We all have that one friend who has amusing and engaging stories. But, if you think about it for a second, the tales aren’t always exciting or emotional – it’s the person’s ability to narrate the events that truly make it special. And, usually, hilarious.

Affiliate marketing has a major storytelling element that marketers can use to produce engaging campaigns. And, just like in real life, some affiliate marketing specialists have a knack for telling an anecdote through their creatives while others have to polish this skill in order to spark consumers’ curiosity.

Let’s take a look at 7 storytelling techniques you can use to teleport your campaign into the dimension of successful affiliates. 

What is Storytelling?

In a nutshell, storytelling is the act of recounting an anecdote. This millenary practice is considered an art form by some and dates back to some of the earliest civilizations in history. Not to mention the fact that it can take place through a variety of channels, like painting and writing.

Next to spoken word, writing is perhaps the most common and popular form of storytelling. That said, these two have key differences that you need to be aware of. Spoken tales flow through tone of voice, pace, and physical gestures. Written stories, on the other hand, need to be written with specific adjectives that help create vivid images.

To paint a better picture (pun intended!), we’ll describe the same product in two different ways. For this example, we’ll use green tea and oolong weight loss tea, which is pretty common in the nutra industry.

Factual Description: This weight loss tea contains a combination of oolong and green tea, which have been clinically proven to help increase metabolic rate, lose weight quicker, and help reduce body fat naturally.

Storytelling: For centuries, oolong and green tea have been cornerstones of Malaysian as well as Southeast Asian cuisine and this powerful weight loss tea harnesses their power to help you drop those additional kilos.

While there’s no denying the artistic element, affiliate marketers can work towards becoming great storytellers in order to create a stronger connection with their audiences. 

How to test push creatives? Read in our guide!

How Affiliates Can Implement Storytelling Into Their Campaigns

According to research by the team at Quantified Communications, messages that are delivered through tales are up to 22 times more memorable than facts. But, there are many different approaches you can take when putting together your creative elements.

Here are 7 storytelling techniques that you can implement into your campaigns. We’ll also provide examples for each style, following the same weight loss tea example we previously mentioned.

Success Stories

The first thing your audience will think about is the benefits of your product. And, there’s no better way to prove how valuable it actually is than to tell prospects about your customer success stories. After all, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from their peers, so it’s a solid place to start!

The Conflict

The conflict technique basically relies on presenting a problem and then solving it. For instance, weight loss can cause confidence issues and a variety of other problems. Then, you can present a solution via weight loss tea.

Enemy and a Hero

The enemy and hero structure is similar to the conflict, but you have to be careful about how you position your characters. For example, the hero will be your product and the enemy a common challenge or issue that consumers face. In your story, the hero should swoop in and save the day, but you also have to give the enemy a chance to be the bad guy!

Visual Stories

Besides the text content, you can help tell a story through visuals. For starters, your text should be incredibly descriptive and your creative elements should focus on the story – whether it’s a picture of the main character, the setting where it takes place, or any other relevant details.

Surprise

Filmmakers like M. Night Shyamalan have earned a huge fortune by including a twist or surprise at the end of their stories. Affiliates can do the same thing, and just like the work from the acclaimed movie-maker, it doesn’t always have to be a good twist!

Ordinary People

There’s a strong chance your audience won’t be composed of corporate suits that love the technical talk, so you’ll want to design your story for ordinary people. Besides writing as you talk, you should also make the main character an ordinary person with ordinary problems, but present a creative solution that can help out even the averagest of Joes.

Emotional Sparkles

The best narrators tend to capture our attention the most when they contrast the stark reality of things with an ideal world, a technique called emotional sparkles. In this emotional approach, affiliate storytellers highlight the negative facts, and then creates a picture of a better tomorrow, through their product of course.

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Storytelling is just an incredibly sharp tool that should be present in every affiliate’s ever-growing toolbox. The tips above should help you implement this technique into your campaigns and engage your audience in an effective way.

To learn more about this and other affiliate techniques, stay tuned to our blog, comment below, join our Telegram chat and live happily ever after.