Storytelling - An Effective Marketing Tool

Storytelling. The power of a good story is immeasurable. Stories draw people together and help them connect. Using storytelling as a marketing tool will draw traffic to your website, and showcase your trustworthiness and expertise. The purpose of telling a good story is to engage listeners. All people and cultures embrace storytelling as it is the foundation for communication. It entertains, informs, and enables people to share traditions and values. Storytelling has always brought people together, so it follows suit that storytelling can help bring clients to you as you build your brand.

Storytelling as a Legal Marketing Strategy
Law firm website storytelling can assist you in acquiring quality leads and potential clients. How might a story help a law firm gain clients?

Stories Elicit Emotions
Good stories make people feel good. Stories engage readers so that they feel they are part of the story. Legal stories place listeners or readers in the middle of describing a legal situation. This makes it personal for the audience. Stories may invoke empathy for clients or your law firm. The visitor will see your firm as one that defends the rights of people who have been wronged.

Storytelling Captures Attention
A good story can brighten up a boring legal website. Storytelling sets your website apart from the generic law firm website. It adds the human factor that most business websites lack. Stories showcase your firm's personality and demonstrate your brand more fully than information and data.

Stories Are Memorable
Facts and figures are boring, but stories can etch themselves into people's memories. If a potential client remembers you, they are more likely to call you when they need legal help.

Stories Showcase Shared Experiences
Stories humanize experiences. The characters in a story can be anyone - a family member, a friend, or a neighbor. Facts explain concepts, but stories come to life and remind us that we are all the same in many ways. Most people searching for a lawyer will decide based on how that person makes them feel. A human experience story will elicit feelings and may lead to a hiring decision.

How to Incorporate Website Storytelling
A digital marketing agency can assist with adding website storytelling, but here are some strategies to consider when adding your own stories.

Identify Your Target Audience
You must align stories with potential clients. If you are a car accident lawyer, you may want to create a story for drivers recently involved in an accident or whose loved ones have been in a car accident. A good story would be a video testimonial from a client who was hurt or injured in a car accident but whose life was turned around because of hiring your law firm.

Create stories with the intent of reaching your target audience. Ask yourself, "Why are visitors on our website? What questions do they have?" Then, write your stories around those subject matters. Tailor stories to the needs of your potential clients.

Think About the Lesson
What is the message of your story? Every good story has a theme or message to take away. Be sure to include this message in your writing or video narration. State it directly or make it easy to infer.

Present an Organized Story
Organized content is a key component of successful storytelling marketing. These stories do not require a predictable beginning, middle, or end, but your message must be recognizable. A memorable story must be structured to emphasize the lesson or moral. Web design may help emphasize your story's elements through graphics, color, and fonts.

Pull the Audience Into the Story
The best stories do not just tell the story; they pull the reader into the action. The audience should feel inside the narrative and be inspired to act or change. Connecting your story to what you want a potential client to do is a great marketing strategy. For example, the character in your story was able to get their life back on track because they contacted your law firm. Therefore, the person reading the story should contact your law firm to reap those benefits.

Website Story Locations
Story features will appear prominently on your website when placed in the right locations. For example, it makes sense to include stories in the following places.

Homepage
This page receives the most attention than any other page on your website. It is a great place to incorporate storytelling. Use a memorable story to emphasize the importance of your work. Stories highlighting satisfied clients can be compelling to future clients and influence them to stay on your site.

About Us
Sharing personal stories and videos on the About Us Pages will help you stand out from your competition. Interesting stories may include your firm's core values, successful results, why you opened your firm, meaningful legal changes you have inspired, and personal information about lawyers and staff members.

Biographies
Avoid creating boring resumes for your bio pages. Feature inspiring stories about who you are and the message you want to deliver. Creating powerful stories about your professional background, experience, and success will provide more interest than fact lists. Memorable quotes, personal anecdotes, and video stories will demonstrate your firm's personality and draw visitors to your website.

Case Results
Positive reviews from happy clients may influence a visitor to hire your firm. A page dedicated to case results is an ideal location for showcasing stories. Asking a satisfied client to describe their experience with your firm - why they chose you, what they expected, and the outcome - will be a memorable story for potential clients and maybe what makes them eventually contact you.

Storytelling is a unique way to capture viewers' attention. Stories create connections and lead to positive impressions.

Digital Marketing Next Steps
Storytelling is one of the best ways to build your law firm's brand. There are many different ways you can tell the story of your firm on your website. Take time to gather stories, and reach out to previous happy clients to ask them if they want to share their stories on your website as well.

Annette Choti, Esq. graduated from law school 20 years ago, and is the Founder of Law Quill, a legal digital marketing agency focused on small and solo law firms. Annette wrote the bestselling book Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide For Law Firms, and hosts the podcast Legal Marketing Lounge. She is a sought-after keynote and CLE speaker throughout the United States and Canada. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so different from the legal field if we are all being honest. Annette can be found on LinkedIn or at at