Storytelling is powerful. There are few things people love more than a good story. Stories inspire; they can evoke powerful emotions and unleash our imaginations. Great Marketers understand the power of storytelling. Great marketers use storytelling as a tactic to build their businesses. In the legal world, this means developing a narrative around your firm that builds feelings of attachment, emotional investment and a strong connection with your target clients. Storytelling Builds Trust For all businesses, but especially law firms, it’s important to gain the trust of your target audience. If people aware of your brand do not trust you, you’re going to have a hard time convincing them to use your legal services. Authentic and captivating stories help develop your firm’s personality and build credibility, creating stronger feelings of trust on the part of your target audience. As award-winning producer Drew Keller says, “Stories are a powerful way to guide a viewer’s perceptions, helping them see you and your practice as a trusted adviser. Don’t lose sight of your client’s emotional needs when telling your story. It is what drives their action.” How Do You Develop Effective Stories for Your Brand? Here are just a few of the most important elements of any great marketing story. Storytelling should be relatable. For your story to resonate with your target audience, it needs to be relatable. Think about who you’re going to have as the “main character” in your story, whether it’s your firm, a partner, a former client or an imaginary client. The story surrounding that character needs to be something your audience will connect with. You need to clarify the problem you’re solving. Part of creating a relatable story is having a relatable problem or challenge. If you are a personal injury law firm, this might involve telling the story of a person who was injured in a car crash and faces thousands of dollars in vehicle damage and medical bills. Many people searching for a personal injury attorney will connect immediately with that problem. It serves as an emotional hook that very much reflects the journey they have in front of them. Storytelling should provide a solution or an end. Your story should describe the journey your main character takes to solve the problem. How did your character ultimately overcome the problem, and what sort of resolution or ending does their story have? Using the personal injury law firm as an example, the story could involve them seeking the assistance of a lawyer at your firm, working through the case with them, and ultimately recovering just compensation in an injury settlement. What are your clients looking to get out of working with you? Money? Justice? Security and protection? Peace of mind? Make sure the stories you tell show them this is possible. (Of course, follow your local jurisdiction’s marketing and advertising ethics rules related to promising outcomes or revealing client details.) Using storytelling can be an effective method of connecting with your clients, especially for law firms that need to establish an emotional connection and earn the trust of potential clients before getting their business. Carefully think through the kinds of characters and problems your target audience will connect with, and begin crafting stories around them.
Storytelling: Your Most Powerful Connection to New Clients