WHY STORYTELLING IS MORE THAN NICE BRANDING
Storytelling has become a bit of a buzz word within marketing, and for good reason – more and more marketing professionals are realizing that the days of trying to convince customers with cold hard facts are over, as none of us are as objective as we like to imagine. Between two near-identical products, why choose one over the other? If the products don’t offer anything deeper, the consumer will always go for the cheaper of the two. And in the age of brutal commoditization, you’ll always lose to a competitor with lower prices.
So how do you persuade a customer to spend a little (or a lot) more on your product over that of your competition?
The answer, quite simply, is to try to connect emotionally with your audience. I am reminded of this almost every time I make a purchase, as I find myself supporting small brands with a clear mission and identity more and more over faceless mega brands. Being able to connect with the owners, their passion for their products, their mission, and the story they are trying to tell in a sea of massive competition makes all the difference.
WHY IS BRAND IDENTITY ALONE NOT ENOUGH?
A beautiful branding suite is an excellent start to differentiating your brand, there is no question about it. But a brand identity typically only goes skin deep, or perhaps as deep as establishing your brand values and mission too. But your values are typically not enough, especially if they are generic. You can claim to be a brand that believes in sustainability, for example, but you are one in a million who claim the same value and such claims make audiences skeptical to begin with. Brands sometimes fall into the trap of making mission statements that are so generic that they constantly need updating depending on what social issue is in vogue to stay relevant (for example, today it is equity, but tomorrow it will be something else.) Your mission should be so unique to your brand and so timeless that it transcends what is popular in a constantly shifting world.
So beyond avoiding the same cliche values or mission statements, things like beautiful logos, branding colors, and typography are necessary, but are not going to be enough to set you apart in a sea of similar competitors.
SO HOW DO YOU TELL A COMPELLING STORY?
I can only speak to how I approach brand storytelling, but it involves beginning with a firm scaffolding on which the rest of your communication will be built on. This involves building upon the same time-tested elements that make stories so long-lasting. Just as Homer, Shakespear, and Hemingway used these narrative elements to tell timeless tales, so can you. And they work, because they are based on archetypes and plots that we as a species have been recognizing and connecting with for milenia.
Elements like your individual combination of archetypes, your antagonists, the archetypes of your unique audience(s), and your plot are all incredibly valuable for creating a complex and distinctive story from those around you.
Once you have this foundation fleshed out, everything afterwards will fall into place with purpose. Because when you know your unique tone of voice (as dictated by your archetype combination) then you’ll never struggle with how to say something again, because it is clearly defined. A Challenger and a Caretaker will say the same message very differently, for example.
And when you know what kind of journey you are inviting your audience on, in accordance with where you want to take them with your products or services, people will join you on that journey if they resonate with it.