A great story will inspire people to act.

How do you measure the impact of the placements you land? Page views of the press release? Media reach? What if it doesn't really matter? nIn the digital world you can tell stories that directly impact sales. (Bet your CFO would love to hear that!)

In Andrew Davis', bleeding-edge marketing futurist and author, keynote on Inspired PR at Ragan Communications' 2nd Annual Social Media for PR and Corporate Communications Conference at Disney World he showed on consumer brands, non-profits, and event B2B companies exploit digital and social media to increase sales through inspired story telling.

And guess what? There is no one better positioned to improve the bottom line that you and your communications team!

Here are Andrew's to biggest hard-hitting words to live by:

• Valuable Content increases demand for the products and services you sell.
• Moments of Inspiration (MOI) increase demand for the products and services we sell.

These things inspire action!

Driving Demand with Great Stories

It's only appropriate that since we're here we talk about Disney and their amazing legacy of storytelling on and off the screen. Disney is a master of MOI. For example, think about how many Clown Fish and fish tank equipment Finding Nemo has sold. It's insane. 

Inspiring content can inspire you to purchase crap you  didn't know you need and didn't need before that inspiring content existed. 

How does being a storyteller increase demand?

First there is a Moment of Inspiration that triggers the initial consideration set in which the consumer goes into an active evaluation stage where they compare and contrast other brands and other options. Then comes the moment of purchase and this is your biggest opportunity to create move MOI which continues the loyalty loop. 

So how can you become a brilliant digital storyteller that creates a sudden urge to act among your customers?

Here are Andrew Davis' Four Secrets to Creating Moments of Inspiration:

1. Build Suspense

Suspense is anxiety about what will happen. Create a story that keeps people on the edge of their seats about what will happen or come next. Drama is anticipaton mingled with uncertainty.  Drama in a story can be used to create anticipation and drive demand for more. 

2. Foster Aspiration

Create content that will inspire people to be what they're not. What does your audience inspire to be? Create a story to help them. This will gain their trust and loyalty. 

3. Drive Empathy 

Make a commitmet and tell a story. Be emotionally invested in your product or service. Your consumers will then empathize with the characters in your story. Bring emotion to the table.

4. Harness Emotion

Emotion is what inspires the action. This is what traditoinal media has always done: Inspire people to take action on something they didn't know they felt strongly about. Make people buy things they don't need.

Focus on MOI rather than ROI.