Storytelling

Storytelling Matters in Marketing

There is no sure path to success in marketing. But the ONE sure path to failure is NOT having a strategy. Great strategies get ONE thing right. Story. I believe storytelling is a proven path to growing brand desire, brand equity, and business profitability. Brands can get a lot of things wrong, but if brands have a clear story, they have a chance to win. To develop an effective story a brand must create messaging that will break through the noise with clarity. In the Digital Age we are encircled with media noice and a glut of information. Although, when a compelling story is shared it cuts through the noice.

Why is storytelling so powerful? Why is storytelling such a compelling way to share marketing messages?

Storytelling has always fascinated me. I have used storytelling time and time again to design strategies and then content that brings the strategy to life. It’s an invaluable tool that converts a simple business into a brand, and one-time shoppers into loyal advocates.

Humans Are Hardwired For Stories

The human mind is a biological engine built by evolution to constantly create and consume stories.

Stories affect us physically and mentally. If the main character is in a tight corner, our hearts race, we breathe faster, and sweat more. When consuming a sad story, we frown, or even cry. In brain studies, researchers have seen that no matter if someone is having a physical experience or they are watching a movie where the main character is having that experience, the same areas of the brain light up.

The fact that stories help humans remember important messages can be substantiated by the work of cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner. He states that messages delivered as stories can be up to 22x more memorable.

Brand and Product Storytelling

As marketers we use storytelling within the Marketing Funnel to drive demand and pull people from awareness to purchase. What we often forget are the steps a person takes from stage to stage. Marketers sometimes focus so much on checklists, they forget that their funnel is actually built-in awareness stages. For example, the funnel leads people from unaware to problem aware and solution aware to product aware. These Awarenesses Stages match-up to the Marketing Funnel stages and provides a framework to formulate story with every consumer touch-point.

Take the example of a company selling a product. At Company A, they present a new product in a video with feature call outs as a product spins and rotates. At Company B, their video introduces a person of influence that tells a rich story about how they overcame an obstacle with the help of said product that allowed them to live and ideal lifestyle. Company A shoppers come away knowing a list of product features. Company B shoppers had a human connection with a like-minded person that recommended using a product to reach an ideal state of living. They pointed out the key benefits of the product that best elevated their life and overcame a shared pain. The shoppers have been inspired with new knowledge, new thinking, and new hope to draw on. They’ve been influenced. They’ve built trust.

Consumers buy stories, not product features

There’s an old saying that “great products sell themselves,” which means if you have an excellent product, you don’t need to do much to sell it. This isn’t always true. Even the faithful marketing funnel has a bunch of leaks and holes in it. Between the top and the bottom, most people leak out.

Seth Godin believes, “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but the stories you tell.

Infusing storytelling into your marketing funnel strategy will help brands and their products stand out. Stories don't replace tactical consumer touch-points, but when injected into the Awareness Stages the touch-points amplify trust.

The customer’s Journey should be the hero’s journey

Each stage of the funnel requires intentional content to pull a customer from awareness to purchase. An important thread from stage to stage is that the brand is not the hero of a customer’s journey. By flipping it and allowing the customer to be the hero and the brand a guide, application of the famed Hero’s Journey is introduced. People want to be the hero’s of their stories. To be a hero, they seek for success and help from a guide. 

This is the same formula blockbuster movies follow and what pulls us in as we watch these movies. Luke Skywalker had Yoda and a light saber. Harry Potter had Professor Dumbledore and a wand. Both struggled with conflict and overcame their obstacles with a guide and an item of importance. As a brand of physical products, be the guide that inspires customers and allow them to be a hero that views your product as the important item that helps them live their ideal life. Help them see themselves as the hero and they will buy and buy-in to your brand story.