Storytelling may not be the most obvious route to use in PR, but it’s the most effective.

It’s in our human nature to be curious and emotive about others. Utilise this and tell your audience more about you.

Here’s what you need to know about storytelling for your business.

Why should you do it?

Storytelling allows you to connect with your audience in a more personal way. A study found that 70 per cent of consumers preferred to get to know the company through articles rather than by advertisements. This shows how reaching consumers through words as opposed to images can make a more meaningful impact to the way the audience sees the business. So, make sure you use this as a strength.

One of the main targets every business has is to keep their consumers locked into the product.

Contemporary society has brought forth an ‘active audience’, where consumers now share news and their opinions to their peers and on media. Sharing your business story creates emotion which keeps your audience hooked and interested. The more your audience is invested in your brand and feels connected to your business story, the more likely they are to stick with your brand – as well as recommend it to others.

How should you go about it?

Storytelling within your PR strategy plan is extremely easy. All you have to do is talk to your audience and tell them about your business story.

There are many different ways you can do this: write a press release or blog post, tweet your support to a cause/organisation deep to your heart or even by responding to lifestyle-based #journorequests that may apply to you and your business (you can always slip in your business name within the interview or article).

There’re endless different questions that your audience members often wonder about:

• Why did you start your business?
• How did you start your business?
• Did you face any issues along the way?
• What did you learn along the way?

Build a stronger connection with your audience and answer the questions they long to hear. Momentarily forget about profit and think about why you’ve started the business and what you hope to achieve. Allow your audience to get to know you through storytelling. Only once a relationship is established, you can reap the benefits.

Simran Ghata-Aura is media relations assistant at JournoLink.