Story-telling has emerged as a preferred mode of subtle marketing by organizations. Customers are getting hooked to unique stories. However a mistake that a lot of company founders are committing is telling their personal stories, many of which often do not have a long shelf life. To solve this conundrum, some methods have been identified to pick out most compelling stories. First of all, customers’ pain points need to be understood as Capital One perfectly did. During the business research they conducted on small businesses, they realized that such firms faced the issue of keeping costs down. Thus they developed solutions best suited to small businesses. Customer feedback must be invited as they provide genuine business intelligence on market needs. Occasionally, it also works to give products away for free on trial basis. This allows potential users to have a demo of the product so that when they really need it, they already know the best solutions. Stories also enable customers to advocate for the brand to fellow users. Businesses or customers can also help each other out in this way.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2016/12/10/selling-by-story-telling-the-best-stories-succeed-by-putting-customers-first/#61083edb59c4