Most entrepreneurs believe that companies require visionary leadership, incredible product offerings, and marketing strategies to thrive. However, in today’s noisy digital landscape, a brand without a story to share can miss out on significant opportunities. People love to read and hear stories about brands since it creates a human connection. Stories also elicit emotion, create a sense of nostalgia, and help users to cultivate information. Therefore, marketers worldwide are using the power of storytelling to improve branding and conversion rates.
Do you have any idea how storytelling works? In simple words, storytelling is the act of sharing a message in the form of a story. You can talk about your brand’s emergence, values, mission, and vision to connect with audiences. Likewise, you can share a useful narrative, discuss what motivates your team, and speak highly of your customers. In addition to sharing the brand vision, stories can make people understand how your products add value to their lives.
If you are ready to jump on this bandwagon, let us show you the ropes. Here are five tips to help you design a successful storytelling marketing campaign.
1. Choose a Story Medium
Surprisingly, brand stories can take different shapes and forms. Some brands want people to read their stories, while others wish to make their audiences listen and watch. So, what do you prefer? Depending on your story type and resources, you can choose from countless story mediums. You can use conventional blog posts and articles to put your brand story across.
However, if you want to cover every detail, consider creating an eBook. You can look into eBook examples and pick an appealing template to attract customers. You can also add images related to your brand, working environment, and employees in the eBook. It will help people connect with the story better, improving engagement. Similarly, you can also utilize digital stories by creating videos. You can create emotionally resonant stories by displaying visuals with some engaging sound effects.
2. Involve Customers
As the entire purpose of brand storytelling is to strike an emotional connection with the customers, consider involving them in the campaign. After all, today’s modern-day customers would also like to be a part of brand stories. Thus, start thinking of ways to get your audience involved. For startups, you can create user-generated content to demonstrate an interest in your customers’ opinions. Similarly, you can also share customers’ stories in your brand story to make them feel a part of your business.
Moreover, invite customers to share their images with your brand’s products and services. You can ask them to share a story with a picture and add it to the storytelling campaign. For instance, if you sell coffee, people can share how coffee makes their day more productive with the hashtag #morningswithespresso.
3. Be Authentic & Consistent
Transparency is crucial when it comes to storytelling. You have to demonstrate the brand’s human aspect to build a stronger connection with the audience. Hence, talk about the failures and challenges you faced as an entrepreneur while starting the business. Likewise, you can showcase and explain how things are done in your business. If you manufacture clothes or use local ingredients to prepare meals at your restaurant, use these details to craft an interesting story.
Above all, your brand story should be consistent across every channel. You have to use the same colors, logs, and print marketing so that people can resonate with the brand. Also, feel free to repeat the vocabulary associated with your business since it creates brand awareness in audiences’ eyes.
4. Create a Cohesive Brand Narrative
As part of the storytelling campaign, you have to create a brand narrative to convey your brand’s value. Firstly, find your brand’s unique selling proposition (USP) and determine what makes it special. You can utilize USP as a starting point from where you can build an aspirational and compelling brand story. Likewise, highlight your company’s mission and vision to leave a lasting impression on readers.
Moreover, it is best to cover the brand’s history in the narrative. You can talk about how it has evolved, future goals, the key product and service offerings, and core values. If you believe in giving it back to society, include it in your brand narrative. Once you develop a clear brand narrative, break it down into sections. In addition to making the story more engaging, you can extract quotes for social media campaigns.
5. Upgrade the Endings
After crafting an impeccable brand story, most marketers end the story with an economic benefit. You might think it is a smart way to conclude, but it has no anchoring in a personal or emotional outcome. In addition to being unsatisfying, a shallow ending can damage your well-built reputation. After all, your audience has human needs that go beyond rational and economic value.
Therefore, upgrade your endings and determine what readers want. You can have an open-ended story ending where customers can give their input. Similarly, you can wrap up the story by inviting the audience to co-create an ending by sharing their stories. However, remember that a great ending doesn’t have to be perfect; instead, you have to keep it honest and straightforward.
Final Thoughts
Storytelling is an ongoing process because every day, business grows, shifts, and overcomes hurdles, which adds new chapters to the story. Therefore, every brand should start a storytelling marketing campaign to attract and retain customers. You have to pick a suitable medium, bring customers on board, and create a brand narrative. Once your initial brand story is ready, continue the campaign by updating people about recent business developments and the emerging challenges.