Humans are hardwired for stories. Are you using storytelling to attract high-paying clients? After May 14, 2019 you can see a great example of this type of marketing in action.
Research studies out of Vanderbilt University and the University of North Carolina suggest people accept ideas more readily when their minds are in story mode as opposed to when they are in an analytical mind-set.
Let’s take the world of high-ticket travel. A trip to Europe can cost thousands of dollars. The competition for the tourist travel dollar is a fierce fight. The quest is on to leverage the power and authenticity of user-generated storytelling.
Who are you most likely to believe: Slick advertising or honest stories from real people who have experienced the product or service? Travelers are increasingly using mobile devices and social media for inspirational travel stories.
Maybe that’s why Tourism Ireland teamed with www.Steller.co, the world's largest travel storytelling platform, to create a special event starting on May 14, 2019 called “A Digital Day in the Life of Ireland.”
Ireland is an island of storytellers, so it is a logical place to test the idea out.
I ran into one of the organizers, Richard Bangs, at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin as he was about to dispatch more than two dozen social media influencers, and one celebrity, to compass points throughout Ireland to create multi-media stories of the tourism assets with the Steller.co platform.
“Why did we decide to bring 26 top travel influencers to Ireland?” said Bangs, a co-founder of Steller.co. “Because it is currently the most powerful and effective way to tell a story, and beautifully at that.”
Emmy-Award-winner Bangs is an expert on storytelling. Often called the father of modern adventure travel, he recently co-directed the IMAX Film, “Mystery of the Nile,” and co-authored the Putnam book of the same name. He has published more than 1,000 magazine articles, 19 books and has lectured at the Smithsonian, the National Geographic Society, and the Explorers Club.
The travel social media influencers were given 24 hours to capture their stories, from midnight to 11:59 pm on April 28, 2019. The stories will be unveiled on May 14, 2019.
As well as telling their stories on Steller, the influencers will also be sharing their content with their fans on social platforms. Collectively the group has a following of more than 53 million.
Bangs noted that tying in with celebrities is a great strategy too, and he used some of his influence to invite fellow Emmy-Award-winner Tom Skerritt to come along.
Skerritt (also CEO of www.heyoumedia.com) has appeared in more than 200 TV shows and 40 movies, including “Top Gun,” “Alien” and “A River Runs Through It.” The performer came to Ireland with his daughter and son. The family explored their Irish roots with a videographer filming their visit for the Steller app.
“One of the 12 tribes of Galway was the Skerritt clan,” said the actor. “So I am thrilled to seek my roots and report the stories of my own lineage using the Steller mobile app.”
A question I posed to Bangs was how do you find the right social media influencers?
Bangs worked with www.CreatorIQ.com of Culver City, California to develop a dossier on the influencers who were invited. The target was to have a reach of more than 50 million.
Bangs says this strategy can be complicated, because every creator wants creativity in his/her itinerary and opportunities. “We did our best to accommodate, but it all seems worth it,” he said.
Tourism Ireland, the organization responsible for promoting the island of Ireland overseas as a leading vacation destination, partnered with Steller.co “to share our heritage, hidden gems, and our incredible tourism stories with the world,” according to Ruth Moran, manager of publicity and communications for Tourism Ireland.
Pete Bryant, CEO of the Kirkland, Washington-based Steller.co, says the key is “harnessing the power and authenticity of user-generated content.”
Steller is the world's largest travel storytelling platform and community reimagined for today's mobile-first travelers. Steller lets everyone capture and share personal stories with expressive and elegant design, simply and conveniently on your mobile device or via the web at Steller.co.
There is science behind the use of storytelling in marketing. According to Jeremy Hsu in the August 2008 issue of Scientific American Mind, storytelling is a human universal. Well-told tales captivate their audience, whose emotions can be inextricably tied to those of the story’s characters.
By studying narrative’s power to influence beliefs, researchers are discovering how we analyze information and accept new ideas. A 2007 study by marketing researcher Jennifer Edson Escalas of Vanderbilt University found that a test audience responded more positively to advertisements in narrative form as compared with straightforward ads that encouraged viewers to think about the arguments for a product.
Similarly, Melanie Green of the University of North Carolina co-authored a 2006 study that showed that labeling information as “fact” increased critical analysis, whereas labeling information as “fiction” had the opposite effect.
In short: humans are hardwired for stories.
