The Art of Storytelling to Promote Your Services

Regardless of what you're selling and who you're selling to, being able to build a connection to engage your audience is key for success.

The Art of Storytelling to Promote Your Services
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Regardless of what you're selling and who you're selling to, being able to build a connection to engage your audience is key for success.
Regardless of what you're selling and who you're selling to, being able to build a connection to engage your audience is key for success. For all marketing and communications, if you want to drive action, by mastering the art of storytelling, you'll be one step closer to driving that action.
The goal of your marketing campaign is to tell a story. Why? Well in short:
Story telling = emotional reaction = memory creation = more visitors
A compelling story creates an emotional reaction.
Emotional reactions, build memories.
Memories mean the next time someones thinking about where to visit, or what to buy, your product/service comes to their mind first.
If your marketing campaign doesn't spark an emotional connection with you, your friends and your colleagues, as a starting point then it's not doing the job. Before pushing a marketing campaign out there, or before promoting your website, try to make it tell the story you want people to hear first.

The Art of Story-telling to Sell your Tour / Activity - How do we tell a good story?

Lead with a hook - the first three seconds, must be catchy. Something that catches your audiences attention, either by surprise (an action shot off someone falling off a surfboard) or through awe - (an epic wide-angle shot of a destination). Whatever it is, capture your audiences attention with something that deserves it.
Have an itinerary - The story needs a purpose. You can either lead with the catch at the beginning, so people think - 'how on earth has that happened', or you can start off with the anticipation of the build up to an event to generate curiosity and intrigue, like Rat Race Adventure Races.
Allow your audience to see themselves in the story - By allowing your audience to see themselves doing your activity or being in your destination or using your product, they can be more engaged. People urge more and more to live the 'instagram' dream. By using your service, they want to be able to see how that's going to look for their friends on social media. If you can show your offer creates epic instagrammable moments, you're on to a winner
Create a heightened sense of emotion: fear, relaxation or excitement If I asked you what your first memory is as a kid, it's likely you'd mention a time when you had elevated emotions. The time you knocked over the kettle and it burnt you causing immense pain and fear, or the time your daddy got you the puppy you always wanted for Christmas causing immense happiness and feelings of love. By invoking emotion we can cause memories. How do we invoke emotion? Through rich explanations and descriptions. Try using this list of power words as a starter. Then start building them into a compelling story.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million. Outside of words and high-quality imagery, try rich video that shows the detail behind your activity. How it feels to be submerged into ice cold water in a tough-mudder or how it feels to run topless across a ridge .
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Play on the five senses

When trying to engage your audience through storytelling to sell your trips, tours or activities, don't forget the 5 senses are all perfect targets to involve. If online, clearly visuals and sound will lead, but being able to make people feel, smell and taste - or at least feel like they are will help. Some of the best hotels I've been in, as soon as I've walked in the room, all my senses are toyed with, so I remember that special moment of walking in. Thinking about the five senses can be a great way to write marketing copy or copy for your website to tell customers how they'll feel during your trip! Know what your audience wants to hear!
If I showed my granny a video of Ross Edgley swimming around the UK she'd think he's mad. My perception is of pure admiration. Each audience is different and how one may react will be very different from others. You're not marketing to everyone, so make sure your story pulls on the heart-strings of those who you're targeting.
Importantly - end well. The ending needs to create a final emotion that makes you think 'wow I have to share that' or 'wow I have to like/ comment / go on that trip.' Ending with a punchline, a bang and a clear call to action can make all the difference from a brilliant video to a brilliant video that also sells trips and tours!
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How to apply Storytelling to sell tours, activities or experiences business?

  1. Your website - make it stand out, make it speak to your target audience. Test it with friends and colleagues and make sure they feel how you want them to buy seeing it. Apply rich imagery, video and copywriting and the necessary branding and colours to give off the message you want to give off
  1. Your marketing - creating very good video is hard. Hence why there are people that do it for a living. Everyone is different, but the vast majority of us are better off hiring a professional videographer to make a video of our activity, trip and tour to show off the best of the experience. Yes, it may cost over £1000. But the impact it will have to enable you to sell online will be better than spending £1000 on advertising something naff!
Once you've mastered this - you'll be well on your way to being a sales machine. Oh, but get some decent online booking system first. Try ours. Ours is great.
Oscar White

Written by

Oscar White

CEO