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The Influence of Storytelling in Marketing on Teenagers

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There is no denying that storytelling has created enough hype in the marketing world and it tends to the emotions of the people. Americans are so much into stories and characters that they spend $10 billion going to the movies in a given year and dedicate 35 hours in a week to their TV screens.

Communications expert Rob Biesenback said, “If you can be a good storyteller there’s no limit to what you can do.” He further continued, “Stories break down walls, build trust and influence people to act.”

The Stronger Effects of Storytelling

Story telling is a marketing method that all brands should adopt in order to stay ahead of the game”, says Mabbly, a marketing firm in Chicago.

Stories have a tendency to sweep us on a number of levels as 63% of the people easily remember them while only 5% remember statistics. They hook the people because they are about a particular character who is in pursuit of his goals.

The hacks for conversation and influence, especially in teenagers, begin with psychology. If one wants to understand what will click with the masses, it is essential to understand how they are wired. A number of psychological theories including information manipulation theory, scarcity principle, priming, and sleeper effect etc. have been presented that are used to influence the audience.

The Vulnerability in Children

Advertising is an important source of information for children and they lack the experience and knowledge to critically evaluate the information which is presented to them. Although adult teenagers can still distinguish between reality and fantasy, the younger ones are unable to do so.

Advertising to children will always remain controversial in nature. While some people blame the parents for not exercising enough control over their children’s screen time, some even think that the government is responsible for protection from all kinds of harmful effects. It is the duty of the marketers as well to work on CEO’s reputation can shape the entire companies so that the children are not victimized by false or ill-informed advertising.

Shaping the Behavior of the Children

If the child is well-aware of the influence of media, it will be able to handle the pressure exerted by it in the best possible manner. This influence can be both deliberate or indirect but has the ability to suggest to the teenagers that certain things are more “normal” than they really are.

However, thinking that your child is always at risk because of media and advertising is nothing near the truth. There are savvy consumers who limit themselves to the superficial meaning of the advertisement and don’t let the influence sink in. This is entirely dependent on the mental capacity of your child to infer things from its environment.

The Bottom Line

The practice of storytelling can be used for the counseling of the children and it can be expanded with the help of latest technology. Through the creation of stories in digital marketingand other types of advertising, one can influence the teenagers and other children to adopt a certain attitude or a behavioral pattern.

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