Storytelling is a powerful way to engage your audience emotionally. Through stories, your brand creates more authentic and long-lasting customer relationships.
Why should you weave storytelling into your marketing strategy?
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- A study conducted by Jennifer Aaker at Standford Graduate School of Business found that people are 22 times more likely to remember information when presented in story format than when they receive facts or data.
- Stories resonate with the human heart. Research studies published in the journal Cerebral Cortex found that storytelling activates the emotional and sensory areas of the brain, thus making the story more memorable.
- People have always been telling stories. Person-to-person transmission has evolved today to podcasts and interactive videos.
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In today’s hyper-digitized, hyper-speed, and fiercely competitive marketplace, you need strategies to break through the digital noise. Storytelling enhances memory retention, brand recall, and emotional engagement.
So let’s talk about how you can weave storytelling into your market strategy.
Understand Your Audience.
Your brand story is more than sharing the history of your business, its values, mission, and vision. You do want to share these critical pieces of information with your customer base. And they should guide everything you do. But your brand story goes a step further.
Creating buyer personas is critical to a successful marketing campaign. All messaging must address their pain points, motivations, interests, and aspirations.
Use research tools such as surveys and social media monitoring to gain insights into your target audience’s preferences, needs, and values.
Go deeper than demographics and dive into behavioral, intent, and psychographics to create segmented customer personas.
Create A Compelling Brand Story
Airbnb’s brand story is themed “Belong Anywhere.” The founders of Airbnb had a vision—create a way for anyone worldwide to earn income from their home. Their first vision was creating income equality. They combined this vision to create a unique and authentic travel experience for global tourists. The platform was born—connecting hosts and travelers worldwide, generating a feeling of belonging, cultural exchange, and human connections. Airbnb’s storytelling has contributed to building trust, leading to customer loyalty and repeat bookings.
Patagonia’s brand story revolves around the themes of sustainability and environmental responsibility. Through impactful storytelling, the brand has attracted environmentally conscious consumers who identify with the brand’s values. Patagonia has succeeded in building a loyal customer base even in the face of stiff competition.
These are only two examples of how to successfully weave storytelling into your marketing strategy to form emotional bonds with your customers and cultivate brand loyalty.
So, how can you weave storytelling into your marketing strategy?
Clarify your brand’s values.
What does your brand stand for? What are the beliefs and principles that drive your business? Do these values align with the values of your target audience? Weave your core values into your brand stories to develop authentic and meaningful customer engagement.
Identify your unique selling proposition.
What sets your brand apart from your competitors? What unique benefits do your customers receive from your products or services? Your unique selling proposition will be an essential element of your brand story.
Create an engaging origin story.
You don’t have to be Patagonia, Coca-Cola, or Apple to create an engaging story of why you started your business.
Talk about your passion, challenges, and the vision that drove you to start your brand.
An engaging origin story will humanize your brand and connect with your audience emotionally. And as we see from the studies above, an emotional connection leads to higher memory. Your potential customer may not be ready to buy from you now. But when they are, they’ll remember your brand name.
Use compelling visuals.
Visual elements play a critical role in storytelling. Use the information you gathered during the process of refining your brand personality. Choose visuals that align with your brand story and will create memory in the hearts and minds of your target audience.
Incorporate emotion.
Weave storytelling into your marketing strategy by sharing experiences your audience can relate to. Stories that evoke inspiration, joy, and empathy will connect with your audience in a way that results in long-term relationships.
Create Different Content Types
Weave stories throughout your digital marketing content. Blogs, videos, podcasts, and social media posts offer creative opportunities to connect with your audience through impactful storytelling. Here are some ideas.
Your website blog.
Utilize your blog articles to tell in-depth, behind-the-scene stories about your business. Include personal anecdotes, case studies, and other subjects that allow for interactive engagement. Understanding your audience enables you to write blog articles that relate to different interests or pain points.
Videos
Even if you have a very small or no team, you can still tap into the power of video storytelling to connect with your customers on a heart level. For example, let’s say you are a jewelry designer or artist. Video the process you go through when creating your craft. Music, imagery, and voiceovers make emotionally engaging videos that your customers will remember. Your videos can be shared on multiple platforms in long-form, short-form, or attention-grabbing clips for promos.
Podcasts
Launching a podcast program is much easier today than before, but it still requires a commitment and a lot of advance work. If you have the resources, a podcast program is a powerful way to grow brand awareness, differentiate yourself in the marketplace, and build your brand community. And, of course, the format itself is perfect for storytelling. Narratives, interviews, and in-depth discussions will draw listeners to your podcast.
For your listeners, podcasts provide an easy way to consume information while commuting, exercising, or relaxing at home. Telling your brand narrative, conducting interviews, or engaging in discussions draw listeners to your podcast. If starting your podcast channel is impossible, seek opportunities to share your story on other podcasts.
Social media posts
Social media platforms are perfect for visually appealing storytelling content. Use short narratives and engaging videos or images to grab your audience’s attention quickly. When creating your storytelling content, think about what will stop the scroll. You have a few seconds to draw your audience to your content. Include stories from your customers. Word-of-mouth marketing still reigns, and studies prove that consumers trust what they hear from other consumers more than what brands say.
Customer Success Stories
Social proof builds trust and credibility for your brand. As noted earlier, people believe what others say more than what companies say. Impactful customer success stories enable your audience to envision themselves benefitting from your products or services. You should incorporate testimonials and user-generated content across all your marketing channels. For example, include a video or customer quote on every website page. Encourage your customers to share their experiences with your brand on their social media channels.
So, how do you identify and create authentic testimonials for your storytelling efforts?
Monitor customer feedback and reviews.
Be sure someone on your team is responsible for regularly monitoring customer feedback and review sites such as Google Reviews and Yelp. Look for positive reviews and experiences demonstrating satisfaction with your products or services.
Engage with brand advocates.
Identify customers who frequently leave positive comments or feedback on your website and social media posts. They have strongly supported your business and will likely be enthusiastic about serving as brand ambassadors.
Create customer success stories campaigns.
Launch a campaign to invite your customers to share their experiences with your products or services. Use your website, social media channels, and email newsletters to promote the campaign.
Monitor social media mentions.
Use social listening tools to learn what people say about your brand and hashtags. Identify posts that express customer satisfaction with your products or services. Contact the authors and ask if you can interview them to create testimonials for your website and social media channels.
Offer incentives.
People are busy, and even your most-satisfied customers may not want to take time away from other things to share their experiences with your brand. A little nudge, such as exclusive offers, special discounts, or gifts, can encourage them to participate in interviews.
Create Ongoing Story Campaigns
Our last tip for how to weave storytelling into your marketing strategy focuses on continuity.
The market is constantly evolving, as are consumer preferences and how they access and share information.
Your story should evolve too.
Creating an ongoing storytelling campaign that unfolds over time is a great way to weave storytelling into your marketing strategy. Your audience will stay engaged and ready to hear more as the story unfolds. Some examples include,
LEGO – “Rebuild the World” campaign, which launched in 2019. The campaign focuses on imagination, problem-solving, and creativity through playing with LEGO bricks. Stories of children and adults using LEGO bricks to build worlds and solve challenges have contributed to LEGO’s long-term success and positive brand image worldwide.
DOVE – “Real Beauty” campaign, which launched in 2004. The campaign celebrates diversity in beauty and promotes positive body image and self-esteem. The campaign has captured a global audience’s hearts, leading to increased brand loyalty and a positive brand image.
Bottom Line
Let’s review. How can you weave storytelling into your marketing strategy?
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- Understand your audience
- Create a compelling brand story
- Design different content types
- Feature customer success stories
- Launch ongoing story campaigns
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Storytelling is a powerful tool to humanize your brand and build long-lasting connections with your consumer audience. Remember to conclude every post, article, or email with a CTA inviting readers to share their experiences with your brand, leave a review or serve as a brand ambassador.
Are you using storytelling in your marketing campaigns? Please let us know in the comment box below. Are you interested in a content audit? Contact us today, and let’s get started.
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