Storytelling in Digital Magazines
Written by Matt Berringer
November 24, 2021
For much of the internet’s life, digital magazines represented scanned versions of physically printed ones. They were challenging to navigate and read. Progressive digital magazine design resolved those issues, and now a new trend is emerging — storytelling.
Brands rely on storytelling to create an emotional connection with customers and prospects. Compelling storytelling is captivating and gives your content a tangible feel. Your audience hangs around longer and shares more, for higher engagement and reach. They remember you — brand awareness — and they return — brand loyalty.
Brand Storytelling for a Product or Service
Brand stories give your business a face, but what makes effective brand storytelling in digital magazines online? Consider the following:
- Base it on the user: Your readers’ emotions and actions determine how you tell the story. Acknowledge their preferences for style, character and formatting.
- Make it immersive: Help your users engage by creating uninterrupted content that incorporates rich media. Advanced technology like augmented reality (AR) brings a story to life in a way print media never can.
- Entertain wisely: While you want your content to be enjoyable to consume, you also want it to guide your prospects through your marketing funnel to conversion.
Other helpful tips for compelling brand storytelling include keeping it consistent and testing your efforts. Ensure your messaging remains aligned throughout your content and across channels. If your story changes from one platform to another or between touchpoints, users may perceive you as less than transparent. To determine your best-performing content, test it. Analytics delivers insights to facilitate that decision.
Above all, effective storytelling must be responsive and adapt correctly to screens of all sizes. Today’s users access content predominantly via their mobile phones. Optimize your content to scroll vertically and make it mobile-friendly.
Visual Storytelling
Over 80% of the information we absorb is visual, so the potential is high your readers want more than words. They expect infographics, videos and other optical design elements to enhance their experience.
Infographics help solidify more abstract ideas through visual interpretation or reinforce concepts through representation. They are useful for indicating patterns and lend themselves well to correlation through color or arrangement. Including infographics has a significant impact on user retention, engagement and business growth.
Content that includes other imagery like pictures and diagrams performs hundreds of times better than plain text in engagement rates. These visual aids also boost user recall. Video remains the king of visual storytelling media, though. Most users surveyed in 2020 indicated a desire to see more video content from their preferred brands and engage with video more than any other means.
Successful marketers take advantage of the power of visual elements to create media-rich digital magazine content. Enhance your storytelling with dynamic visual aids and immersive technologies. You’ll bring your brand’s story to life and increase user satisfaction simultaneously.
Choose a Platform That Can Tell a Story
Nxtbook Media has been delivering comprehensive digital publishing tools to create compelling visual stories for more than 30 years. Check out our digital magazine examples for inspiration on how our solutions can grow your business like we have many others. When you’re ready to see more, request a free demo online.
