Story-driven email: How To Use STORYTELLING To Connect With Your Audience
There are a few emails that I subscribe to that I look forward to opening and reading the juicy content inside.
I’m not talking about the product or service these brands are promoting — although there are a couple that I open to peek at what’s new, like Uncommon James jewelry… drooling over those gold chain sets.
I’m talking about the stories that these brands are sharing with me. I say me because how these emails are written convinces me they’re writing to me, not anyone else.
These emails are written so well and make me want to sip on my morning brew, curl up with my blanket as I perch in my window seat, and dive into their world — their experience, adventure, heartbreak, and their embarrassing moment.
But these emails are not written to me by friends, or even acquaintances in most situations.
These emails are from businesses that are marketing their products and services.
By using storytelling in their approach, I rarely feel like I’m being sold to. And even when it is a pitch for their new offer, I don’t feel like I’m being reached out to by an old friend from high school who’s telling me about her latest MLM with a “Hey! Hope you’re doing well! Haven’t talked in forever. I’d love to tell you about this product that’s changed my life!” email. I shutter in cringe.
The emails I’m so drawn to don’t hit me as salesy. Instead, they feel like the offer is being brought to my attention by someone I know and trust who sees what my problem is and has a legit solution to it.
How on Earth does she do that?!
It’s all about good story-driven content or storytelling marketing.
What is Storytelling Marketing?
Storytelling marketing is a way to connect with your audience through stories.
It's about creating content that people want to read, engage with, and share with others.
Storytelling is a great approach to email marketing because email can be personalized to your brand and brand story and allows for more opportunities for connection and engagement as it doesn’t rely on algorithms or ads.
And the best part is that:
You don’t have to love writing or be a writer to do email marketing well.
You don't have to have an adventure- seeking life to have juicy stories.
You can nurture a relationship with warm leads & potential buyers.
Your email marketing can be super effective without having a big list.
The Benefits of Storytelling Marketing Through Email
It's important for brands to understand the value of email marketing — because the ROI on effective email marketing is 4300% return on every dollar spent, and has a 17% higher conversion rate than social media marketing (1).
Email marketing is even more valuable when paired with storytelling techniques to help nurture your audience. Story-driven content helps brands:
Create better content that resonates with customers
Build trust with your audience
Makes people more likely to buy from you or recommend you
Turn followers into fans
Create better content that resonates with customers
Storytelling marketing through email is a powerful tool that can help you increase engagement, build connections with your audience, and increase brand recognition.
It helps humanize your business and build a real rapport with potential customers. Personal stories highlight your unique qualities and help you stand out from your competitors. Your audience can identify with these experiences because they’re relatable and will naturally gravitate to your brand.
Build trust with your audience
Stories are also one of the best ways to build trust between you and your audience because they help them get to know who you really are as a brand — what you stand for, what you believe, what your mission is, your purpose, and your vision.
They also allow you to sell your offers without feeling salesy. Your approach to marketing doesn’t just have to be about telling them what products/services are available and hope that it solves their problem enough that they’ll want to buy.
Instead, storytelling can build a trusting relationship with your audience. It’s biological that when we see ourselves in someone’s story, we feel a connection as though they’re a part of our tribe. So when you share relatable content through your personal stories, your content can strategically move your customer from a cold lead through the funnel to inevitably buy or refer you to someone.
Makes people more likely to buy from you or recommend you
Believe it or not, you don’t actually have to sell your offer in every email. Instead, use story-driven email to build relationships with your audience, keeping your leads nurtured and warm.
You do this by making sure they feel valued, seen, and understood. So that when you do pitch an offer, they want to hear about it. They feel like it was made for them to help solve their problem, not created to take their money.
Storytelling can also help you as a brand better understand your audience. Your emails can offer an opportunity for dialogue by asking your readers for their feedback and opinions about an idea you have or a new offer you’re brewing up. This also supports your audience in feeling valued and like their opinions matter.
Through sharing your own experiences, you can appeal to your audience’s needs, aspirations, and emotions. You inevitably show potential buyers how you engage with your customers and give your audience a glimpse of what working with you would be like.
Turn followers into fans
The human brain is wired to respond to stories. It’s how ancient societies passed down information to the next generations, it’s how tribes differentiate themselves from others, and it’s how legends were made.
When we hear or read a story, our brains are activated in the same way as when we experience something firsthand. This means that when you tell a story about your brand or product, people will connect with the experience, be more likely to remember it, and even more likely to share it with others.
I know I am quite the Evangelist when it comes to things I love. I can’t tell you how many times I send my friends a link to a podcast I just heard that “changed my life.” People love to share what they love. So if you have some incredible story-driven content that’s tapping on your audience’s heartstrings, giving them laughs, and inspiring them to take action, then you have a high chance of building a real community of loyal customers.
How to Use Storytelling in Email Marketing
These are the steps I take to brainstorm ideas for myself and my clients to create emails based on storytelling.
1 Decide what the objective of your email is.
Are you promoting a product/service, a new blog post, your latest podcast episode, a recent business event, or sharing tips related to your industry?
2 Think about experiences you’ve had in your life.
You can build a bank of stories to pull from. Finding stories related to people, places, and changes in your life is a great place to start generating ideas.
3 Brainstorm ways to weave together an idea from your personal story bank with the objective of your email.
Start asking yourself, how can this be used as a story?
You do something everyday even if you don’t think it’s extraordinary or meaningful. But when we can examine the things we do, we can start to see how events can be turned into a story that ties in with your brand.
When brainstorming ideas for content, think about what is related or relatable content that’s just outside the main thing of what you’re doing in your business.
For example, if you’re a Business Coach, you could gather ideas based on:
Performance tips (actionable steps that someone could implement now)
Morning routines that set you up for a productive day
Impactful pieces from books that your audience might not have time to read
Your favorite productivity tools and hacks
Personal experiences that let your audience know you get their struggles
Results from your clients
A podcast episode you enjoyed this week and why
4 Write without judgement.
Explore ways you can tie your ideas together and start to write them out. It might take a few ideas before you find the one that clicks. It’s always fun to use a trusted soundboard to bounce ideas off of.
some more thoughts on using storytelling in email marketing
You can also reverse steps one and two and start with the story instead, strategizing how to creatively tie it in with your business.
Since your email list is yours and you’re creating content that is not on borrowed land or reliant on algorithms the way social media marketing is, treat your email list like they’re your VIPs.
Build more connection by letting your audience in behind the scenes of your brand and inviting them in on offers you’re brewing up, things that are in the works, surveying how it might meet their needs better, and stirring up anticipation for the big reveal.
Storytelling Email Marketing Examples
Here are some ways that you can tie a personal story with your email marketing to create content that resonates with your audience.
Example 1
You bought something and discovered it’s so much more valuable than you could’ve ever expected. Relate this experience back to the value of your own offer, and add extra kudos by sharing a client’s before and after experience.
Example 2
You had an experience where there was a very real possibility that the situation could have gone array or it did — a dropped birthday cake or running into your ex. What happened? How did you overcome the situation? Did you have to learn to trust yourself or trust the expert? Maybe the process hurt, but the result was incredible. How does this turning-lemons-into-lemonade experience relate to your business and the transformation you offer?
Example 3
Share a story that you know would spark a common feeling that most people would feel in that same situation and tie that in with your business. What was a time when you had to trust an expert to help you achieve something? What was the feeling you had before you found the expert, and how did you feel afterward?
Example 5
What is a win that you’ve had that you know your audience would relate with? It could be buying your first home post-divorce, landing a dream job, or getting your baby to sleep through the night in their own bed. Whatever. Tie this win back with the feeling your customers have when they work with you.
Want additional support with your approach to using storytelling in your marketing strategy?
Don’t think you have juicy stories to share or are unsure how to tie your stories in with your business?
Trust me, you have stories. You don’t have to have an adventure-filled lifestyle to have stories that people will relate to. In fact, people will find your story of a trip to the grocery store that went wrong way more relatable than a first-class holiday experience in Paris.
But, if you want support with creating your story bank of ideas, and learning how to apply my process of taking a story and turning it into content that connects with your audience, then check out this offer I created for you.
BRAND Storytelling coaching
Curated coaching sessions to help busy solopreneurs DIY’ing their marketing content to achieve applicable storytelling skills and use their personal experiences to deepen connections with their audience and build a memorable brand.
Even if you’re showing up online and posting consistently, if you’re not using stories to hook your audience in and make them pay attention, you’re brand isn’t shining as bright as it could.
Storytelling can be the magic wand that:
Influences decision-making
Activates curiosity
Helps nurture your community
Holds people’s attention
Simplifies your message
Brand Storytelling Coaching is perfect for you if:
→ You love the idea of using stories in your marketing content but you’re not sure how to structure a story or feel you’re not a good storyteller.
→ You're wondering which stories to share and how to determine how they tie in with your brand.
→ You feel confused by what brand storytelling even means - it seems to be the buzzword right now, but why?
→ You can’t help but feel sleazy and salesy when transitioning from the story to the pitch.
→ You’re looking to deepen relationships with your audience and build more engagement and you believe stories will help but you don't know how to get started.
Our storytelling journeys are not the same. That’s why I’ve created coaching containers that allow you to curate your needs and focus on the areas you need support with now.
LEARN MORE ABOUT brand storytelling coaching here.
More branding tips
To learn more about how to uncover your Brand Voice in your writing, check out this post.
