Storytelling & inbound marketing
5 - Brand Storytelling Best Practices
Let's delve into the intricate relationship between storytelling and inbound marketing. This class clarifies the integration of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) into the art of storytelling and explores how this tandem plays a pivotal role in drawing and retaining customers.
What is SEO?
Defined briefly, SEO is the process of optimizing your content to ensure it can be read and ranked by search engines.
It seems simple, however, there’s a ton of misinformation out there about SEO and it can be overwhelming. Not to worry, we're covering the important stuff.
We won't go too deep on SEO. If you want to learn more about it you can check HubSpot's blog since it is filled with really useful resources to better understand SEO.
How does storytelling connect with inbound marketing?
Well, the stories you tell for brands, will most likely be driven by a content strategy that’s determined by their customers’ needs, as well as their potential customers’ search intent.
Every article or web page you write for a business will need to tie into their team's strategy to ensure your work is delivering on what people are looking for. However, to do this, you'll also need to ensure your content can be read by Google's bots = search engine crawlers.
This is where SEO comes in. SEO ensures that bots—what SEOs call crawlers—are able to read your content and understand what searches they should be displaying it for. SEO strategies also help Google gauge the level of importance the search engine should give your piece of content. This is where rankings or search engine results pages (SERPs) come into play.
The combination of SEO and storytelling is what we know as inbound marketing. It helps attract customers to you, rather than a brand or sales team having to go out and search for customers. It means you win more qualified website visitors and have a higher chance of converting them into customers.
Balancing storytelling and SEO
Effective storytelling for businesses requires a synthesis of narratives with a content strategy attuned to customer needs and search intent. SEO emerges as the linchpin for content visibility and organic traffic.
Lesson 1: Write for humans, not robots
Content creators should place human readers above search engine algorithms. While SEO tools can optimize content, they should not influence your content structure or phrasing. The objective is to craft content that captivates and engages readers first.
Lesson 2: Send readers on a journey
Reader engagement hinges on guiding them through a narrative landscape, coupled with well-placed internal links to related content. This practice not only boosts SEO performance but also deepens brand immersion—sending your readers on an internal brand journey.
Lesson 3: Craft titles and meta descriptions
Crafting magnetic titles and compelling meta descriptions is an art central to attracting readers. People do just a book by its cover, and when there's no cover, the title and the meta are the next best thing. These elements serve as pivotal touchpoints for grabbing the reader's attention and cultivating brand recognition for future clicks.
Effective title strategies:
- Use natural and conversational language
- Establish exclusivity
- Infuse an element of surprise
- Share personal experiences
- Be relevant
- Keep things simple
- Evoke an emotional response
- Use statistics
- Ask questions
- Challenge preconceptions
- Harness the power of numbers
- Leverage the rule of three and alliteration
(Check the lesson video for examples of each strategy)
Lesson 4: Wrap with impact
Conclusions wield considerable influence in leaving readers with something to remember. They should encapsulate key takeaways, impart lessons learned, and offer final insights that resonate deeply with readers, making your content "sticky".
Wrapping up
In this lesson, we understood the synergy between storytelling and inbound marketing while underscoring the significance of harmonizing content strategy, SEO tactics, and captivating narratives.
Non-fiction writers need to learn how to write content that prioritizes reader interests while leveraging SEO techniques to amplify visibility and engagement. Especially now that AI is rife, it presents an opportunity for you to stand out. Remember: write like a human for humans first and bots second.
See you in the next lesson!
Lesson Resources
HubSpot example used in the lesson: The Best Social Media Channels for Prospecting, According to 500 Sales Professionals