What can storytelling do for your product marketing?
Once upon a time, there was a boy who loved his kitchen set. His father thought that these were great signs of things to come. We’re sure you want to know what ensued next. That’s what stories do to us. And this is not a new phenomenon, throughout history, mankind has delved into and transformed the art of storytelling as per the times. From cave paintings to the big screen and small print, tales of heroes and villains have fascinated and enraptured audiences for millennia. However, did you know that storytelling can do wonders to your brand and product marketing? It’s true! Storytelling is vital to decoding everyday life and everyday business too!
A lot of organizations have flourished and kept their customers glued to them with the use of storytelling. Take for example the case of the mediation app Insight Timer. It has a simple yet straight forward story for new users. The welcome screen talks about stories of the app having helped thousands of others and even has a few forms of social proof to help validate the product’s value.
A lot of brands believe that its story can change consumer perceptions, especially if you want people to become your brand ambassadors and repeat the narrative on your behalf.
A good story helps you feel good and people would want to buy products from brands they can relate to and understand. They wanted to grasp the brand’s values and their commitment to excellence; be inspired and intrigued. Storytelling is by far the best and the most powerful way to convey these ideas.
Mascots are kind of like your product’s hero. Like heroes to a story, they exemplify the main themes of your product. .Look at the case of Customer.io. Ami, their delightfully adorable mascot has done wonders for the customer experience.
It’s a minuscule yet the meaningful emotional connection to a character that feels human and expressive. Ami catches the eye, conveys a friendly personality, and ever since she came to life, the brand discovered that customers are naturally drawn to her.
Move from Linear to Systemic Story-Building
When brands decide to engage in systemic story-building, they start layering communications to form a single narrative. This works much better than the linear storytelling of the past. With systemic story-building, the brand creates the base layers of communication, which helps their audience to know and understand them better through the core idea as well as video executions. Complementing this with content co-created with media partners or created by consumers adds another dimension of reliability and trust for the brand.
Lead from the front
Automotive experts sincerely believe that storytelling in their industry has been vital in marketing campaigns ever since the advent of interactive/social media. This can be something metaphoric, yet simple, like a journey, to something more in-depth, with use of roles and a plot for the more adventurous.
Making your brand play the lead role in any of the cases is really important.
Keep the story simple, uncomplicated and ensure that the brand is intrinsically linked to the story’s message. This can vary from ensuring your brand is known as one that will deliver quality results, to perhaps setting the brand above its rivals, be it as a champion, a maverick, or both.
Get high on EQ
Storytelling can beautifully lend itself to hit that emotional chord with your customers. Tell stories that have happened or at least based on real stories and tell them in a manner that arouses feelings and emotions and makes them think. Do not under any circumstances try and hit that emotional level just for the sake of hitting it for consumers will see right through you.
Be honest. Be true. Be real.
A fitness club used stories to talk about staying fit and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. They inspired their readers and clients with real-life stories of ordinary people who broke the bad habit in ways that were less than ordinary. They touched lives in such a way that readers actually thought emotionally and got into action.
Make them come back for more
Which brand wouldn’t give up an arm or a leg to make its customers or prospects come back for more? And this ‘more’ can take many forms. It could be sales or could be service or a combination of both but the best way to keep them coming back is via storytelling. And good storytelling at that.
Research has put the figure of 100,000 digital words that Americans consume every single day but 92% say they want brands to tell stories in all those words. So don’t just try to impress your prospects and customers with one stat after another. Tell them a story!
Key takeaways:
Stories have an enormous impact on the way people decide to buy. Most middle-class consumers would love a good story and would rather buy something with a positive or interesting backstory, even if the product hurts their pockets a bit. The customers love it when they realize that their coffee is harvested by families in Ecuador who care about the environment and are paid fairly. Likewise, they’ll heartily support decimating a product that is linked to a bad story. And also pat themselves on the back as they give something a second chance because of a redemption story. But if there’s no story behind your product? Good luck.
