We all do it: skip the ads that pop up on YouTube and fast-forward through commercials. In an era of DVRs and ad block, traditional ads run the risk of repelling rather than attracting customers.

Today’s customers want a lot more than a good deal. They want to connect emotionally with the people washing their cars or their fellow customers. They want to know the operation’s values are aligned with their own. They want to see a business as an industry authority and learn something from it.

And then, once all those boxes are checked, they want a good deal.

Why Stories Work

Storytelling is an ancient technique for communicating in a way that is not only informative but also emotionally meaningful. In marketing, a good story shines a light on the human element behind a company and, often, this is a much more compelling reason than cost to frequent a business. According to Seth Godin, bestselling author and beloved marketing guru, “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make but about the stories you tell.” Stories add a bit of emotionally charged magic to the customer-company relationship, and in a crowded marketplace, this can set the stage for lasting brand loyalty.

The Customers’ Stories

Anyone who has ever owned a small business knows that a company is more than just a way to make money — it’s a community where lives intersect and hopefully end up the better for it. To demonstrate this to prospective customers, tell your current customers’ stories. John Jantsch, creator of the marketing consultant training program Duct Tape Marketing Network, believes that storytelling should “make the customer the hero of the story — don’t tell a story about yourself unless it illustrates how you are uniquely suited to be your customer’s guide.”

This approach is used by When I Work, an employee-scheduling software company. Every so often, When I Work staff visit the businesses that use its scheduling software, and post fun photos to Instagram, like selfies with baristas or snapshots of employees at a national park, along with brief comments and hashtags. Unlike Facebook, YouTube or blogs, Instagram’s hashtag feature can draw the attention of users with like-minded interests, so When I Work can attract users to their customers’ businesses, as well as their own.

To apply this approach to the car wash industry, operators could keep on the lookout for beautiful cars that come through their wash. Then, ask the customer if he or she minds being featured on social media. If they agree, post the pictures of sparkling clean autos, along with a brief interview with the customer, on social media. If the social media is Instagram, make sure to include hashtags like #autolovers and #motortrend (and #yourcity) to attract potential customers. Alternatively, car wash owners could feature a customers-of-the-week who gives back to the community. Tell the customer’s story and award him or her with a meaningful free service. Then, on social media invite the public to nominate future customers-of-the-week.

Who’s on the Team?

Brittany Laeger, the marketing manager at StoryTeller Media and Communications, says the stories are out there in abundance. “A lot of times, the stories are there. You’re just not taking the time to look or listen for them, or ask people who are in the trenches about them,” she said.

Workers in the trenches, those who day after day bring their dedication and positive attitude to their interactions with coworkers and customers, often have personal lives worth shining a spotlight on. Perhaps they’ve overcome a personal challenge that has shaped them in positive ways, or maybe the worker is a parent who still manages to volunteer in the community.

One great example of telling a worker’s story comes from Red Wing Shoe Company. Working with StoryTeller Media and Communications, Red Wing created a 5-minute video about one of its janitors, Jim Chalmers. In the video, Chalmers describes some of his difficulties growing up developmentally disabled and the joy he feels competing in the Special Olympics. The video also includes shots of Chalmers at work and a brief interview with his boss. Through personal stories like these, customers see businesses as more than providers of goods or services — they begin to see the people whose lives are sustained through that business, and by extension, through them as customers.

The Craft of Storytelling

Learning how to tell a story in media is a process. “Like any marketing tactic, you can’t expect to be immediately super great at it. It’s a skill you have to hone, and every community is going to be a little bit different in terms of what stories resonate with them,” Laeger said. Car wash owners need to be willing to attempt different types of stories and mediums (such as pictures, videos, podcasts or blogs), revising their process as they go.

Content Marketing

Storytelling skills are also useful in the creation of content marketing, a marketing strategy in which businesses regularly produce media their customers can use. The idea is that companies connect with potential customers through media ranging from print to Twitter, and then when it comes time for them to make a purchase, they have already developed a connection to that business.

“Our customers will engage in information that is truly valuable and helpful,” said Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and author of Content Inc. “So that’s content marketing. Instead of driving sales messaging, deliver value outside the products and services you sell. Build an audience that knows, likes and trusts you. Then, once they trust you, they’ll buy from you.”

For the B2C Content Marketing: 2017 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends — North America report, CMI surveyed roughly 2,500 organizations ranging in size from small businesses to large corporations. Eighty-six percent of these organizations already used content marketing, and 42 percent said they expected an increase in their content marketing budget by 2018. This makes sense given that 63 percent of these companies reported seeing a direct increase in sales as a result of the content they produced.

Pique Their Interest

One approach to content marketing is to feed your audience’s interest with stories they’ll care about. Social media outlets are the go-to providers for quick entertainment, so they make excellent distribution channels for beginning marketers.

“Social media is a great platform for getting your story out. It’s free, for the most part, other than time. If you spend some time doing that you can develop a really good community,” Laeger said.

“In the car wash industry, owners would really want to tap into car lovers. Talk about people who love their cars and the effort that goes into to making their cars everything they want them to be,” she said. To get started, car wash operators can create an Instagram page dedicated to daily pics and news about luxury cars, using hashtags to attract local auto enthusiasts.

An Educational Approach

According to Pulizzi, there are three essential requirements for effective content marketing: identify one audience, provide them with useful content and keep doing so over a long period of time. This combination bore fruit for the Virginia-based small business River Pools and Spas.

“They developed a blog a few years back, answering key customer questions like the difference between a fiberglass and concrete pool, how much a pool would cost, and delivered the blog to customers consistently for years,” Pulizzi said. “Three years later, they went from fifth in their market to selling more fiberglass pools than anyone else in North America.”

With a little dedication, car wash operators can take a similar approach, becoming the car care authorities in their local markets.

“The first step is to figure what content would be useful for a business like yours — the answer to that is always content that answers the biggest questions your customers and prospects have,” Jantsch said. “Make a list of the top questions you get and you’ll have a nice starting place for a dozen blog posts or videos.”

As operators consistently publish relevant online media, they will gain greater access to potential customers in two ways. First, the additional visits to their operations’ websites will cause them to pop up sooner when people Google nearby car washes. Second, these operators can zero in on their target audience by offering email subscriptions, which 91 percent of businesses in CMI’s 2017 report identified as the most important channel of content distribution.

The Future of Content Marketing

Pulizzi believes email has emerged as a trend because businesses wanted more control over their communication. He also sees two other trends emerging: “Podcasts are really starting to take off, and small and medium-sized businesses are buying smaller media companies or industry influencers’ blogs.”

Regardless of trends, the basic recipe for successful content marketing remains the same.

“Those who commit to content marketing and truly deliver value to their customers and prospects will see success,” Pulizzi said. “Those who deliver sporadically, those who aren’t telling a truly differentiated story, and those who don’t focus on building an audience won’t be successful.”

According to the CMI website, content marketing is over two centuries old. An early example includes Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack, created to promote the inventor’s printing business. Still older than content marketing is storytelling itself. Together, these two classic strategies bust through the limitations of conventional ads. Rather than just seeking to profit from people, storytelling and content marketing set their sights higher.

The goal is no longer purely a matter of dollars and cents; it’s about trust, service and teaching. And most customers would agree — those qualities trump saving a few dollars any day.