Our evolving, interconnected world means customers are increasingly tapped into their online devices. Products, services, videos & reviews are instantly accessible with a mere tap of our finger. This opens up channels with which brands can really connect with their customers.
Impactful brand storytelling is all about instantly engaging and genuinely connecting with customers, creating a narrative that allows them to better understand a business’s purpose & product, ethics & values – to give them a compelling reason to use them, time & time again.
Long-term successful businesses increase brand growth, loyalty and ultimately revenue by having a consistent brand story that communicates effectively with their audience.
Brand storytelling successes
Just think of the most successful and talked about businesses today: Apple, Google and Amazon. They have managed to influence and gain their customers loyalty by creating a strong message of what they do and how they provide added value – all using engaging content that drives an action. As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says, “You need to obsess over customers..start with your customers and work backwards.”
In 2006 when Apple wasn’t the huge success story it has become today, it launched a campaign called ‘Get a Mac,’ managing to increase revenues by a whopping 39% within a year. Selling a record breaking 1.6 million macs to be exact. What was the secret? A simple PC vs Mac story was played out, allowing the audience to better understand what the mac could offer them and come to their own conclusion.
In fact a research project from co:collective took 42 publicly-traded companies and measured their financial impact from brand storytelling. The increase in customer engagement led to:
-Increased revenue from 2007-2011 by 70%.
-Annualised share price growth by 227%.
Take Virgin Atlantic, who’s impactful communication strategy such as the ‘Still Red Hot’ campaign has enabled its growth from a small business in 1984 to the UK’s second largest airline today. A research paper by Virgin has stated that, “an understanding of ‘Virginness’ led to an increase in brand commitment, the measure that most closely correlates with revenue growth.”
Another example is by car manufacturers Ford, who’s marketing team decided to produce a series of YouTube videos on the passionate making of the Ford RS sports car during its launch. “We exposed the true story – setbacks, conflict, compromises and ultimately success,” says Truby, VP of Communications at Ford. “Once you’ve watched this you can never see an RS on the road again without understanding just how much passion went into creating it.”
Motivating customers emotionally
“So if you focus on storytelling, if you focus on creating information that’s interesting for people, then you’re not just doing a product pitch. You’re not just talking about yourself. You’re not egocentric. Instead, you’re creating information of interest to people,” advises David Meerman Scott, Marketing and Sales Strategist.
You may have a fantastic product, or a slick, high-in-demand service, however if you don’t have an impactful way of telling your brand’s story that reaches a wide audience, you’ll decrease your chance of converting prospects into long-term clients. Marketers need to understand what customers value, how you can solve their problem, then portray this as a captivating, impactful story. By stimulating emotion and resonating with customers, you’ll promote successful brand growth and loyalty.
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell,” advises Seth Godin, marketer, entrepreneur and best-selling author.
To really drive profitable customer action, content marketing strategies need to provide added value by not only focusing on engaging with customers with relevant content, but resonating with them emotionally, educating them, painting a visual picture for them to understand and be motivated by your brand.
The importance of visual imagery
The art of storytelling is not easy, but using efficient digital tools that are available to us today – such as powerful content management systems and software that allows the control, accessibility and sharing of content – we can make our brand stories more impactful to positively resonate with prospects at the right time, in the right place and on the right device.
As stated by NewsCred, “The more senses a visual is able to engage, the more attention it receives and the more information is retained.”
To win over your customers or prospects, your brand storytelling needs to be brought to life. In fact, “90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual.” Appropriate imagery and animations can do this to really paint a picture and make your story far more memorable. You want your product or brand to always be at the forefront of your customers mind when they think of your relevant space.
Use video to add to enrich the experience for the customer, animations to support and capture the audience’s imagination. Also creating powerful, dynamic presentations that can be delivered by sales and marketing teams using consistent, up-to-date brand materials.
Marketers need to always be innovating, researching the latest tools to win over their customers. “65% of senior marketing executives believe that visual assets (photos, video, illustrations and infographics) are core to how their brand story is communicated,” states the CMO Council, where “71% of marketers intend to increase their content marketing budgets in 2015.” With the right content marketing strategy, you can build credibility and trust from your customers, and keep them coming back for more.
At Companyapp we believe in combining technology with innovative thinking to produce interactive storytelling. We help businesses communicate effectively with their customers – driving revenue growth through meaningful customer interaction.
Contact us via info@companyapp.co.uk to find out how some of the world’s leading brand organisations work with us to emotionally engage their customers and stand out from the competition.
alan@companyapp.co.uk | 0207 378 1446
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