People want to buy from people
The concept sounds too painstakingly ordinary, but when you consider your own buying preferences it becomes all too true. Brands that allow customers into their life and share stories send a humanizing message. No longer are large brands just a logo or skyscraper in the city. In general, customers and brands alike use stories to make sense of things, for education on complex topics and to see why solutions are necessary to solve issues that happen in daily life. If you let your customers in with marketing campaigns that encourage inclusion, they will respond in kind.
Good content can drive impressions, but great marketing practices that tell a story can gain loyal brand followers. Stories change consumer attitudes toward a brand and can spark emotions that are not typically found in a sales-based advertisement. But can you really depend on marketing content that is more topical or educational and less sales-geared to increase your bottom line and grow your marketing ROI?
Why Wait Until It’s Too Late?
Dela, a top insurance firm from the Netherlands successfully adopted the storytelling mentality while incorporating real customer accounts to grow brand awareness and corporate capital.
Why wait until it’s too late? Say something wonderful today.
The Dela campaign was wildly successful because the brand focused on what is most important, the customer. Dela was able to move away from “last click” thinking that supports only the marketing channel that is most likely to convert the customer in the least amount of time. Instead, the brand integrated a multi-channel marketing campaign with a customer journey mentality in mind. They used real people, not actors and enabled them to share their story in a way that was incredibly easy for new mentions and shares online.
Brands that solely focus on one type of marketing medium may be missing out on an opportunity to reach their audience effectively. Dela’s campaign was able to incorporate print, digital, social media and even local media outlets to share a “wave of beautiful words” that were “picked up, talked about and acted on.”
A multi-channel marketing ecosystem
Marketing channels like events, social media and community outreach programs are just a part of the overall marketing ecosystem. As a good rule of thumb, use each piece of content in three or more ways to appeal to customers who interact with brands differently. Even if you haven’t had the time or planning processes in place for a complete multi-channel strategy beforehand, you can still benefit from a reactionary approach to marketing content that is performing especially well. Have a white paper that is getting shared more than usual? Try breaking it apart into multiple blog posts, infographics, quizzes or live-streaming videos. Repurpose the content to engage with customers over multiple channels and don’t be afraid to spend some marketing dollars on it – no matter how tight your budget may be.
Video’s future impact on brand storytelling
Android’s “Friends Furever” spot now has almost 25 million views making it one of the most recognized and shared advertisements online ever. The one-minute commercial delivered a powerful message that although we are all different in our own right, we can come together to create bonds that last furever.
Android nailed it! The commercial was a huge success for Android without the brand including a phone or tablet. Instead, they focused their attention on the storyline and let the message do the heavy lifting (plus everyone loves cute little animals). Many of the clips in the video were filmed on regular household video devices and phones, which goes to show that brands with even the smallest budgets can use video in their multi-channel marketing plan. The story is the hero – it is what matters and it matters much more than production value.
Adding video to your marketing mix will be a game changer in the future. According to Syndacast, 74% of all internet traffic in 2017 will be video. From educational, to instructional, to just flat out entertaining, video can surely add depth to your multi-channel campaign.
No matter which mediums you choose to use, be certain that your brand story is told in a way that both inspires and grabs the attention of the audience to attract long term customers and grow your brand.
Dela was able to accomplish this feat by sharing a relevant message that encouraged customer interaction from multiple outlets. Maybe that is why the brand grew to be one of the top 10 best known brands in Holland and their amount of insured capital grew by 50%.
Multi-channel storytelling could be the factor that delivers a large marketing ROI and leave you with the next trending and talked about campaign. Now the question you should ask is how can you diversify your marketing portfolio and share your brand story?
About the Author
Alex Navarro comes to Distribion with a background in developing and executing national brand awareness campaigns. His passion is creating personalized marketing strategies and watching them come to life. Alex studied advertising and marketing at Pepperdine University and has enjoyed working in the field ever since. He also loves meeting new people – connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter.