
Storytelling is an ancient art form that has been used for centuries to convey information, entertain, and connect with others. In more recent years, it’s become an increasingly popular marketing strategy for brands looking to engage with their audiences.
Storytelling is a powerful tool that allows us to share experiences, communicate emotions, and inspire action. It isn’t an opportunity to be funny or to rant, lecture, or be a martyr. It is an opportunity to connect with others, especially those who may not understand or even be aware of your business.
In this blog, we will explore why storytelling is so important for start-up brands and how it can help to create a lasting impact.
It makes the brand relatable
At its core, storytelling is about human connection.
By telling a story, brands can create an emotional connection with their audience, making their brand more relatable. When a brand shares a story, it humanises itself, making it easier for customers to connect with and relate to the brand on a personal level. This creates a stronger bond between the customer and the brand, increasing the chances of brand loyalty and advocacy.
As an example, Dove has become a trailblazer of impactful, relatable campaigns around self-image and beauty standards. Their campaigns tell stories of real girls and women, highlighting dangers, showcasing real beauty and promoting positive body image.
By telling these stories, Dove was able to create an emotional connection with its audience, making the brand more relatable; humanising it. Masses of people shared and engaged with the content, which was also discussed across a multitude of digital channels. Overall, the success of the campaign helped to increase brand loyalty and advocacy among its target audience.
It creates a memorable experience
People are more likely to remember a story than a list of features or benefits.
Stories are memorable because they engage the imagination and create an emotional response. When a brand tells a story, it creates a memorable experience that stays with the customer long after they have left the store or website.
For example, the “Share a Coke” campaign by Coca-Cola was a great example of how storytelling can create a memorable experience. The campaign featured personalised Coca-Cola bottles with names on them, encouraging people to share a Coke with someone they care about. The campaign became a phenomenon, with shop shelves left in disarray as customers scrambled to find the names of friends and loved ones.
By personalising the bottles and encouraging people to share them, Coca-Cola created a memorable experience that resonated with its target audience and helped to increase brand awareness and sales.
It helps to differentiate the brand
In today’s crowded marketplace, it can be difficult for brands to stand out from the competition. Even more so for start-ups starting from scratch, with no brand awareness.
Storytelling provides the opportunity to differentiate your brand by creating a unique identity and personality, linked to your purpose and values. By telling a story that is unique to the business brand, it helps to differentiate it from the competition and make it more memorable.
Spotify’s launch of its personalised “Wrapped” feature swamped social media with millions of its users sharing their listening trends. This campaign tapped into the holy grail of storytelling by making it not about the brand, but about the customer (or other stakeholders) and reinforced their mission of “…unlocking the potential of human creativity”.
Customers lapped it up as it was a unique look into their habits, unseen at other streaming brands.
It builds trust and credibility
Storytelling can also help to build trust and credibility with customers.
When a brand tells a story that is authentic and genuine, it helps to build trust with its audience. This is because people are more likely to trust a brand that is transparent and honest about its values, beliefs, and behaviour.
Burt’s Bees is a great example of authentic links between brand values and end products. Established by an artist and beekeeper, their approach has always been to provide a rather wide range (350+!) of natural products which are good for skin as well as the nature from which they’re derived from, harking back to harvesting honey from their bees.
Their next-level content talks not only about their products, but about nature and how they are actively giving back. While this is now something that’s a top priority for brands, the longevity of Burt’s Bees’ ethos, established in 1984, cements the authenticity of their commitment.
It inspires action
When a brand tells a story that resonates with its audience, it can inspire them to take action. This can be in the form of a purchase, a social media share, or a call to action.
Storytelling helps people understand, remember, and accept new ideas. Even if your audience starts out as critical, by using a storytelling technique, you can shift their mood towards empathy, cooperation and in support of your message.
Toms Shoes “One for One” campaign is a great example of how storytelling can inspire empathetic action. It tells the story of a young American traveler who befriended children in a village in Argentina and noticed that they had no shoes to protect their feet. Inspired by this experience, he started TOMS Shoes, a company that donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of shoes sold.
By telling this story, TOMS Shoes was able to inspire its audience to take action by purchasing a pair of shoes that would make a difference in the lives of children in need.
In today’s crowded marketplace, where consumers are bombarded with messages from multiple channels, storytelling is an effective way for brands to cut through the noise and create a lasting impact. For more useful articles, please visit our blog.
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
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