{"id":70148,"date":"2017-01-30T15:54:26","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T15:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/insight\/go-content-owner-storyteller\/"},"modified":"2025-03-07T17:21:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T17:21:57","slug":"go-content-owner-storyteller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/go-content-owner-storyteller\/","title":{"rendered":"How to go from content owner to storyteller"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018People don\u2019t buy products; they buy the personalities and meanings associated with the story of those products.\u2019 \u2013 Thomson Dawson, Four Methods of Strategic Brand Building.
\n\"\"
\nStorytelling is one of the most powerful elements of today\u2019s digital marketing strategies<\/a>. When surveyed about what they hope to achieve in 2017, content marketers placed the ability to tell a story as a top priority. We tell stories every day in real life, but it doesn\u2019t always come naturally in business branding. As a content creator, you may not stick to one particular digital marketing strategy. There are three key camps for effective content production: content owner, thought leader, and storyteller. Depending on your business, you may work out of one or more of these camps for a holistic approach. But as separate routes to content, the effects and outcomes are quite different. So how do we move from content owner to storyteller? Or more specifically, how do you go from creating content that makes people aware, to creating content that inspires and creates demand?
\nStep one \u2013 Understand your objectives and your audience<\/strong>
\nAs a content owner, you will be creating content that makes people aware, gains their trust, and generates great ideas. In order to move your business towards the persona of storyteller, you need to reassess your business objectives. Think about why digital content marketing<\/a> is an ongoing process that moves you towards your goals. Remind yourselves what you want to achieve with content marketing and realise who your content is aimed at. Carry out user research through techniques like search engines, social insights and social listening to understand the different user personas. Through this, you can then understand the content needs of each user persona, and begin to plan your content as a storyteller \u2013 your story will offer something different and create the demand.
\nBefore moving towards a storytelling strategy, it may help to gain status as a thought leader in order to better understand your market and meet audience demands. Being a thought leader requires generosity in that you are giving away information to audiences. By being a fountain of knowledge, you present your business as experts in the field, and you are therefore credible, trustworthy, accountable and connected. Becoming a thought leader will depend on your budget, but by knowing what is out there and meeting demands, you are better informed and will have formed opportunities to gain new business.
\nStep two \u2013 Look for inspiration<\/strong>
\nWhile being a storyteller is about having an original idea, it doesn\u2019t mean that you can\u2019t look to others. The key to this is watching or reading a successful ad campaign and thinking about how it impacts you. Identify the emotions you feel and analyse what language, image or section of the ad made you feel that way. For example, watch an ad campaign like Dove\u2019s Real Beauty Sketches and take notes \u2013 Dove are successful storytellers that have educated and inspired audiences and created a demand for healthier body images. These ads are created to move you, so in your research, can you pinpoint the moment that gives you a lump in your throat? Any specific words? Likewise, Nike\u2019s recent campaigns exhibit the notion that everyone who has a body is an athlete, and their Unlimited Youth advert champions sport and athleticism at all ages, focusing on an elderly nun who competes in a triathlon. Through this inspiring and unique content, Nike has differentiated itself from other sports brands and created a demand for customers \u2013 if the nun can, you can, and you should.
\nAnalysing the work of big, international brands like Nike and Dove can teach us a lot when creating content, regardless of what sector you\u2019re in.
\nStep three \u2013 Create<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s unlikely that your vision will come to you overnight. Be patient in the content producing process. Really think about what doesn\u2019t work as much as what does. Test your campaigns to gauge initial reactions, and depending on your product and service, realise that some audiences may be easier to reach than you think: \u2018people clump together into common world views. Find a clump and frame a story for their world view.\u2019 – Seth Godin, writer of All Marketers Are Liars.
\nCarry out exercises with your team to share ideas and get a wider perspective of how the company is viewed. Employee stories are a great method of storytelling \u2013 customers are interested in the people behind the brand and this adds a personal touch and a realness to your content. The opposite of this would therefore be something with a statistical focus, or an abstract, intangible tale that doesn\u2019t resonate with audience\u2019s emotions.
\nOrganise your ideas through simple frameworks like a story planning sheet. Form a table or a spreadsheet that maps out your ideas, or create a storyboard. Consider these points to help you:
\n\u2022 Outline your idea and summarise it in a few simple sentences.
\n\u2022 Work towards a theme. List your target audience(s).
\n\u2022 Decide what emotions you want to evoke.
\n\u2022 Go back to your business objectives \u2013 what is the purpose of the story.
\n\u2022 What people are going to be involved in telling the story \u2013 who is your campaign about?
\nTransformative content, fluid content<\/strong>
\nRemember the rule for content creation – 70% should be planned, 20% should be reactive and 10% should be opportunist. Think about a long-term plan \u2013 storytelling can serve as the most powerful outlet for building your brand.
\nKnowing your audience and their needs is key to a successful digital marketing strategy. But as a storyteller, you need to bring something else to the table. Taking the evangelist role, you are lighting the way for all interested parties: inspiring customers, influencing the competition, and building your brand culture.
\nThere is no limit on what you can achieve with a storytelling digital marketing strategy. Taking contexts into consideration, any idea can be adapted to suit your desired strategy. Trends change, but people will always be moved by stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018People don\u2019t buy products; they buy the personalities and meanings associated with the story of those products.\u2019 \u2013 Thomson Dawson, Four Methods of Strategic Brand Building. Storytelling is one of the most powerful elements of today\u2019s digital marketing strategies. When surveyed about what they hope to achieve in 2017, content marketers placed the ability to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[305,314,448],"tags":[576,486],"class_list":["post-70148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-content-strategy-us","category-copywriting-us","category-digital-copywriting-us","tag-content-2017-us","tag-storytelling-us"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to go from content owner to storyteller - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Strategy Agency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/go-content-owner-storyteller\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to go from content owner to storyteller - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Strategy Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2018People don\u2019t buy products; they buy the personalities and meanings associated with the story of those products.\u2019 \u2013 Thomson Dawson, Four Methods of Strategic Brand Building. 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