Storytelling In Business: Why Tech Brands Should Use Storytelling Techniques
Do you know what people remember the most? The WORDS! Yes, you heard it right. Words play a more vital role in remembering something, and something even more potent than this is the story.
Storytelling in business narrative and its overly expressive nature may clash with technology’s scientific and straightforward personality. Many may be perplexed as to why they are mentioned in the same statement.
However, studies have shown that consumers want strong bonds with the brands they buy from, and these bonds are frequently fostered through storytelling. Consumers are no longer interested in stats and dry data that make sense to only the company’s sales team.
Chip Heath, a professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, asked his students to make a pitch to their classmates opposing or supporting the notion that nonviolent crime is a severe problem. While most students used stats in their pitches, only one in ten used storytelling. After a short break, he asked the students to write down the argument they heard on the slopes.
The findings were startling. Only 5% of the students remembered a statistic, while 63 percent remembered the stories told.
Is that enough to persuade you that telling your story is the most acceptable way to remain memorable as a brand? If you are still unsure how it will make your company stand out, then here are four reasons why your tech brand should be concerned about storytelling.
Stories Make Things Easier
Much work goes into creating tech products and services: research, engineering, data collection, more research, IT tests, software development, prototyping, testing, design, and so on. All of this happens first before the product is released to the public. Despite the time and effort required, your customer is unconcerned.
Your customer doesn’t care if an Intel Core i9-12900K processor powers your technology or if their data is stored in some of Europe and North America’s most advanced data centers. In this case, they want to know that their privacy is your top priority and that they can use your platform without fear of their data being sold to the highest bidder.
We can all agree that technology is complicated. However, its primary goal is convenience; it simplifies complex processes and solves some problems.
The best way to communicate this to your customers is through storytelling, not by listing the components of your technology (no matter how impressive it is). There is no smoother way to convey your most complex ideas in the simplest way possible.
Storytelling In Business: Emotions Sell More Quickly Than Logic
Have you ever heard or read the following statement: “People will forget what you say; people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” It’s one of Maya Angelou’s most famous quotes. The same is true in marketing, as well as in storytelling in business.
Many researchers and neuroscientists agree that logic has the most negligible impact on purchasing decisions. Gerald Zaltman, a Harvard Business School professor, notes in his book “How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market” that 95 percent of human purchases are subconscious. This means that the success of your brand is primarily determined by the emotional connection between the brand and the customer.
Studies have shown that specific events can consciously and unconsciously elicit emotions. Our reactions to these events send signals to our brains, which interpret the signs and trigger basic human emotions such as anger, happiness, fear, sadness, disgust, and others. Language is another experience that can elicit emotions, and what better way to use language than to tell stories through using storytelling techniques.
An engaging story will capture the reader’s attention and compel them to take action.
Innovative Marketing Involves More Than Simply Selling A Product
While it is logical for marketing teams to talk about their innovative, unique products to anyone who will listen, this is not conversion-oriented marketing. It’s not the type of marketing that helps to make your brand memorable or differs you in a crowded marketplace.
Great storytelling marketing aims to establish trust, a sense of community, and credibility while remaining memorable. You allow your customers to explore more than just what you sell by telling amazingly fabricated stories.
When you tell stories about your brand’s values and mission, it becomes more accessible and relatable. Members of your target audience who share your values and the vision behind your offerings will unquestionably align with your brand. This is a terrific way to increase brand loyalty.
You may be concerned that this will turn off people who do not share your values, but a terrific marketing strategy is to build something that 100 people will love rather than something that 1 million people will like.
People Love to Know How Your Brand Stands Out 
With little to no research, you will discover that no matter how innovative or ‘ground-breaking’ your offer is, several others in the global marketplace offer the same things. Companies spend a significant portion of their revenue only to get their brands in front of the right people, and experience has shown that standing out is the best way to do so.
One way to stand out is to use storytelling techniques and to emphasize how your service or product benefits the world and makes people’s lives easier. According to Gartner, this is a marketing strategy known as social proof, and it is still a powerful tool for inspiring both offline and online sales.
One method for conveying social proof is through the art of storytelling, specifically through exquisite success stories, case studies, and testimonials. People are more likely to relate to your brand when they see that other people’s experiences are the same as theirs.
Storytelling Techniques: Final Words
If you only remember one thing from this article, it should be that your audience wants a story about a relatable pain point and how your brand is going to solve it. Brand storytelling is the plan to follow if your brand objectives include increasing visibility and revenue, remaining memorable, and making an impact. If you follow this plan, there are little to no chances you will go wrong.
