There is one fundamental principle that can make or break your brand – and that’s how you tell its story. Storytelling is the art of crafting a narrative to captivate an audience and resonate with their emotions. To sell your brand is to sell its story. If you want to leave a lasting impression and convince customers to purchase from your brand, storytelling is a need to have to drive your businesses success.
What is Storytelling in Marketing?
Stories have a unique way of capturing human attention. Whether it’s through books, movies and TV shows, or verbal communication, we crave good stories to keep us engaged and inspired.
When it comes to marketing, visual branding and storytelling can give a human touch to your company, especially in the fast-paced, digital world. As consumers become increasingly bombarded with more information and choices daily, they begin searching for brands that offer genuine connections, relatable experiences, and prioritizes similar values when making purchasing decisions.
The ability to craft a compelling narrative, that not only sells your products, but shares your brand’s personality, history, and mission, is key to drastically changing how consumers perceive and interact with your company.
Why is Brand Storytelling Important?
There are many benefits to incorporating storytelling into your marketing strategy. It is an important tool to have if you want to maximize your businesses visibility and profits.
Here are 4 reasons why brand storytelling can help your business:
Storytelling creates an authentic and emotional connection with audiences
The human brain is wired to respond to stories. Studies by the Harvard Business Review show that character-driven stories can influence oxytocin production in the brain – a natural hormone that promotes trust and empathy. Stories with emotional content are found to motivate audiences to engage in cooperative behaviours, like donate or purchase a product.
71% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that align with their values. Thus, storytelling gives your brand the opportunity to connect with audiences on a deeper level and foster meaningful, lasting relationships with them.
Storytelling can differentiate your brand from competitors
Storytelling helps you stand out. It gives your business the opportunity to showcase your brand’s personality to establish a more personal and authentic distinction from competitors. By crafting a unique narrative, consumers are more likely to feel inspired or connected to your brand, thus, giving your business a competitive edge in the industry.
Storytelling can foster memorability and engagement with consumers
A good story sticks. Research shows that retention rates can jump from 5-10% to 65-70% if information is paired with a story. Audiences are more likely to recall information about your brand if it is presented like a story. In addition, a well-crafted narrative can appeal to a wider audience and increase clicks, purchases, and engagement.
Storytelling can build trust and credibility
81% of consumers say they need to trust a brand before making a purchase from them. Brand storytelling is essential for increasing trust and credibility with audiences because it adds a human touch in marketplaces that are becoming increasingly automated and saturated.
It is important to make your brand more “human” by actively sharing who you are and what you stand for with audiences. This, in turn, can help consumers resonate with your story and move towards establishing lasting trust and loyalty.
Tips for Writing a Brand Story
Storytelling in marketing is an essential skill to have but it must be done correctly to have lasting benefits. Before creating your story it is important you figure out the message you want to share and identify the best audience to share it with. Additionally, keep the following tips in mind:
● Be authentic and transparent when crafting your narrative.
● Use a tone of voice that sounds human, rather than corporate or robotic.
● Integrate photos, graphics, and videos to visually showcase your story.
● Keep audiences engaged and emotionally connected with relevant, compelling narratives.
Bottomline
Brand storytelling is a crucial tool businesses should incorporate in their marketing strategy if they want to stand out against the rest. A good brand story can foster emotional connections, boost memorability, and build trust and loyalty with audiences, increasing their likelihood to purchase. Storytelling in marketing is the key to sharing your brand’s identity in a way that is authentic and engaging.
At Instalogic Marketing, we value building genuine connections with our clients. As a local Calgary marketing agency, we work 1 on 1 with businesses to craft brand identities that stand out in the Calgary market and beyond. Our expert team of brand strategists can help write a compelling brand story for your business. Contact us today to learn more.
