Why integrate storytelling into your email strategy
Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2024 9:32 am
Today we talk a lot about emailing of course, but what about storytelling? Or the art of telling a story. This "brand content" technique is still little used in emailing. However, it succeeds in capturing attention, provoking emotion and above all, gaining the support of your audience. In itself, it is a golden tool to integrate into your communication strategy to transport your readers...
80% of consumers would like brands to tell them their story. That’s no small thing. However, it must of course be a good story, one that attracts the sympathy of your audience. So, what are the secrets of successful storytelling?
Position yourself
What angle do you want to give to your story? What image would you like france telegram phone number list convey? Eccentric, funny, innovative, offbeat… It’s up to you to choose. The key is to respect the values of your brand and, above all, to get your key messages across well through your story. You need a common thread, and on all your media.
Target
It is important to keep in mind that the primary goal of storytelling is to make the consumer dream and to create a very strong emotional connection with them. As a result, you must know your target audience perfectly. Thus, defining your personas is an essential step. A persona, to put it simply, is a robot portrait of your customer but with feelings. It is therefore an imaginary character representing your customer. Profile, attitude, purchasing behaviors, obstacles, interests... You must detail your customer as much as possible to adapt your story, the tone, the language used, etc. Marketing Automation is the tool you need to identify all this data.
Every story needs a hero. In storytelling, remember that the hero is your customer. So don't hesitate to put him forward.
Brainstormer
You will have to be very creative and if this is not your case (or even if it is), the best is to think together! Don't hesitate to involve your colleagues to find the right story. In any case, the story must ideally be true and you must master it perfectly. Oh yes, don't forget two other points. Your story must be easily memorable to be "viral". And above all, end your story well with the introduction of your offers (you must keep your marketing objective in mind!).
Get inspired
First of all, you can get inspiration from others by analyzing storytelling that has worked well. Okay, let's forget Uber's misstep with its February 2018 campaign that clumsily alienated feminists... But they have succeeded in many other ways.
Uber told a true story about one of their drivers who saved the lives of four people in a car accident. Uber praised the driver's heroism rather than praising his merits, which is quite apt. They added "A driver who saved your life probably deserves more than 5 stars, but it's a start." In short, a pretty good way to encourage users to give their opinion!
To find other ideas, you can also monitor what is being said about your brand on social networks in particular. All the key anecdotes will give you ideas to use to enrich your story.
And what about emailing?
Email marketing is THE most economical way to quickly create your storytelling. And above all, you can measure its success very precisely thanks to analytical reports reporting openings, clicks, registrations, conversions, you will know everything!
In addition, with emailing software , you can personalize your message as much as possible according to the recipient's profile and behavior, it's even better! You can also send your story in preview to your subscribers and test it at the same time.
Storytelling is also a good way to prevent your email campaign from ending up in the trash. It allows you to engage your recipient right from the subject line. In general, the story is split into several episodes, which allows you to create real meetings with your recipients. So in concrete terms, this increases your KPIs (key performance indicators such as the opening rate or the click rate).
Integrating storytelling into an email campaign
There are three ways to integrate storytelling into an email campaign:
The first, the most classic, is to create a common thread between your different email campaigns. To do this, simply refer to elements present in the previous ones.
The 2nd is a notch above. It involves creating an appointment in each new campaign. This could be a weekly section containing a committed article, an editorial from your brand or a customer testimonial.
The 3rd technique is the most impactful but it is the one that will require the most investment from you. You design a series made up of several episodes. You can create a story from scratch using characters created from scratch. Or, you can script “Case Studies” of your customers. This consists of showing your readers, for example, how your products or services have helped some of your customers. The trick is to find a pitch (short presentation on the identity of the product and/or brand, problem identified for the target and solution) and convincing anecdotes! You can either opt for a linear story with chronological order or offer a story with alternative endings by having the recipient choose the ending. As you will have understood, either you speak (your brand) or you give it to your customers…
Here are the main steps to implement storytelling in your email strategy:
Identify stories specific to your brand (e.g. anecdotes about the birth of your company, for example).
Identify your brand’s territory of legitimacy (in line with its positioning).
Study your competitors (benchmark).
Think about the story: its editorial line, its synopsis, the characters.
Define the modes of customer participation and collaboration. How to reach contacts? In the context of a docu-fiction, how to address them to collect their testimonies?
Determine the duration of your storytelling campaign and the frequency of your messages.
Carry out a test to analyse the reaction of the recipients and thus optimise your campaign (strategy, message, etc.).
Monitor and report to optimize performance.
To conclude, storytelling is an effective communication tool, which must nevertheless be mastered and staged well to avoid the risk of bad buzz. Today, consumers do not only buy a product, but also a brand . They pay attention to the values and history of the brand and want to find themselves through it.
80% of consumers would like brands to tell them their story. That’s no small thing. However, it must of course be a good story, one that attracts the sympathy of your audience. So, what are the secrets of successful storytelling?
Position yourself
What angle do you want to give to your story? What image would you like france telegram phone number list convey? Eccentric, funny, innovative, offbeat… It’s up to you to choose. The key is to respect the values of your brand and, above all, to get your key messages across well through your story. You need a common thread, and on all your media.
Target
It is important to keep in mind that the primary goal of storytelling is to make the consumer dream and to create a very strong emotional connection with them. As a result, you must know your target audience perfectly. Thus, defining your personas is an essential step. A persona, to put it simply, is a robot portrait of your customer but with feelings. It is therefore an imaginary character representing your customer. Profile, attitude, purchasing behaviors, obstacles, interests... You must detail your customer as much as possible to adapt your story, the tone, the language used, etc. Marketing Automation is the tool you need to identify all this data.
Every story needs a hero. In storytelling, remember that the hero is your customer. So don't hesitate to put him forward.
Brainstormer
You will have to be very creative and if this is not your case (or even if it is), the best is to think together! Don't hesitate to involve your colleagues to find the right story. In any case, the story must ideally be true and you must master it perfectly. Oh yes, don't forget two other points. Your story must be easily memorable to be "viral". And above all, end your story well with the introduction of your offers (you must keep your marketing objective in mind!).
Get inspired
First of all, you can get inspiration from others by analyzing storytelling that has worked well. Okay, let's forget Uber's misstep with its February 2018 campaign that clumsily alienated feminists... But they have succeeded in many other ways.
Uber told a true story about one of their drivers who saved the lives of four people in a car accident. Uber praised the driver's heroism rather than praising his merits, which is quite apt. They added "A driver who saved your life probably deserves more than 5 stars, but it's a start." In short, a pretty good way to encourage users to give their opinion!
To find other ideas, you can also monitor what is being said about your brand on social networks in particular. All the key anecdotes will give you ideas to use to enrich your story.
And what about emailing?
Email marketing is THE most economical way to quickly create your storytelling. And above all, you can measure its success very precisely thanks to analytical reports reporting openings, clicks, registrations, conversions, you will know everything!
In addition, with emailing software , you can personalize your message as much as possible according to the recipient's profile and behavior, it's even better! You can also send your story in preview to your subscribers and test it at the same time.
Storytelling is also a good way to prevent your email campaign from ending up in the trash. It allows you to engage your recipient right from the subject line. In general, the story is split into several episodes, which allows you to create real meetings with your recipients. So in concrete terms, this increases your KPIs (key performance indicators such as the opening rate or the click rate).
Integrating storytelling into an email campaign
There are three ways to integrate storytelling into an email campaign:
The first, the most classic, is to create a common thread between your different email campaigns. To do this, simply refer to elements present in the previous ones.
The 2nd is a notch above. It involves creating an appointment in each new campaign. This could be a weekly section containing a committed article, an editorial from your brand or a customer testimonial.
The 3rd technique is the most impactful but it is the one that will require the most investment from you. You design a series made up of several episodes. You can create a story from scratch using characters created from scratch. Or, you can script “Case Studies” of your customers. This consists of showing your readers, for example, how your products or services have helped some of your customers. The trick is to find a pitch (short presentation on the identity of the product and/or brand, problem identified for the target and solution) and convincing anecdotes! You can either opt for a linear story with chronological order or offer a story with alternative endings by having the recipient choose the ending. As you will have understood, either you speak (your brand) or you give it to your customers…
Here are the main steps to implement storytelling in your email strategy:
Identify stories specific to your brand (e.g. anecdotes about the birth of your company, for example).
Identify your brand’s territory of legitimacy (in line with its positioning).
Study your competitors (benchmark).
Think about the story: its editorial line, its synopsis, the characters.
Define the modes of customer participation and collaboration. How to reach contacts? In the context of a docu-fiction, how to address them to collect their testimonies?
Determine the duration of your storytelling campaign and the frequency of your messages.
Carry out a test to analyse the reaction of the recipients and thus optimise your campaign (strategy, message, etc.).
Monitor and report to optimize performance.
To conclude, storytelling is an effective communication tool, which must nevertheless be mastered and staged well to avoid the risk of bad buzz. Today, consumers do not only buy a product, but also a brand . They pay attention to the values and history of the brand and want to find themselves through it.