Storytelling has been part of advertising for decades. Long before the internet revolutionized brand messaging, companies were using TV and radio commercials, as well as print ads, to tell a story. Effective offline storytelling communicates what a brand is and what it stands for, helping bond customers to the products or services offered.
This type of marketing gets much more complicated in the online arena, since marketers often deploy their messaging across multiple platforms. Brand storytelling needs to remain consistent to be effective, but it also needs to be tailored to the unique audiences of each platform. Whether it’s a post on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or your company blog, it’s essential to stay on brand with every marketing message. Here are a few things that can help as you create your next marketing campaign.
Creating Brand Storytelling
Everyone has a story to tell. Whether it’s your personal life history or an interesting anecdote about your morning drive to work, humans relate to a good tale. For brands, storytelling is a great way to connect to customers. It makes them more likely to make a purchase. In fact, one study from ad agency Hill Holliday found that not only are customers more likely to buy from a brand with a good story, they’ll pay more per item. But in order to effectively make brand storytelling part of your own marketing strategy, it’s important to engage customers with the stories you tell. Capturing customer attention today is harder than ever, though, making it important to find ways to get people to identify with your brand.
The Influencer Connection
One of the best ways to reach today’s busy customers is through the use of influencers who can help get your brand’s story out. Influencers have a large, highly engaged audience of consumers who are likely to pay close attention to brand mentions. Through the use of techniques like reviews and product testimonials, you can get your brand story in front of customers who might not have otherwise known about you. However, even with an influencer’s broad audience, it’s important to incorporate visual content in your brand storytelling. Consider having a graphic such as a meme or infographic to go with the influencer’s commentary for promotion when the post goes live.
A Long-Term Approach to Storytelling
Storytelling is not a one-off approach for your business. You’ll need to think of it as a long-term strategy, complete with ongoing relationships with the types of people who can spread the word about your brand. Instead of a one-time post about your product or service, try to convince an influencer to become a brand ambassador, serving as part of your storytelling efforts over multiple months and years. Join’s database entails over 15,000 influencers with the combined reach of half a billion. Our software can help you find and activate the most relevant influencers for your cause. Want to find your brand ambassador now? Request a demo of our platform here.
Brand storytelling is an important part of every marketing campaign. But like any marketing strategy, it’s important to carefully plan your approach and measure your results regularly to make sure you’re on the right track.
