Learn how to increase sales conversion via digital storytelling. Lucky for us, through digital marketing we get to reach a large audience very easily but the problem for most marketers seems to be retaining the audience. So you’ve managed to reach them but how do you make them listen?
When I was in EIMS 2019 earnestly jotting down tips of the trade for Digital Marketing, I learned a couple of very important things when it comes to storytelling (see, I was paying attention) and I wanted to share them with you.
This article particularly focuses more on the workshop ‘Storytelling on Digital’ by Meridith Wallace. If you’re not familiar with who she is, Meridith is the Business Development Lead at Google and is currently based in Malaysia.
One surprising fact that Meridith mentioned during the workshop was how the internet penetration in Malaysia among people who are 28 years old and below is more than 80%? Due to this overwhelming response, most businesses are required to positioning themselves online at some capacity.
An article showed what 75% of internet user spending goes to the e-commerce platform. That is a lot of business opportunity! They also mentioned how 58% of e-commerce spending was done on mobile commerce platforms.
It gives us a perspective on how a business can penetrate the market, but it brings us to the next question, how do we do that?
The workshop helped break down some important things we should remember in digital storytelling so that our business leaves a lasting impression on our customers. Here are some of them:
1) Building A Brand
The most important thing that we need to pay attention to is building a brand online that resonates with our audience. Be it via Facebook Ads or Google Ads, the audience should be able to relate to our story or at least understand where we are coming from and what we have to offer them.
YouTube
These days one of the best platforms to reach your audience is through storytelling via YouTube. Regardless of whether you’re an older organization or a new business, done right, a YouTube ad can do wonders for your conversion.
Not only do we get to offer a customised experience for our audience, but we also get to launch a bigger and bolder advertisement based on the data-driven insights from YouTube.
Social Media
Incorporating real-time storytelling to our brand through social media can be an excellent way to engage with the audience but we have to ensure that the message is beneficial to viewers too.
2) Find Your Audience
Creating great content is essential but making sure that the right audience receives the message is equally important. We get to find the suitable audience by considering these 4 factors:
Affinities
As business owners and marketers, we’re required to have a basic understanding of our customer’s likings. We need to pay attention to user behaviour and what are their feedbacks.
You can usually get this information through your Google Analytics account.
With that being said, this generally applies to users like tech lovers, auto enthusiast, avid shoppers, travel buffs and cooking enthusiast.
In-market Audience
The in-market audiences are usually the ones in the market that are doing active research or comparing products/ services. They usually do their research via Google Display Network publishers, partner sites and YouTube. Get more information about in-market audience here.
Just like affinities, you can also get your In-market Audience via Google Analytics under “Audience”.
Audiences that fall under this category are oftentimes looking for items under apparel & accessories, baby products, beauty services, consumer electronics and telecom plans.
Consumer Patterns
What are our audiences splurging on the most? Do they like dining out? Are they swiping their credit card at least twice a week? Maybe they’re hitting the gym 5 times a week?
All these are important questions that we should ask ourselves when figuring out what our audience wants. By knowing what they buy and which services they prefer, we’ll get actual data to back up our storytelling, making our marketing strategy more effective.
Life Events
Significant life events like new business, renovating their homes, changing a new career path or even getting married will impact the lives of our consumers significantly.
By incorporating these events in our narrative, it strengthens the story and brings the audience through an emotional story that the audience can relate to.
3) Create a storyline
When it comes to creating a great storyline, we should ditch the conventional methods and try for a more direct approach. Meridith discussed using a story that has either an emotional, functional or actionable motive behind it is able to attract the audience best!
Her recommendation was to start on a high note by introducing the strongest emotion in the narrative in the beginning. This has a higher chance of capturing the audience attention and leads them to finish viewing the story.
For a more functional approach, it’s best to lead by showing off the product and all its benefits. Finally, by ending the story with an offer the audience doesn’t expect or can’t refuse.
In a more actionable narrative, there isn’t any story, to begin with. The offer for a product is shown right away without any background story or explanation. Remember that it should be a compelling offer, enough to stand on its own.
4) Convert To Action
Visual ads are one of the best ways for digital storytelling. It captures the audience instantly and makes them remember the product better.
Utilise your TrueView for action tool when it comes to displaying ads on YouTube! Not only does TrueView help you drive leads and conversion by adding call-to-actions, headlines texts as well as an end screen for our video ads!
Another feature that has to be included in is the call to action button after all ads regardless of whether they are a video or just a post. I know that most of us know this tip but sometimes we forget to prompt an action from the audience hence losing a lot of conversions.
Customisable ads are the order of the day! By crafting different ads, we get to personalise the message, making it more relevant to the audience.
Whew! I’m finally done (for now). Hope all the information were as beneficial for you as it was for me. That’s one part of Digital Storytelling done. Don’t forget our next blog to catch up on Part 2
