All brands seek to attract their potential clients’ attention. So, you attempt to come up with funny tweets, publish attractive photos, create a memorable logo and discover the ideal brand look. While all of these initiatives are wonderful strategies to develop a brand and attract your audience’s attention, you’ll need something extra to keep them engaged. You specifically require a distinctive brand story to share.
According to one research, 92% of customers preferred brand advertising that seemed like they were telling a story and 55% of consumers who loved a brand’s narrative were more inclined to buy their items.
In order to understand how storytelling and marketing go hand-in-hand, it should be vital to understand what storytelling is, from scratch and by what means it seems to carry such importance.
What Exactly is Storytelling Marketing
In advertising or marketing, storytelling is simply the confluence of two crucial elements: written expression and visual creative. These two elements of your brand should collaborate to produce a consistent brand story that engages your consumers and showcases the value of your product – all while seeming real and natural. We’ve all encountered businesses that make us cringe, either because their marketing doesn’t reflect their brand’s personality or because it doesn’t communicate to their target demographic. Good storytelling marketing is the polar opposite of that — creating a tale that is so engaging that acquiring the brand’s goods or service becomes seamless. And these stories can be communicated in a variety of ways, from social media to billboards. Stories may assist marketers in gaining a competitive advantage in the industry as well. But above all, you may wonder, what exactly are those factors that determine a good story-line, after all?
Features Of A Good Storyline
A good narrative does not have to be one that everyone can relate to. In reality, in the framework of a good tale, I’d want to advise you on how to make your story content-rich. The impact would be ten times better if it is authentic and your audience actually witnesses some hard work done by you and your team. Let’s go through a few key points that you must not overlook while writing and working on your narrative:
Good plot
Good storytelling is established by the kind of plot it’s based on. This keeps the audience interested and intrigued about what’s next. Make sure that the experiences you’re about to impart are effective enough to stay in your audience’s minds.
The relatability factor
Good brand stories are based on ordinary occurrences that are relatable to everyone and rely on the emotions and experiences that the majority of people go through on a daily basis. Most successful business tycoons have a back-story of their achievement. And when this back-story is shared with the audience, they are able to relate through your experience and incorporate the same values as you’ve worked on with.
Memorable
Write anything you want, but make it linger in the minds of your viewers by incorporating a memorable character, narrative or emotions. Think of a firm’s catch-phrase or even their tagline. These catch-phrases/taglines differentiate the brand from their competition and develop a meaningful connection, simultaneously.
For instance:
- Loreal-because you’re worth it
- KFC– It’s finger lickin’ good
- MasterCard– There are some things that money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s a MasterCard
- McDonalds– I’m lovin’ it
- KitKat– Have a break. Have a KitKat
Something to learn from
A good brand story both inspires and educates their audiences. Remember Nike’s advertisement- “The Chance?” Although most of Nike’s ads are extraordinary and we all remember them, but this one has a special place in the viewer’s minds. The ad demonstrates that if we have zeal and wear Nike, we can make a spectacular return in life. This commercial was fantastic, narrated by Spike Lee and beautifully shot.
Flow that makes sense
A good flow adheres to a consistent framework that aids in the delivery of the main idea and allows readers to comprehend it. Whilst delivering your own company experience ride, you wouldn’t want to place the facts and incidents any way you want, right? It’s important to make sure that the details you share make sense and this can be accomplished when your information doesn’t seem over-shared or inadequately shared. Therefore, work on a proper flow.
But What is The Quintessential Strategy For Storytelling Marketing?
Without storytelling, it is impossible to engage and reinforce purpose. As a marketer, you must be able to tie your own personal beliefs and motivations to the goal of your firm and convey that brand story to your audience. This form of story is required for customers to listen to you and be motivated to participate in your brand’s mission.
And how do you go about doing this?
Marshall Ganz, a storytelling instructor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, suggests using this easy 3-step structure to create captivating, purpose-driven tales for your brand:
The Self Factor
In order to make the “self” factor sound most impactful, make sure you have a wonderful narrative to give. Factors like your own personal experience; the way they’ve shaped you and your perception of the world can potentially become the most basic principles your company would further rely on. A good example and demonstration of this “self” factor can be witnessed in Steve Jobs’ 2015 commencement address at Stanford University.
If you notice, Jobs, over there, had shared four of his most personal experiences that became the main principle of his own life-
- His humble middle-class upbringing
- Dropping out of college
- Founding and then getting fired by Apple
- Cancer diagnosis
His words ensure that people don’t just learn from him, but they are also encouraged to live their lives to the fullest.
The Us Factor
The “us” factor relies on how you manage to connect your values with the audience’s values with an intention to broader your company’s vision. If you weave your personal story of you and your business partner with the experience of your audience, you’d end up establishing a common narrative on both ends. In addition to that, your own story of establishing a reputation and gaining success would be enough to capture the audience’s attention.
Take an example of Warner Brothers.
The Warner Brothers firm, formed in Culver City (California) by Sam, Jack, Albert and Harry Warner. They needed some time to identify the place they’re working for. Beginning with direct distribution of media, the brothers quickly transitioned to production after seeing how much more profitable it was. They are now associated with some of the most memorable films of all time. Plus, we’re all familiar with many of their great productions. This simply shows how collective value is sold in the market and amidst the people out there.
The Now Factor
The last, but definitely not the least factor that acts as a straight-up content marketing strategy is the “now” factor. The “now” factor acts as a call-to-action alert for your audience expecting who all would like to join them in their vision.
Take the public benefit corporation “Kickstarter” as an example.
Consider how Kickstarter invites potential applicants to join their team. Their story opens with the creator Perry Chen, describing his motivation for starting Kickstarter (the “self”). The next portion of the website provides images and brief bios for each member of the Kickstarter team (the “us”). The story concludes with a call to action on their careers website, in which potential candidates are asked: “Love Kickstarter? You’ll be right at home.” People may browse and apply for all current available positions by clicking.
The whole point is that these successful firm stories are authentic and they are derived from people who are just like you and us. They initially work on building a common narrative and then they connect with their audience by further offering ways to join their community and reach out to them.
The Final Take-Away!
When it comes to improving connections, look no further than the earned-shared-owned ecosystem to see how they complement one another to create an advocacy campaign that can take your narrative to the next level. At the end of the day, storytelling is a key part of any branded content marketing effort; not only how you tell your story, but how individuals who connect with your brand, goods and services tell it.
