Firstly, I wanted to note the sad passing of Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II recently, which has been felt worldwide, not just in the UK. She always captured the hearts and minds of her audience when she undertook her Queen’s Speech and at other times in our history.
It was national Roal Dahl story week this week in the UK, and I was thinking about how this topic is increasingly important for leaders of state, nations, and for brands in an increasingly noisy, politically challenging, and divisive world. Storytelling has long been a part of human communication. It is an important tool for conveying a message, preserving culture, and connecting people.
For brands, storytelling can be a powerful way to connect with audiences and create an emotional connection.
So today I delve into storytelling a little more and explore how it is used every day by brands to connect deeper, and some tips on how to get started or refine your own message.
Let’s dive in.
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Full Transcript (unedited)
Firstly, I wanted to note the sad passing of Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II recently, which has been felt worldwide, not just in the UK. She always captured the hearts and minds of her audience when she undertook her Queen’s Speech and at other times in our history.
It was national Roal Dahl story week this week in the UK, and I was thinking about how this topic is increasingly important for leaders of state, nations and for brands in an increasingly noisy, politically challenging and divisive world. Storytelling has long been a part of human communication. It is an important tool for conveying a message, preserving culture, and connecting people.
For brands, storytelling can be a powerful way to connect with audiences and create an emotional connection.
So today I delve into storytelling a little more and explore how it is used every day by brands to connect deeper, and some tips on how to get started or refine your own message.
Let’s dive in.
So first of all, some housekeeping – what’s the difference?
A brand story is a narrative that defines how a company positions itself and differentiates itself from the competition.
Brand storytelling is the process and strategy of sharing that story with the goal of connecting with an audience. Storytelling has been used for centuries as a way to communicate and connect with others. The use of stories in marketing began as a way to make a connection with potential customers, and it is predicted to continue to be an important part of marketing in the future because it is an authentic way to connect with consumers on an emotional level.
Storytelling has been around for thousands of years, and it has been used for everything from entertainment to education. In recent years, however, it has become increasingly popular as a marketing tool. Storytelling can be an effective way to connect with an audience and communicate a brand’s story. It can also be used to build brand equity and create an emotional connection with customers.
There are lots of great examples; some good examples include;
M&S – focuses on quality as a differentiator and is backed up by luxurious content that is aspirational for many people.
Compare the Market (Meerkat) – involves good humour and a central character that people have fallen in love with and remember the brand because of this simple character they created.
John Lewis is a UK Retail brand’ and creates great stories around Christmas time, in particular, the key o which is nostalgia which is why people remember them and want to engage with them as a brand. Strong links to their history and longevity as a brand too.
How to get started?
There are a few things to keep in mind when beginning to tell stories about your brand. Firstly, it’s important to have a clear goal in mind for your storytelling. What is the message you want to communicate? What is the story you want to tell?
I like to use a process of the ‘five whys’ when drilling down into why your audience or different sections of your audience should care. This involves working as a team to interrogate the story you are telling and really think bout how people will connect with what you are trying to say and what actions you need them to take as a result.
When this can make a real difference is when comparing products.
Most of us will weigh up the pros and cons of each product, but if we also engage in the product in a way that sets it apart from the competition, then it’s likely to away our decision. Whatever the format, there’s no denying that a well-told story has a powerful impact on its audience. In fact, there’s an often-cited statistic claiming that messages delivered as stories can be up to 22 times more memorable than just the facts, apparently, though I can’t find the source of that figure.
But it’s not just good practice or a tool to cut through the noise.
Something happens in our brains when we hear a story.
One is language processing, and the other is a chemical reaction. When we hear stories, our brains release oxytocin, the bonding hormone that causes us to really care about the people involved. This is why we sometimes treat our favourite fictional characters as real people, why sharing personal stories is the fastest way to bond with strangers, and why storytelling is a politician’s best weapon.
Not only are we hearing about somebody’s experience, but we’re living it right along with them. The more of their experience we share, the more oxytocin is released, and the more likely we are to internalize that story and think about it later. This is why stories are so powerful.
Whilst this area is dominated by marketers, there are takeaways for social media and content across the board for your business/project or organization. Internally storytelling is an effective way to engage your employees and connect with leadership and initiatives around the workplace.
In PR and Comms, it can transform the way you engage on social media and through your website and blog, through speeches and presentation scripts, through podcasts and audio, attracting people to your website and engaging audiences across the board. Well-honed brand storytelling that engages people in your brand can be a differentiator in terms of how you can explain a complex subject to the media to be considered for interviews.
I’d love to know what you think of this episode and how you have used brand storytelling.