Have you ever watched “Game of Thrones” or read the books? If you haven’t and don’t have any infants or prudes in your social circle, you should try it out. I didn’t really care about the series until the second season was about to begin and I caught this scene on some idle Tuesday.
As humans, storytelling is hard-wired in our DNA; blame it on years of oral tradition, Hollywood grooming and New York rap. A story has the power to move people, which is why some of the best advertising tells a story.
The same applies to your business website. In the short time people spend with brands on the Internet, they want to have relevant information presented in a pertinent way.
Now, telling a story doesn’t mean hitting the reader with Chapter 1 of Moby Dick; that would just be bad design, which just shouldn’t happen anymore, especially with web tuturials and web design firms running amuck. Customers don’t want to read a wall of text when they’re trying to make a decision. Instead, a business’ story needs to be presented in a shorter and punchier format. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
- Try a slideshow. Many sites now have sliders, but their potential is often missed. Make your slides powerful by arranging them with a definite beginning, middle and end. This will make visitors want to see the entire set and ensure that they read all of your messages. One caveat: Make sure they don’t auto-advance too quickly. It’s all too common to get to a site and have the slides zip by too fast to be able to read them.
- Give context to testimonials. Add information that gives some background to the customer’s commentary and makes it authentic.
- Expand product information. Instead of just giving dry facts, try telling people about the inspiration for the item’s development or how the product has been improved through the years. When it comes to things like technical specifications, try a paragraph format. Leave the quick facts list for the end.
- Spice up your “About Us” page. Avoid boring timelines. Instead, use full paragraphs to talk about the founding of the company and passion of its current officers.
- Use video. A video gives a chance to present your information in true mini-movie format. Your storytelling will shine in this format.
- Add a blog. Use your posts to tell more traditional stories and give your company the human touch.
These are great tips for telling stories in a way that is appropriate for businesses. The methods allow for everything from pictorial representations to fully verbal discussions. Which one is appropriate will depend on whether you’re giving information about products, an overview of your services, an in-depth look at your company history or something entirely different.
With the right presentation, you’ll have your visitors hooked and in the mood to buy from you. The only caveat is to make sure that they can easily find the button or phone number that lets them become a customer. It can be surprisingly easy to get so caught up in telling a story that you forget to include the main point!
Originally posted on March 22, 2013 @ 2:22 am