The Power of Digital Stories to Interlock Customers with Your Small Business
The power of digital brand storytelling is the ability to weave your customers into your Business. My fondest childhood memories are sitting on the floor next to my grandmother’s (Cucu’s) dainty feet and listening to her folktales. She told fables passed on from generation to generation. My Cucu told allegories of ogres, haughty girls, shrewd animals, wise women and cowardly men, but those were different days and different times.
The Power of Stories to Travel in Time and Space
The power of storytelling remains true even today; stories tend to draw us closer to the storyteller’s tales. Stories help us learn a lesson, travel in time and identify with the antagonist or protagonist in the story. All this from the comfort of our home.
A Constant Stream of Content Demanding Your Customer’s Attention
In the digital world that we live in, we are constantly inundated with brand content. Brand content that comes in the form of adverts on traditional and digital platforms. Every brand and Business want our valued attention. The situation is even worse because we are not allowed to switch off. We have smartphones, tablets, emails that keep us engaged, sometimes glued to our screens. As a business owner, you have the challenge of cutting through the ‘content’ clutter to capture and captivate the mind and heart of your target audience. The struggle is real!
Storytelling That Resonates with Your Tribe Must Address the Elephant in The Room.
Some big brands have been able to unlock the power of digital storytelling and tapped into its ability to heal the unspoken negative associations of being different. In particular, these brands have been able to spin a positive narrative of how the world looks at women’s beauty and sporting ability. Dove TM a personal care brand from Unilever. Dove grew from a simple moisturising Bar and spread its brand footprints into haircare and skincare. In the last decade, the brand has run a movement called the campaign for real beauty. The main message of the Dove campaign was that women’s unique differences should be celebrated rather than ignored. Dove advocates that physical appearance is not a source of anxiety but a source of confidence. Beauty is for everyone and is in everyone.
Dove Show the Benefits Its Consumer Will Get!
The Dove narrative then goes ahead to invite all women to realise their potential for beauty by engaging them with products that promise to deliver superior care. Do you see how clever they are in weaving their story into their brand? If we break this down further, Dove promises to remove any anxiety or insecurities about beauty. What a powerful message of hope.
Brand Storytelling and The Power of Transformation
Another Blue-chip company, Proctor and Gamble (P&G), also ran a campaign for their Feminine hygiene brand Always TM #likeagirl. Interestingly P&G decided to challenge the many negative associations of the phrase ‘like a girl ‘. The campaign was significant because it addressed the limiting beliefs that girls develop as they go into puberty. Some of these limiting beliefs include and not limited to the fact that they cannot do sports, they are awkward, the body is changing, and in addition to these changes, the demanding academics requirements in school. P&G turned this narrative around and made it OK to be your true authentic self by powerfully portraying the phrase #likeagirl. This is the power of digital storytelling in action !
Always Empowering Women Through Brand Storytelling
Always, the brand was able to connect on a penetrating emotional code with women worldwide. The campaign #likeagirl was very successful in 2014, and it topped viral ads with 54 million views on YouTube alone. The 54 million views do not include the figures for other social media platforms. If you watch the video #likeagirl on YouTube, you will get a little misty.
The Power of Digital Media to Create A Conversation Between Brands and Consumers
Unilever and Procter & Gamble both shared stories that revolved around addressing the loss of self-esteem in women at various stages of their life. Both organisations use the power of digital storytelling to offer an alternative view, one that helps young girls embrace puberty and women of all ages define their own beauty standard.
A Great Story Is Like Painting A Portrait; Everyone Sees Something Different!
Everybody is beautiful, and girls should do things #likeagirl because they are just that – girls. A great story is like a painting. It is the art of drawing a mental picture in the minds of your tribe. In my mind, it’s watercolour so that the colours can easily merge into each other, creating different colour intensities and shades. Share your authentic brand story with your tribe and let everyone else decide for themselves what the painting represents to them.
As a business owner, you have the tools to paint a colourful picture, a beautiful story about your Business.
Storytelling Helps Brand’s Build Engaged Digital Communities
Digital media allows organisations to share their brand Stories with their Tribes. Our Brand stories have to be persuasive, persistent, pervasive, and personalised. Hippos to Horses Marketing believes that each brand is unique. Each brand has to craft a story, that is, as a result of the time spent engaging with your target audience. The time should give your business insights and in-depth understanding into their fears, insecurities and ambitions. Your brand story has to power to amalgamate people with similar needs.
A Growth Mindset to Learn and Apply Storytelling as Part of Your Digital Strategy
As a business owner, you need a growth mindset. To transition to the new way of thinking about content strategy, media strategy, and the role of your consumer in brand engagement. It is true to say that humans connect with storytelling, and that is why stand-up comedians who tap into the psyche of their audience can have sold-out shows. People love a good story.
When they were younger, my kids lived for our bedtime routine, which involved a story or a mixture of stories and songs, something similar to a musical. Brand storytelling draws from this old and vulnerable tradition.
The Seven Basic Plots of Stories
Stories are universal. In his book,’ The seven basic plots when we tell a story.’ Christopher Booker[1]identifies seven global archetypal stories. These seven stories are:
- overcome the monster
- rags to riches,
- the quest
- voyage and return
- comedy
- tragedy
- rebuff
Which of these plots will work for your Business?
People Will Never Forget How You Made Them Feel.
These story archetypes are found in digital brand storytelling as well. Brand messages will resonate with each target audience when it transcends and becomes a story that matters to the people, such as was the case with a dove beauty campaign.
Remember, when people connect emotionally, their guard is down. When the consumer’s guard is down, the brand message can penetrate more profoundly—resulting in having a deeper connection with the consumer. In the words of Maya Angelo, I have learned that people will forget what you said, People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
There is power in sharing a story that has that deep connection with your target consumer. There is venerability on both ends of the spectrum. The Business let its guard come down by sharing a brand story, which in turns makes your customers feel your pain. Emotions draw your audience in and make the connection.
Stories create an emotional connection, which is better than giving a sales speech or information dumping on customers. Stories are sticky. People tend to remember well-crafted stories for a long time. Your Business will be top of mind whenever your customer needs a product from your industry because your narrative lingers on.
New York Bestsellers Are Sometimes Motivational and Nonfiction Narratives
Have you ever read any of Malcolm Gladwell’s books? He is a bestselling author of narrative nonfiction that examines the intersection of science and culture. OR Robin Sharma, another author who writes motivational narrative books? Both these authors teach, explain their principles through stories. Both authors have books that have topped the New York bestseller list. What is your brand story?
Keep the Stories Simple
Memorable stories must be simple. Stories are beautiful tools for taking complicated concepts and boiling them down to the simple essence. The most uncomplicated story is the more meaningful it is to people. Bob Dylan[2] and Agatha Christie[3] kept their writing simple, but both recognised for their contribution to literature.
How Can Brands Use Stories to Engage with Their Consumers?
How can your business use a story to engage with consumers? The trick is to find a midpoint between brand promises and brand benefits. Let your customers know what is in store for them by using your brand.
What problems are your consumers facing? Can your brand eradicate it?
The Motivation That Drives Consumer to Change Their Behaviour
In the last blog, we talked about the power that social media give us into the insights of our tribe. Social media also provides us with a channel to communicate with them in real-time. There is an impact when your Business intersects with people’s passion. Your Business becomes part of the motivation for them to do a set of activities, running, swimming, gardening, Pilates, cook, etc. Do you sell a lifestyle brand? What story are you crafting for your tribe? Is that story good enough to get them moving and keep them motivated?
Your Brands Role In The Story Should Be Like Oxygen Present Everywhere And Invisible
Your brand must be an integral part of the story, yet it cannot enter the story overtly. It’s more like the fairy godmother who helps Cinderella go to the ball.
Your business role in the story is resolving a conflict or obstacle that the heroine faces. In this case, Cinderella, our heroine, needs a ball dress and a coach to go to the ball. And that’s your role like oxygen present but invisible.
Does your Business have great stories to tell? As a business owner, you must find these great stories, develop a process of telling them and have the right people to tell these stories.
Your brand or Business is not the protagonist. Instead, it plays the part of the solution. The central character of the story is the customer. The customer needs and wants must always form the very essence of business.
Stories, Paintings and Tapestry
The effect is often subtle but very impactful. The story is a wrap, and the brand is the weft woven together into an intricate tapestry?
Go ahead and craft your own business story, paint the portrait and weave the tapestry!
[1] Booker, Christopher (2004), The seven basic plots: why we Tell stories , Continuum Books.
[2] Bob Dylan won the Noble prize for literature in 2016.
[3] Agatha Christie she was made a Dame (DBE) for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.