Hi there! I’m Matthew Manly Pincus, storytelling consultant and owner at MP Storytelling. My storytelling journal shares stories from my life or the world with innovative and new perspectives for marketing your business or nonprofit.
Storytelling is an impactful way to improve your content marketing and grow your business. The best part is, quality stories reach people organically. That mean no additional $ to your marketing budget.
Read on for specific examples of stories you can create for your business!
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A Trip to the Richard Nixon Library
Sometime in the early 2000s, I went to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library with my parents. I don’t remember a whole lot about the trip other than that President Nixon had a really nice California ranch style home and I bought this laminated ruler with all the presidents up till G.W. Bush, the president at the time.
My parents had a great time on this trip. I thought it was kind of funny because my parents are democrats who were never very happy with Bush as president. They loved reminiscing about Nixon though and when he was president. It wasn’t really about Nixon, but remembering their younger selves in a different time.
The World of Things
In our world, there are things upon things upon things: an endless amount of consumerist goods we can buy and fill our lives with. People have tools and devices for everything. Our world will continue to fill with more and more stuff.
All this stuff though is meaningless until we give it value. An heirloom passed down from generation to generation has historical as well as personal significance. For instance, my father has a sterling silverware set passed down from his grandmother made in the early 1900s in New York City.
Other objects though are stranger keepsakes. For instance, the ‘Rosebud’ sled in Citizen Kane that represents Kane’s innocence. The film from 1941 is a satire of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst. Despite all Kane’s riches, it’s really this tiny sled that means the most to him on his deathbed.
My Strange Ruler
My ruler with the presidents is a piece of Americana junk to most people. It’s dirty. It’s got ink smudged into it, fingerprints everywhere. It’s, well, I guess slightly usable. You can still learn who almost all our presidents are, except for the last three. It’s also usable as a foot long ruler (I actually measured something with it last week).
It’s meaningful to me though because somehow this oversized, laminated ruler has traveled with me almost everywhere: To college in Claremont, grad school in Colorado and Louisiana, back to San Diego.
It’s also this snapshot of a moment, a period in time because it doesn’t just measure a foot, but how long each man had been president for and stops at “G.W. Bush, 2001–”.
The ruler was a piece of my younger self, and still is a piece of me because of how it’s stayed with me through all these adventures and changes in my life.
How does it Relate: Storytelling Techniques in Marketing
The ruler isn’t a family heirloom, but it’s a weird object I’ve developed a feeling, an attachment or connection to because of the memory of going with my parents to the presidential library that day. It’s traveled almost everywhere with me.
The value the outside world ascribes to it no longer applies. It’s that old adage from those MasterCard ads when it showed you the prices of things and then gave everyone a big, heartwarming, tearjerker moment at the end where something was “Priceless.”
The idea here is to convey your product or service in your content marketing as valuable, something the audience can personally connect with.
The best way to do this is through a story that shows this to the audience rather than telling them.
How do we do this?
Storytelling 101: Content Marketing Examples
- Customer stories – If you have happy customers who are fans of your company or brand, contact those individuals to see if they’re willing to write a testimonial or review for you. Do this with a personal invitation via in-person, on the phone, or on Zoom.
- In-Depth Customer Stories – What’s better than a testimonial? A video testimonial. And what’s better than that? An in-depth testimonial with a devoted customer/follower/fan who loves your work and is willing to take time to shoot an interview or professional video with you. This will share how your product or service has really impacted them and changed their mindset to help better their life, or create more success in their business or brand.
- Answer these two questions on video –
- 1. “Why did I start my business or brand?”
- 2. “What does my business or brand mean to me?”
- Record yourself on video answering these two questions
- Share it with the world in a YouTube video, blog post, on social media, in your email newsletter, on your podcast and beyond.
- Create a story – Get creative! Dream up a story about your product or service. The main character has a problem or conflict, and your product is the solution. This can be done with just your phone, but you’re also welcome to hire video and audio professionals for a more polished look.
The Power of Storytelling
Storytelling is one of the oldest, most powerful tools for connecting with audiences, but it’s hardly ever used in traditional marketing services.
The way to reach people, to really connect with them is through the power of storytelling. Let’s chat and talk about how I can be a trusted partner to help grow your small business or brand with quality content.
Thanks so much for reading! Till next time.
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