If you want to have a successful law firm and aren’t quite seeing the results you’d like from your content marketing efforts, you may have overlooked an important technique. Often when people search for an attorney, they are likely to go with someone they can relate to and feel comfortable with. To show these potential clients who you are and what you can do for them, you need to do more than just have an online presence; you need to tell a story.
Content Marketing and Storytelling
What is storytelling in marketing? Put simply, it’s using content marketing to tell a story that embodies human challenges; big ones, small ones, ones that matter to your reader. It’s sharing in their struggle and then providing a solution.
What story can your brand tell that reflects your values and culture to set your firm apart from the other guys? When done right, storytelling in marketing can be powerful – read on to learn why.
Why Storytelling Matters
Everyone loves a good story. Whether by novels, television shows or blogs, people want to become a part of something that is not only interesting but that they can relate to as well. When storytelling is done well, it influences emotions, motivating your readers to take action.
Why is Storytelling in Marketing so Important?
First, stories are attractive and pull at our natural yearning to resolve. A meaningful story will engage your prospective client base and make them want to share it with others. Your goal with content – especially blog articles – is to draw readers so they return to your site again and again for answers and new information. This is achieved by producing quality content that people want to read.
Storytelling is also personal. Who would you share a personal story with? Vulnerability opens the door for trust to form, since you are sharing prized information, and it’s the same with your customers. Don’t you want to gain the trust of each potential client visiting your site? By publishing valuable, empathetic content, you stand a better chance of creating content that connects with your audience to keep them coming back for more.
Facts, numbers, and statistics are useful and interesting, but they can also be viewed as stale, cold and insensitive. Numbers without a story or personal background to support them are like mere wood and concrete; give your readers something warm and familiar, like a home. People often like to self-identify themselves in a story, relating with someone who has been in a similar situation. Watching a character’s circumstance unfold in their favor gives your audience hope for the same outcome.
Why Storytelling Works
In today’s world of choices and competition, it can feel more and more challenging to set yourself apart. While you may have valuable information to give your audience, how you present that information will make your content strategy flip or flop.
People no longer just want to be sold to. You might be anxious to skip right to offering your product, but stop yourself there. No matter your marketing strategy or technique, remember this one thing: people before products. You must show your potential clients that you care about them before you try to pitch them anything. Storytelling invites them into a dialogue and reaches out from within your content to establish a human connection. It says, “Hello out there, I see you.” If you have car salesman breath, trust me – they can smell it even over the internet.
Building a lasting relationship with your prospects is the most valuable fundamental aspect of growing your client base, and it must come first. This rapport will act as a foundation for trust, and there’s a greater chance that person will stick with you and choose you over the competition every time.
How To Start Telling Your Story
So where and how can you start telling a story? A great place to start is with your Verdicts and Settlements page. This is probably the easiest place to make an emotional connection with your reader since these are true stories from people just like them in real life. If you notice that many of your stories share a theme or reflect one of your firm values, focus on that and highlight it for your readers.
An example of this would be a firm who devotes the majority of their cases to defending those who have been sexually assaulted. If there are several stories of victims who have found their voice again after experiencing such tragedy, this could reflect the firm’s value of “empowering the powerless.”
Instead of just selling your services, plan out a story that reveals your brand: who you are and why you are the best option for your prospect.
Need some help getting started? We would love the chance to help you tell your own unique, proprietary story. Contact the creatives at Obu Interactive or call today at (800) 619-5944. We’ll help you tell an epic story that showcases your brand.