Stories are one of the most powerful tools that we use to connect. They introduce a new concept, encourage new ways of thinking, build better relationships, and most importantly, promote change.
Stories stimulate our brain, help us absorb information better, make us feel all sorts of emotions, and help us relate to people even if they are a thousand miles away from us or just fictional. Almost all of us know the life of Harry Potter by heart, we love some characters and dislike some.
Stories are a powerful kind of communication that transports us to new worlds, eliciting emotions such as empathy, shame, joy, and even agony. Essentially, storytelling is the skill of conveying knowledge, information and entertaining people, as well as communicating the message through any medium.
And brands recognize the importance of storytelling and its impact across platforms. Stories cause us to remember information 22 times more when it is plotted into a story. Which is the reason why brands are able to hook their audience, sell more, and create a long-lasting impression.
In today’s world, everything is fast-paced, automated making the human touch extremely valuable. With the internet revolutionizing our environment with all the amazing gadgets, it is making human elements extremely scarce. It is ironic how our daily lives, our routine, what we do in real life while engaging with our people and community, the same things are being sold to us in AR and VR. It has its benefits but one just can’t ignore the irony.
So, when everything is being automated how is a new brand or a brand looking for a new start through brand activation going to make its mark? The answer is storytelling. Whatever the medium, it is what going to make a brand memorable.
Public perception serves as the fuel that runs a brand, and so, coming to the subject, brand strategy is a way to shape the perception of a brand in the mind of the audience to reach desired business goals. These perceptions are the basis of the customer-brand interaction which eventually leads to engagement and lastly sale and strengthening of bonds. To solidify the very ideas in the minds a brand needs storytelling.
In the era of sameness, storytelling is going to make a brand different, even it just newly emerges or looking for a change. Because the story you are going to come up with, ultimately the narrative will give rise to experience.
There are certain standards that the brands are expected to uphold, from dynamic minimalism to sustainability. The major elements in place along with meeting the customer’s expectations in place. The audience is going to be drawn to the brand values and the brand story to find a sense of connection.
In this economy of attention, even the seven seconds of interaction costs businesses, filtering through the onslaught of similar messaging. Causing the quality brands to be lost in the white noise. And it is way harder to introduce new players in the market and associated brand activation agencies, especially understand this challenge.
Thus, it is no longer enough to have a quality product or service, but the brands need to out-advertise the competition. Deploying ways that differentiate the brand from its counterparts. Making the brand storytelling as essential as the more on-the-face elements.
Furthermore, if the brand lacks authenticity the market would know so being real supersedes being glamorous. It’s best to use the brand’s story to deliver the brand’s message subconsciously, while simultaneously simplifying information to pack the most punch. Weaving the brand's history, challenges, successes, and value propositions in a uniquely emotional experience.
Focus on the why behind the brand. That “why” is what is required to establish and solidify the brand-customer bond. It is only after you make the customer feel, the feeling stays with the customer and so does the brand. Now the customer is no longer focused on the sale but envisioning how the brand would change their life.