What do you know about story-driven marketing and advertising?
If you’re doing it correctly, your intended audience can easily see themselves being the hero of the story.
Storytelling advertising is particularly effective with millennials who strongly believe in doing social good.
You can use video content, native advertising, influencer marketing and other types of advertising materials to tell a compelling story, all these stories need to have certain elements in common.
Brand story marketing must be original, relevant and unique.
Point of View
While you need to find a way to incorporate your product into the story, the hero needs to be the customer using your product. It’s easy to do this when you show your product transforming the life of a customer. Your targeted audience can relate to this customer as being just like them.
Stop and think about the best story-driven marketing you have seen. Perhaps, John Deere comes to mind as they put the farmer at the center of almost every ad that they publish. Or perhaps it is Nike as they put the all-star athlete center stage. Alternatively, it might be Lego who always has a child playing with their toys in their ads. Or maybe it’s Airbnb who consistently shows a client having a great time while on vacation.
Regardless of which company pops into your mind, these companies have created winning campaigns based on members of their targeted audience. Their intended audience can easily see themselves being the hero of the story.
Let us face it, we all want to be a hero. These companies rely on that fact by writing authentic story marketing that their targeted audience easily relates to when they hear or see it.
Consistent
Your company’s message needs to be consistent across all advertising mediums. That message needs to clearly enunciate that customers who use your product can become a hero themselves.
Many companies have used the same character in their story-driven marketing for many years.
Charmin Bath Tissue used Mr. Whipple from 1964 to 1985 to remind customers how incredibly soft their bath tissue was. While Palmolive used Madge the Manicurist to remind customers that they could have soft hands even if they hand-washed dishes for more than 27 years. Kentucky Fried Chicken used its founder Colonel Sanders to deliver the message that they had the best chicken. And Orville Redenbacher convinced people that he had the best popcorn ever.
If you’re interested in using story marketing for your own company, it may be easier than you think. Think about ads that you have seen that could resonate with your company. Then, copy those ideas transforming them so that they deliver your company’s message.
In fact, the best story-driven marketing ideas usually come from combining ideas from commercials that have left an impact on you.
Emotional
In order to have an emotional impact on customers, your brand story marketing must show that your product allowed a member of your targeted audience to overcome a problem. In a very short time frame, story marketing must build suspense on how a customer will overcome a specific challenge. The person watching the ad must be inspired to see themselves as the main character in the ad. Even if they are only watching Colonel Sanders or the Lonely Repairman for Maytag.
The trick in using authentic story marketing is not only to create emotions in the targeted audience member, but also to cause them to want to take action.
Demonstrate Expertise
If you stop and study those iconic commercials, then you notice that they all show their expertise.
Mr. Whipple would squeeze the Charmane to prove how soft it was. Madge always showed her hands after doing dishes to prove how Palmolive left her hands soft. In doing so, you show your product is a leader in its area. You cause the customer to want to rush to the computer to order your product or to put it on their list the next time they go to the store.
Authentic
Audiences have a way of spotting fake advertising. Therefore, it is important that you be authentic.
Brand story marketing must be believable to your targeted audience allowing them to know that they can trust your company. Simple stories usually work best. This marketing should start out by presenting a problem that your targeted audience can easily relate to, before showing how your product is the perfect solution. It’s critical, however, that the story not end there. But that it shows how a customer can go on to build their own success story by using your product. In doing so, you allow the customer to feel like the hero in their own story. In turn, and over time, this will lead to your company cultivating loyal customers.
Be the Right Length
Most people in North America see over 5,000 marketing messages every day. And most North Americans see more than 382 ads each day. Therefore, it can be very difficult to make your message stand out from the onslaught of advertising. In fact, people tune out more than 296 ads every day, and they are only moved to act on less than a dozen ads that they see each day.
If you are interested in using authentic story marketing to connect with your audience in a memorable way, then contact us. We will be glad to help you show you how to create a story making your customers heroes by inspiring them to use your products to solve their problems.
