Monday 19 January 2015

Using Stories in Your Articles

Articles that tell stories have always been popular.

You only have to look back at history and you'll see that people used to use parables to teach other.

Parables are simple stories used to teach a moral.

Aesop was also good at using fables to get his point across. FYI fables are the same as parables except they use animals to teach a moral.

Soap operas originally began as stories used to sell a product. And as the name suggests, that product was soap.

Soap operas began as radio plays aimed at housewives where the product was mentioned all the time. Later soap operas moved to television where the product could also be placed in view.

And nothing has really changed over the years. Even today, stories are still a great way to teach, inform AND make sales.

Stories have always been used for one main reason:

They are easy to remember.

You can tell someone something and they may forget it.

But if you tell them a story, they'll usually remember it (at least for a while).

You can use stories in your articles to draw your reader in and then relate the story to the message you're trying to tell them, or tie the story into the product you're selling.

And if people enjoy your stories they'll want to read more.

And more readers means more sales.

Copywriters use stories in their sales letters all the time.

They start by telling a story about a problem someone is having and then they provide a satisfying solution to the problem which (naturally) involves the product they are promoting.

So have you got any great stories to tell?

They could be worth a million. :)