What do engineers, scientists, and technical professionals love most? Facts. Stats. Product specs! While these are essential pieces of information about your product or service, no one wants to hear them.
Wait, what?
That’s right. Not even the people actively shopping for your product care to hear how many extra features the new model has, or that it’s 18% thinner than the original. Sure, buyers will eventually need to skim this information to make sure it checks the right boxes. But it’s not going to be the factor that catches their attention and convinces them to buy.
This is where brand storytelling comes in.
The most successful consumer brands figured out a long time ago that emotion-based storytelling in marketing and advertising delivers exceptional results. Why? Simply put, facts are less likely to be appreciated and remembered than the same information told as a story.
A dry spec sheet just won’t connect on that deeper level, and it surely won’t stick in the buyer’s memory once they click away from the page (or toss out the flyer).
The beauty of storytelling in marketing is that it isn’t just for B2C brands like makeup or sports apparel. Even B2B industries—think medical equipment, analytical technologies, industrial chemicals, and more—can benefit from storytelling to build stronger brands and persuade audiences.
For instance, let’s say you’re a gel capsule manufacturer that sells directly to hundreds of supplement brands around the globe. When marketing your product, talking only about product features (“we sell the best type A gelatin with an isoelectric point at pH 9”) is not nearly as compelling as messaging focused on your brand story and value to the buyer.
How can a persuasive story be developed around seemingly dull products like laboratory equipment or bulk ingredients? A few questions to get the creative juices flowing (also check out these content ideas for B2B industries):
- What’s your company’s reason for being?
- Why do customers use your product or service?
- What core need does it satisfy?
- How does your offering enhance the life of the end user?
- Are there emotional elements or pain points you can tap into?
- What would buying your product over your competitor’s really mean to your customer?
From there, it becomes easier to develop a story line that captivates your audience based on what matters most to them. For the gel capsules, a tagline like “delivering wellness today for a healthier tomorrow” is more likely to persuade because it evokes a narrative surrounding the future of healthcare.
Next, marketing materials can be developed based on this story. You might write a case study on how your gel caps deliver lifesaving therapies, or create a set of website images featuring real people your product has helped.
The bottom line: whether you’re selling shoes or test tubes, it’s people—not companies—who are making the buying decisions. Storytelling will make your offering that much more memorable and convincing.
