Take a break for a minute and do this. Close your eyes and think back to your childhood. How do you remember it? How do you replay it in your mind? How do you think you would say it to your child or grandchild?
In the form of stories, of course! "It was a hot afternoon and I was playing cricket..."- and you will see your 5-year-old's mouth fall open, and her eyes glued to you, wide open.
Storytelling has the unique potential of infusing a special ingredient into everything- old or recent, significant or trivial, here or faraway, mundane or special, yours or somebody else's - it soaks it up with the power of stickiness! Stories make you remember it! Smart teachers make use of storytelling to make teaching to kids a whole lot easier for kids at school- and less boring!
Well, turns out- adults like storytelling too. Here's proof that, despite all the numbers and statistics, the consumer will buy only what what appeals to his emotions. Which is why, marketers all over the world strive to develop marketing campaigns that have one goal - to create, nurture and strengthen the emotional connection with his consumer.
Here's are 4 benefits of entwining storytelling into your marketing efforts:
Stories are great for tapping into Nostalgia
Katherine Duncan, in her article for Entreprenuer, explained that helping consumers connect with their past, or tap into their nostalgia is a very strong and effective marketing strategy, especially for targeting millennials.
One beautiful example of a brand doing this very cleverly and successfully is Paper Boat, a young Indian drinks brand. Paper Boat, does not advertise on the strength of its products' nutritional value, or even try to position itself as a replacement to various unhealthy fizzy drinks flooding the market. All it does is connect with the consumer's stories and appeal to their emotions. Their advertising campaigns are all about an era gone by-the era of our childhood and the simple pleasures that came with it. Paper Boat positions itself as a brand trying to reconstruct your childhood for you through its drinks. That's it!
Not surprisingly, the brand made it to the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi's table recently; after having debuted for public consumption less than 3 years ago.
2. Storytelling is the easiest way to portray your brand's identity
Most marketing gurus and many entrepreneurs will tell you that one of the most important exercises and most difficult exercises in branding is to clearly eke out what the brand signifies to your consumers and communicate that one thing with laser-sharp focus. The easiest way to communicate it to your consumer and help shape your brand's identity in his mind is through powerful stories.
3. Stories have the power to pack the viral-punch
As a child, I remember waiting for my favourite ads to show up in between the boring new sessions that my dad would watch. Sometimes, I was overjoyed, other times I was disappointed. Of course, I hardly grasped the concept of airtime for campaigns back then.
Today, a good story or a campaign that connects with a consumer has the power to go viral within hours, simply because he likes it and has the power to introduce it to his circles. Television is still a giant, but there are other, more nimble giants as well.
Dabur's Brave and Beautiful Campaign went viral because it sent a very strong empathetic message. And most of us didn't watch it even once on television.
4. Stories allow you to have fun
For one, stories are fun because they are not just numbers and statistics. Coupled with the power to choose from various formats of communication, storytelling will leave you with unlimited choices to unleash your creativity on all kinds of media and platforms.
About the Author:
Devishobha is the founder of Kidskintha- a website dedicated to helping millennials raise happy kids. Grab a copy of your FREE eBook "Punch Power Hours Into Your Day" here.