Data Doesn’t Sell, Stories Do. Just Ask Nike.

Presenting your audience with the features and benefits of your service is no longer enough to persuade them. In today’s world, businesses have myriad options for reaching potential consumers and sharing their commodities. However, we’re also competing with hundreds (or even thousands) of other people trying to sell a similar product. So how can you make yours stand out? As a Bend OR and Santa Barbara CA web design agency, we’ve got a couple tricks to help.

Numbers aren’t relatable, and bragging about yourself is never a good option. Telling better stories, not data dumps, are the most genuine way to connect with your audience. The vast majority of people make a purchase based on emotion, not logic. They decide to buy because it “feels right,” then use data or facts to justify the decision.

Authentic stories with an emotional core, grounded in a company’s content marketing efforts, are key to selling your product.

Deliver Inspiration, Not Just Goods

Getting to know your audience is the first step to choosing what story to tell. Imagine that you’re meeting a friend of a friend for the first time. If all they do is talk about themselves and their shoes, you’ll be desperate to leave the conversation. However, if they’re able to bond with you over your mutual love of athletics and competition, you’re more likely to stick around and get to know them.

That’s exactly what the Nike brand has done. Nike is named after the Greek goddess of victory, not the Greek goddess of shoes. Even Nike’s website metadata claims that they deliver experiences and services to inspire athletes – not just shoes. That’s because Nike isn’t objectively the best shoe company that has ever existed, and they know better than to position themselves that way.

Nike certainly does deliver the inspiration they claim. Customers buy from Nike based on the feeling they get when touting their gear; Nike tells stories that revolve around persevering against all odds and a work hard, play hard mentality. These stories, whether they’re showing basketball, gymnastics, or soccer, take their audience from a neutral to an energized state. Ultimately, when you look at Nike’s athletic gear, they make you feel in a way that is inherently different than their competitors because they’ve done an incredible job with their storytelling.

As a Bend OR and Santa Barbara CA web design agency, we know that storytelling is the essence of strong branding. It makes customers feel proud about the purchase decision they’ve made, and that feel-good moment is truly priceless.

Building Trust

Even if your company can get their ads in front of the right customers, the effectiveness of those ads in persuading those customers to do something different is failing. So it’s in your business’s own best interest to be truthful in its claims. As a marketing agency, we encourage our customers to focus on what’s honest and important for their customers, because that’s what builds trust.

Telling your audience anything they want to hear might seem like the easiest way to get them to purchase, but building a larger-than-life image for them can do more harm than good. In the long run, you want your customers to see the real value they’re getting for an investment. By promising what your product can deliver—and delivering on those promises—your writing can inspire trust and loyalty. That’s a story your clients will share with their friends, and you’ll be on your way to building an authentic, positive reputation.

Storytelling with Bend OR and Santa Barbara CA Web Design

In an age when businesses are a dime a dozen, authenticity and strong storytelling could be the difference between making a one-off sale and developing a life-long consumer. At the end of the day, the relationship is always more valuable than the sale. What are you doing to craft unique and authentic experiences? Share your stories below!