The continuous growth of ‘digital’ and consumers’ access to online content has impacted the way organisations market their business. When presenting your brand, using digital technology to create an impactful brand story is necessary to cut through the noise and instantly engage customers.
Digital storytelling is such a significant topic that CEO of VMA Media, Rick Parkhill, succeeded in putting it at the forefront of the Sundance Film Festival. His vision was that:
Digital storytelling will shine a light on ways innovative marketers are leveraging content to raise their brand appeal.
When asked how he sees digital storytelling evolving, he says, “Certainly the ability to carry a screen wherever you go has contributed massively to the state of advertising today and the need to create great content. Because mobile screens continue to evolve in terms of quality, more and more content is consumed and shared on them.”
For a business to sell their product successfully, they need to connect with the relevant audience, at the right place and at the right time, from the devices they choose to use every day. Hence sales and marketing teams need to constantly adapt as our digital environment evolves; as consumer touch points increase and as the challenge to stand out rises.
So how does a business differentiate themselves from the constant digital stream of products, services and offers their clients receive every day? What’s the best method to impact people at the right time, with the right message, in the right way?
As well as gaining long-term loyalty by establishing excellent customer service, you need to present a powerful and seamless digital story. Without it, it’s easy to get lost in the depths of our digital landscape.
To really grab your audience’s attention and rise far above the competition, here are some tips for you to start with:
- Present your product using accessible and ‘snackable’ content that captivates customers on a personal level. Focus on what you think matters to them the most – hopes and concerns – to really leave a memorable, longer-lasting impression. Use your data & customer surveys to paint smarter insights into your customers thought process, and how best to reach them.
- Content needs to be dynamic in order to engage an audience with maximum impact. Static content just won’t cut it anymore. Excite your customers visually with videos, animation and audio that can be shared over and over again. In fact according to Google, video will account for 69% of Google traffic in 2017.
- Educate your audience using interactive content that is far more stimulating than reading any block of text. This could be in the form of engaging quizzes, interactive surveys or animation.
As a general rule, whether it’s a social media post or a product pitch, for content to invoke a reaction (either emotive or a positive engagement – like, share or comment), it needs to be thought-provoking and of course, informative.
More digital storytelling examples
For example, take a look at Waitrose’s Cow Cam TV ad campaign launched earlier this year. With the aim of helping customers better understand where their farm product really comes from, they are showing footage from cameras filmed directly from the cow itself.
Waitrose marketing director, Rupert Thomas has stated, “we have never compromised on quality, and never will – but rather than telling customers what we do, we’ve decided to show them in an open and honest way.”
A smart strategy to create meaningful engagement is demonstrated by Airbnb. They have produced a digital story on what they learned from the positive impact of communities in the cities they love. This has also helped their audience better understand their brand and what they stand for.
Another example is Companyapp’s Presenter – a dynamic and interactive sales presentation platform – built to elevate your product pitch to the next level. View the presentation sample here. You can send each sales presentations to your clients via email, and gain valuable insights by tracking who has opened each one, for how long and how many times. It allows you to better understand your customers and understand which content visually engages them the most.
At Companyapp, we help brands tell memorable digital stories. To find out how we have helped our clients emotionally engage their customers & differentiate themselves from the crowd, contact us via info@companyapp.co.uk or let’s chat on 0207 378 1446.
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