelling needs structure; it requires a sound framework to build on. This is why we have seven types of stories, so you can understand which one best fits your business message.
The seven types of stories are:
- The Why Story
- The Teaching Story
- The Values Story
- The Impact Story
- The Vision Story
- The Origin Story
- The Objections Story
We’ll go into each story type below.
1. The Why Story – A Story of Purpose
This story reveals the core values and driving forces behind your business. It answers the fundamental question: Why does your business exist?
Why Your Business Needs It:
- To connect with your audience on a deeper level by sharing the core purpose that drives your business.
- To build trust and credibility by showing the authentic motivations behind your brand.
Crafting Your Why Story:
- Start with the origin story of how the brand or idea got started. Through this experience, have your character share what motivates or drives them to continue to grow or do this work.
- Have your character share the most personally memorable, specific story of how their work has impacted others. Then have them reflect on how their impact made them feel and how their impact drives their work.
Example: Imagine you run a sustainable fashion brand. Your Why Story could revolve around your personal awakening to the environmental damage caused by fast fashion, and your resolve to create a change.
How to Use and Distribute:
- Feature it prominently on your website’s “About Us” page.
- Share it on social media platforms to engage with your followers.
- Use it as an introduction in webinars or presentations.
2. The Teaching Story – A Story that Educates
This story is designed to impart knowledge and insights. It positions your business as an expert, teaching your audience something valuable.
Why Your Business Needs It:
- To establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry.
- To educate your customers about a complex product or service in an engaging way.
Crafting Your Teaching Story:
- Identify the Concept: Start by defining the idea you’d like to teach with this story.
- Find the Story: Find a character who has a moment in time when they or somebody they know learned this concept.
- Define the Conflict: The goal of the conflict in a Teaching Story is to set up what’s at stake and why this information is essential.
Example: If you’re a digital marketing agency, your Teaching Story could be about a small business owner who learned the importance of SEO and how it transformed their online presence.
How to Use and Distribute:
- Create a series of educational blog posts or videos.
- Share it on LinkedIn and other professional networks.
- Use it in workshops or training sessions.
3. The Values Story – The Story of Principles
This story showcases the core values that guide your business. It illustrates how these values are embodied in actions and decisions.
Why Your Business Needs It:
- To attract customers who share similar values.
- To differentiate your brand in a crowded market.
Crafting Your Values Story:
- Define the Value: Find a person who has experienced this value in action. Help them hone in on one specific experience by asking questions.
- Find the Character with a Specific Experience: Break down the experience into a clear beginning, middle, and ending.
Example: For a company that values sustainability, a Values Story could focus on the journey of a single product from ethically sourced material to a satisfied customer.
How to Use and Distribute:
- Showcase it in your company’s recruitment materials.
- Feature it in your annual report.
- Share it on social media during relevant awareness months or days.
4. The Impact Story – A Story of Change
This story highlights the positive changes that your product or service has brought about. It’s a powerful way to showcase real-world results and benefits.
Why Your Business Needs It:
- To illustrate the tangible benefits of your product or service.
- To inspire potential customers with real-life success stories.
Crafting Your Impact Story:
A New Take on Testimonials: An impact story, often likened to a testimonial, goes beyond a simple endorsement. Here, we highlight real individuals and the transformations they experienced through our product or service.
Example: Consider a solar panel company sharing the journey of a homeowner who significantly reduced their energy bills and carbon footprint through their installation.
How to Use and Distribute:
- Use it as a case study on your website.
- Share it in email marketing campaigns.
- Feature it in your booth at trade shows.
5. The Vision Story – A Story of the Future
This story paints a vivid picture of the future that your business is striving to create. It’s about inspiring your audience with your long-term vision.
Why Your Business Needs It:
- To inspire and align your team around a shared future goal.
- To attract investors, partners and customers who want to be part of that future.
Crafting Your Vision Story:
- Lead with Desire: Personify the brand, or choose a character who is helping to lead the charge in the business. Highlight the more important goal or desired impact of their work.
Example: If you’re a tech startup focused on clean energy, your Vision Story could paint a picture of a world made better through your innovation.
How to Use and Distribute:
- Use it in investor pitches.
- Feature it in a prominent section of your website.
- Share it at company-wide meetings to inspire and align your team.
6. The Origin Story – A Story of Beginnings
This story narrates the genesis of your business. It takes your audience back to where it all began, making your brand more relatable and authentic.
Why Your Business Needs It:
- To humanise your brand and make it more relatable.
- To build trust by showing the roots and authenticity of your business.
Crafting Your Origin Story:
- Choose Your Character: Your character should be somebody involved in building the business from the beginning.
Example: The story of how the founders met and the challenges they overcame to start a renewable energy business.
How to Use and Distribute:
- Use it as the foundation of your “About Us” page on your website.
- Share your Origin Story video as part of a crowdfunding campaign.
7. The Objections Story – A Story that Overcomes Doubts
This story tactfully addresses the reservations or objections that potential customers might have. It’s about turning scepticism into trust.
Why Your Business Needs It:
- To proactively address and overcome potential objections or concerns from customers.
- To build trust by showing that you understand your customers’ concerns and have solutions.
Crafting Your Objections Story:
- Clarify the Objection & Choose Your Character: Identify the most common objection received from clients, customers, etc.
Example: Consider an engineering company looking to transition to a more sustainable energy source for its operations. The Objections Story could focus on the initial hesitations of the company's board about the upfront costs and potential disruptions to their operations. However, after realising the long-term cost savings, increased energy efficiency and positive environmental impact, they fully embraced the transition, positioning themselves as industry leaders in sustainability.
How to Use and Distribute:
- Use it in sales presentations to address objections upfront.
- Feature it in a FAQ section on your website.
Summary
In this guide, we’ve broken down 7 types of stories that can supercharge your business marketing. These stories are more than just narratives; they are strategic tools that can help you connect with your audience on a deeper level, humanise your brand and drive meaningful engagement.
Remember, storytelling is not just about telling tales; it’s about crafting narratives that resonate with your audience's values and aspirations. It’s about painting a vivid picture that can inspire, educate, and move people to action.
So, start crafting your stories today and watch your business grow!
Acknowledgements
This framework for storytelling is inspired by the Muse storytelling process, which has been a significant influence on our work at Reach Video. Muse has developed a powerful approach to crafting impactful, purpose-driven stories, and we highly recommend checking out their process for a deeper dive into the art of storytelling.
Ready to Take Your Storytelling to the Next Level?
Storytelling is a craft, and like any craft, it requires expertise and finesse. At Reach Video, we specialise in helping businesses like yours tell their stories in the most compelling and impactful way possible. Whether you are just starting with video marketing or looking to elevate your existing strategy, our storytelling experts are here to guide you every step of the way.
Ready to transform your marketing with the power of storytelling? Contact us at Reach Video for expert guidance and support. Let’s craft stories that resonate, engage, and inspire action.
Read more about our Brand Story solutions.
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The tremendous power of the Video Testimonial
Why you should create testimonial videos for your business.
When was the last time you made a major purchase decision, without first checking out reviews for that product or service?
Online reviews have become essential to today’s customers and video takes their impact to the next level.
Why are testimonials, reviews and case studies so important?
According to the 2019 BrightLocal Consumer Review Survey, 82% of people say that they check reviews before buying, while the average consumer reads 10 reviews before they’ll trust a business.
The message is clear – in today’s marketing savvy world, a business without customer reviews or testimonials will really struggle to win new customers.
Why is this?
We all know that businesses will use their marketing to say how great they are, so we approach these messages with a healthy dose of scepticism. What we really want to see is reviews and testimonials from genuine, recent customers.
According to the BrightLocal survey, 76% of us trust online reviews as much as recommendations from our friends and family (a figure that skyrockets to 89% for consumers aged 35 to 54).
The power of testimonial videos
Who better to sell to your future customers than your current happy customers?
People want to hear honest, unscripted opinions about your products and services from someone who doesn’t have anything to gain from encouraging them to make a purchase.
I’ve mentioned just a few stats above that show how influential reviews are (the BrightLocal Survey includes a lot more). Video testimonials, reviews and case studies take this influence a step further.
Video testimonials are more effective than written reviews because the human brain retains 95% of what it sees in a video, compared to 10% of what it reads.
There’s also an emotional connection that comes from seeing and hearing someone speak about a product or service. The mannerisms and expressions of a genuine customer add a layer of authenticity that simply can’t be achieved with text.
It’s known that the human brain is full of mirror neurons that fire either when we do something or when we see someone else doing it. If we watch a video of someone feeling happy, relieved or thankful, for example, those mirror neurons tell our brains to feel the same emotions too.
A testimonial video taps into this, inviting the viewer to step into the shoes of the happy customer and imagine how they will feel when things work out well for them too. This is an integral part of the brand story and how you can use your marketing to guide your audience to a successful outcome.
Video reviews, testimonials and case studies are also a powerful way to humanise your brand, even if the potential customer hasn’t come face-to-face with anyone from your company yet.
They see and hear someone who is just like them – someone who is struggling with the same challenges or who has the same aspirations – and it creates a feeling of connection and familiarity and the promise that your company will do its best by them too.
These feelings are essential to building credibility and trust.
Social proof is a powerful decision-making factor, so the fact that you have people who are so pleased with their customer experience that they’re willing to talk about it on camera is a huge vote of confidence.
Creating testimonial videos for different stages in the customer journey
Testimonial videos are incredibly versatile, meaning that they can be pitched to different stages of the customer journey. For example, you might want to use short testimonials that focus on emotional experience for the Awareness stage but release in-depth case studies highlighting measurable outcomes for the Conversion stage.
A really effective approach is to film an in-depth case study but pull out shorter snippets and soundbites to use as testimonials or to include in your company’s brand story. This is a great way of repurposing your content throughout your sales funnel and making the most of your video marketing budget.
This tactic also helps to take the potential customer on a journey with the existing customer. For example, someone might watch a short testimonial just as they’re becoming aware of your company but be more willing to watch a longer case study when they’re seriously considering a purchase. The viewer might think, “This was the person who said they were happy with this company. Now I want to know what made them happy, in particular. How did they measure the outcome?”
Another benefit of video testimonials is that they are ideal for sharing on your website, social media or via email, boosting the visibility of your brand across multiple platforms.
The case for case studies
As we’ve seen above, a cost-effective and strategic approach is to film in-depth case studies and then use snippets from these as testimonials.
According to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2018 benchmarks study, case studies are ranked as the second most effective content marketing tool behind ebooks and whitepapers. Pre-produced videos were the third most widely used type of content marketing after social media posts and case studies.
Knowing that case studies and video are both ranked so highly, it makes sense to bring them together.
Case studies give you room to take an in-depth look at a customer and why they needed a product or service that you offer. You can then draw out the benefits that came from choosing your company over your competitors.
How to use video testimonials
Once you’ve found suitable customers to feature in your videos, you’ll need to think about how you’re going to use the testimonials and where they’ll fit in the customer journey. This will help you pinpoint the kind of soundbites you want to pull out.
Testimonials are the ideal way to convey your authority and expertise as well as your connection with your customers in a way that makes the customer the ‘hero’, the one who has triumphed with your help.
Here are a few ideas for soundbites you can look for when collecting testimonials:
- Overcoming objections – Look for testimonials that address the reasons people may be worried about buying from you, e.g. “I was worried that the service would be expensive but I saved over £500 by getting professional advice”.
- Solving problems – Aim to get soundbites that highlight the customer’s problem and how your product or service provided a solution, e.g. “I needed a proper contract that I could send out to my customers. Acme legal created one for me, covering issues that I hadn’t even considered”.
- Adding value – Look at how testimonials can help you take potential customers past the payment threshold by focusing on how much value they received, e.g. “I have received bespoke support as well as lifetime access to expert resources so it really is tremendous value”
Summary
Testimonials are all about highlighting the benefits of choosing your business from the customer’s perspective.
They answer the customer’s question, “What’s in it for me?” and provide a strong motivation to buy.
The tremendous power of the video testimonial means you should be looking for ways to use them wherever it makes sense. This is why, in a previous post, I listed the testimonial video as one of the 7 effective ways to use video in your business marketing.
They are easily filmed and you can use them across a variety of different marketing campaigns. Surely, there can’t be much other content that offers a better bang for your buck?!
Developing a strategy for using video in your marketing mix can be confusing if you haven’t worked extensively with video before.
If you want to make video a profitable part of your business, it’s important that you have a video marketing strategy that extends beyond your normal digital marketing or content marketing strategy, and maximises the impact of the videos you get produced.
Don’t know exactly what you need?
Get in touch for some free advice and discover:
- What videos will have the greatest impact on your bottom line
- The best way to have your videos produced, based on your needs and budget
- The video marketing channels that will deliver the greatest reach and engagement for your brand