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Harnessing the power of storytelling to help you create better customer connections

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Artisan businesses like yours face a common challenge in promoting their craftwork. That of getting their voices heard in a content noisy world. This is why storytelling in business matters, and continues to be an important tool in helping you market your craft business. Business storytelling is a proven, effective way of helping your work stand out from the crowd, and create better customer connections.

Storytelling is a powerful way to attract and help your right audiences emotionally connect with what you do. Why? because audiences are more likely to remember a story than facts, as underscored by the popular saying ‘Facts tell, stories sell‘ (attributed to Bryan Eisenberg, an online marketing expert).

With so many businesses offering similar things, telling the stories behind your craft offerings cuts through the noise by acting as a beacon that draws customers towards you. Thoughtful and targeted brand storytelling takes your customers on a journey of discovery, helping them decide whether to invest in your objects or that of your peers. Consumers are craving deeper connections especially given what the world has been through with Covid. They want to be inspired, and knowing that real people are behind the objects that have caught their interest helps them find meaning in their purchases. Storytelling helps them achieve that.

As a maker business or artisan retailer the crafts you make or sell are rich with stories waiting to be told. As a writer telling the stories of artisans from around the world, I know the life-changing impact storytelling has on raising the visibility of a maker and their craftwork. I also know, however, that it is not always easy to turn the stories of your craftwork into relatable, shareable, attention-attracting content. Here are 4 straightforward and easy-to-implement tips to help you get started with harnessing the power of storytelling to help you create better customer connections:

1. Create a signature story

Harnessing the power of storytelling starts with creating the one story that is relevant to your business. Create a signature story that shares the why behind your craft and business- the reason you set it up and create and sell the objects you do. Create a story centred around your passion, purpose, inspirations, where you are based, the materials you use and what your workshop or retail store is like. Include information about you as the maker, or the artisans you work with. You can do this as an interview or a video that you can transcribe into text. Include your customers in your brand story by sharing their testimonials and experiences, this helps make your stories relatable, building trust with potential customers.

2. Keep your story authentic

Tell the story of your business in your own words and voice. Your style of speaking is what makes you you. In copywriting and marketing, this is called tone-of-voice. To capture your tone-of-voice you can record yourself speaking and listen to how you speak, and sound, taking note of the words you use. If you’re hesitant to do this because you are not a ‘writer’ know that people are more likely to connect with what sounds and feels authentic over perfectly polished text with no personality. Pro tip: run the text through a grammar and spelling editor or get a trusted person to review it to help you polish it up.

3. Repurpose your story

Your signature story is just the start. Give your story wings by repurposing it. To repurpose is to adapt something for a different application. When you have created your signature story, break it up, for example: into quotes, single sentences or short paragraphs, or record them as sound bites for video and audio. Doing this gives your one story mileage.

4. Share your story on the relevant channels

For your brand story to be effective and reach your desired audience you have to put it out there. Share your signature story across your various marketing channels. To maximise your reach and impact do your research to ensure you are using the relevant channels your target audiences are on.

Those are some tips that I hope you will find useful. If you are a maker or artisan retailer who wants to harness the power of storytelling to help you raise your business profile to create better customer connections and get more consistent sales it’s time to start putting the stories of your purpose and creations to work. Head this way to discover how I can help.

– Tapiwa Matsinde

[Image credits: The image shown is by Sarah Dorweiler on Pexels. If downloaded and used elsewhere please credit accordingly.]

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