Master the Art of Storytelling to Send Your Clicks Soaring
Stories win hearts and minds. Keep your personal finance personal by using the art of storytelling in your writing.
The art of storytelling is a challenging shift from SEO content efforts. Keyword use and structure formed by best practices come secondary to engagement. This departure offers unique benefits not replicable by your competitors.
What is storytelling and what benefits does it provide?
You’ll learn the answers to these questions in this post. Plus, gain an understanding of how storytelling offers great ROI in the finance niche.
The Art of Storytelling when Everything’s Done to Death: “Clicking” with Reader’s Emotions
Storytelling injects a personal account making it wholly unique. Through storytelling, writers engage audiences through projection. The reader projects themselves as part of the story, holding onto every word.
What is Storytelling in Marketing?
Personal finance topics are timeless but increasingly important today. Almost 35% of Americans have debt in collections. Many more have thousands racked up on credit cards and through loans.
Debt is a hot topic as so many experiences it’s crushing weight. Financial literacy is as much a lifestyle topic as it is educational.
The point:
- People are emotionally charged
- They want an “out”
- Your offer gives them options
Your ability to entwine a reader increases their willingness to act. Offer a product or service in those moments of action and you’ll create a sale. This sales funnel goes smoothly when they’re engaged from its immersion and impact.
Storytelling takes the form of:
- Sales letters
- Testimonials
- Behind-the-scene tours
- Product dev cycle
- Case studies
…and others adding personal accounts to the topic.
Why Storytelling Matters in the Personal Finance Niche
You likely have these topics covered on your PF blog:
- Debt
- Savings
- Credit Cards
- Investing
How many times can you rehash the value of saving money? Or, the best way to get and manage installment loans for bad credit. These topics are common.
A person’s finance is greatly influenced by their lifestyle. Lifestyle changes are difficult to change the same as politics and religion. It’s like a mental barrier preventing someone acting although they have a blueprint.
Storytelling in PF:
- Connects ideas with peers
- Resonates through similarity
Peer pressure can induce positive effects. Storytelling is a subtle way to convince readers they need to act — to join with their peers. They’re projecting their ability to act vs being told how to act.
You’re letting others pitch offers through their personal accounts. The pitch feels organic as it’s done by someone in a similar situation. The reader adjusts their lifestyle through projection and “opens up” to the idea of change.
The Benefits of Story Content
Storytelling introduces subtleties to content not found when writing for SEO. It strips the calculated structure for casual conversation and emotion.
You gain the following:
Wholly Unique Content
Story elements include:
- Theme
- Character
- Setting
- Conflict
- Resolution
Readers follow as you — the character — overcome the odds. This could include topics like getting out of debt. Or, how you’ve built an investment portfolio.
The writing comes naturally because it’s a personal account. You include tidbits left out from SEO content since it isn’t deemed “essential”. Including these quips and anecdotes offers organic long-tail keywords.
Storytelling is easier for user submissions, too.
Users without writing skills can submit work like a journal, unedited. They’ll write how they talk. Google’s Rankbrain associates these topics to relevant keywords using natural language.
A Branded Experience
No two stories are the same.
The unique story is a branding opportunity as you recount what was done to accomplish goals. Readers betrust your expertise having verified your actions.
A Social Soapbox
Dale Carnegie said, “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language”.
People clamor for their 15-minutes of fame. Giving them the “soapbox” through your website or blog is their time to shine. They’ll share the content with others because they’re proud of the submission.
Boast loud enough and others begin feeling include to join. You’ll likely receive dozens — maybe hundreds — of personal finance stories from users. This is how PF mavericks like Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard operate.
How to Do Content Marketing Storytelling
The secret to storytelling is this:
- Share the good and gruesome details
- Let people contribute to the experience
Turn the site’s content marketing into a journal with the good and bad. This makes content creation easy since you’re not stuck on strict formatting.
Becoming the Story
Take a page from Gonzo journalism and thrust yourself into the story. Go out of your way to experience the topics to gain a first-hand account. Doing so adds trust and transparency when you get to the offer’s pitch.
User Submissions
User submissions are the best use of storytelling if you offer an engaging platform they feel necessary to participate.
Do this:
- Create a category tagged “User Stories”
- Create a landing page asking for user submissions
- Receive and format user submissions for the blog
- Include a photo or byline, then publish the piece
- Encourage responding to comments and feedback
Identify keywords and sections where you can inject offer promotions. Use offer call-outs if they’re mentioned or resourceful in accomplishing the challenge.
Packaging the Experience
Users have unique preferences for their medium of choice. Some enjoy reading personal accounts while others prefer audio or video. Graphics are powerful storytelling assets, too.
Consider converting stories to:
- Podcasts. Record and edit the story using audio recording tools. Publish the work through podcast channels.
- Videos. Get on camera and publish personal finance stories to YouTube. Or, record users through video conferencing apps and re-publish the results.
- Infographics. Characterize subjects and attach stories in blurbs. Include resourceful offers highlighted from the story’s copy.
- Live Stream. Group users for a Q&A or story session using live streaming platforms like Facebook video.
- Presentations. Get in front of a crowd and share your personal triumphs with an audience. Pitch resources aligning with your message.
Try a variety, finding which format resonates with your audience.
Bringing It All Together for a Great Ending
The personal finance niche is a tough crack as it’s a timeless opportunity and content topic. Thousands of bloggers compete for attention against large publications and real-world resources. Doomed to obscurity are those reliant on basic, done-to-death information.
Find your angle through the art of storytelling.
Explore how stories benefit your business by bringing it to other marketing efforts. See our business archives for more ideas helping your personal finance site grow.
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