Here at All Good Tales, we know that storytelling is a critical part of building a successful brand.
It is the most effective way to connect with your audience and shape how they view your company. This is extremely important in all markets.
To find out how we can help your team tell better stories, request a consultation here.
No one can resist a good story. Hence, it is important to get it right. Here are five ways brands can tell better stories.
Creating the right media content
There are numerous channels on which brands can tell their stories nowadays, and brands must be strategic when telling stories through them. For example, YouTube is exclusively video-based content. Due to this, brands need to be conscious of the length of their stories. Videos that are too long can lead to a lack of engagement – the opposite of what brands want.
Brands have numerous ways to engage their consumers on the likes on Instagram however. This site allows photo and video posts, Stories and IGTV, all of which can be taken advantage of for storytelling purposes.
Values, beliefs and lifestyles
The stories that resonate with consumers are those that match the values, beliefs and lifestyle that a brand has aligned themselves to. As a result, brands that are consistently supporting the same values in their storytelling tend to be more popular than those that don’t.
For example, Barry’s Tea has famously told stories of grandchildren and grandparents sharing a cup of tea.
Another ad depicted a mother sending tea bags to her daughter abroad. Their stories emphasise the importance of family, along with the comfort of home life, which has undoubtedly influenced their brand’s popularity.
Include people
The most compelling stories a brand can tell are the ones about people. Typically, the people who are in the best position to help brands tell stories are those who have an emotional connection to the story being told.
Campaigns
Nowadays, consumers are hard to pin down in one channel. Typically, stories are best told over time and across many channels as part of larger campaigns. However, some consumers may not be present in certain channels at all. For this reason, brands need to ensure each part of their campaign has the ability to stand alone. This will ensure that the consumer can articulate and understand the story being told no matter what channel they are viewing it on.
For example, the Toms ‘#WithoutShoes’ campaign initially began on Instagram, where users were encouraged to post a picture of their bare feet.
For every photo posted, one pair of shoes were donated to a child in need. In order to reach more of their audience, Toms spread their campaign into numerous channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, allowing them to engage 3.5 million people in one day.
Listen
In order to tell better stories, brands should try to become better listeners. In fact, many brands have been using compelling stories from their customers to craft stories about their brands. A prime example is Airbnb, whose intricate understanding of their audience and the creative use of consumer data has made their brand iconic. This provides customers with a better sense of authenticity and relatability.
Happy Storytelling!
