A story or sequence of events or narratives always lingers in our minds for long. So, the use of narratives is a technique to communicate a brand’s message to its audience. Market analysts are trying to use this aspect to connect with audiences to informally sell their products and services.
Whether it is for Instagram marketing in Chennai or Facebook marketing in Chennai or even if it is for web development activities in Chennai, marketers resort to storytelling to communicate about their products to their audience (a combination of facts and narratives). These stories can be based on facts or it can combine fiction too. The endpoint is the script is improvised from time to time and is finely crafted to convey the core message of the brand.
Creative Narratives
This kind of informal language and style in marketing is becoming increasingly popular, and brands are looking for new ways to create more engaging experiences. Instead of the usual line-by-line scripts, brands are also using creative narratives.
These are powerful tools in digital marketing and offer a very flexible approach that allows for creativity and spontaneity. They are very helpful in video marketing and social media content.
The characteristics of creative narratives are the absence of a strict script and the strong presence of a central theme that is designed to be adaptable to different situations and scenarios. Therefore, it gives way to content that would make the audience feel that it is natural and authentic. At the same time, the key message is conveyed and brand value is maintained.
In digital marketing, creative narratives are used through social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. These tell stories of the brand through visual content, such as images, videos and short clips. They thus give the audience an immersive and engaging experience.
For example, if a jeweller wants to sell his dance jewellery, he could tell the story of how a group of dancers, adorning his shop’s jewels, attracted a large audience and contributed to the success of the show. This will attract the right audience when he simply showcases his products. The brand could also create a series of social media posts that will tell the story of the dancers, highlighting the benefits of the jewellery in their performances.
Effective Communication
In digital marketing, storytelling is very narrative and the technique effectively communicates a brand’s message to its target audience. The story engages and resonates with the customer and helps build an emotional connection with the brand.
Storytelling can take many forms, including video ads, social media posts, blog articles, email newsletters, and more. The key is to create a story that captures the attention of the audience and makes them want to learn more about the brand and its products or services. It should follow a narrative structure that includes a clear beginning, middle, and end. It should focus on the customer and their needs, rather than solely promoting the brand or product. By telling a story that is relatable and meaningful to the audience, a brand can increase engagement, build trust, and ultimately drive sales.
Another example of using creative narratives in digital marketing is video marketing. Yes, video content is becoming popular by the day; memorable video ads resonate well with the target audience.
According to the Hub Spot Survey:
Short-form video is the most popular trend among marketers, has the highest ROI, and will see the most growth in 2023. Marketers plan to invest more in short-form videos than any other trend. In fact, 90% of marketers using short-form videos will increase or maintain their investment in 2023, and 21% plan to leverage short-form videos for the first time in the same year.
This coincides with the videos consumers prefer to watch, as 73% of consumers prefer to watch short-form videos to learn about a service or product. This consumer behaviour has made videos short-form specifically, the primary form of media used within any content strategy.
Source: Hubspot
Reiterating the benefit once again with another example, if you are a brand that sells natural products, you could create a video that would highlight the transformation the buyer has undergone after using your brand. A narration works well and becomes etched in the memory of the audience more than traditional scripts. In other words, brands can connect deeply and build lasting relationships with customers and drive sales and build brand loyalty. Though brand storytelling has been around for a long time, it is moving at a fast pace in the realm of digital marketing.
Impact
Storytelling has always attracted one and all alike and digital storytelling is no different. Online platforms are used in storytelling as part of the digital marketing activity to convey appropriate messages to the right people and act as the perfect strategy to form a persuasive selling point. So, how does it impact digital marketing:
Target Audience Connect: A compelling or interesting narration will haunt the audience and will not make them skip, especially if the subject interests them. The moment we open a window, a lot of ads pop up and we can hardly click on a link freely. The pop-up barrage is sometimes so annoying that it will not even allow us to browse the Net for a few seconds as the ads cascade down on both sides of whatever we read.
The result of all this is that we tend to skip information, skim and even dismiss many things after just a glance. So, if you want to attract people to your brand, the content that you create should be compelling and catch the reader’s eye in a jiffy.
It is also said to build trust as it addresses the pain points of the consumer and is more focused on soft selling. It conveys that it has the best interests of the audience in mind.
It is this soft selling that makes it more attractive as hard selling pushes customers away. It helps to relate to the customers on a more personal and intimate level.
Now, let us move on to see how this concept of storytelling will impact your digital marketing approach and elevate your brand.
Customer-Generated: Approval of the customer is the focal point. You always tend to compare with your peers or do competitor analysis if you want to succeed in marketing your products or services. If you have clients they would like to share their views and comments or tell their stories on platforms where customers of your competitors share views and reviews about products and services. Technology plays a major role here and has ushered in more and more platforms for clients to tell stories.
Data-Driven: Digital data pervades the Internet and it is therefore easy to create engaging stories with available data which will help you to be ahead of the competition in the world of digital marketing. As stories involve numerous images they are processed much faster by people than text. Therefore, if you create ads that will have visually impactful stories by making use of digital data, you are sure to draw more attention.
Mini Ads: As technology grew, it shortened the attention span of the audience. The long-format ads do not attract people anymore and they have lost ground to short snippets or mini ads.
Some of the effective strategies you can use to create effective digital advertising are:
Know Your Brand Story: You should know your brand story that will be a narrative. It should not only connect with the consumer emotionally but also be informative. It can give precise details but should not overload the customer. The narrative should answer this question: WHY DOES MY SCREEN SHOW YOUR BRAND?
Emotion-filled: This concept is all about the creation of the characters in the story. It should be spun in such a way that the narrative should make the audience experience and appreciate the emotions of the character and not obviously state its thoughts and feelings. This approach will eliminate the need to hard sell. The audience can also appreciate and value your product or service.
Story Consistency: An important aspect that should be considered is the consistency of the message which is being conveyed to the customer. When the advertisement is being created, keep the subject line straight and consistent throughout, so that it will create hope and trust in the heart of the customers.
A/B Testing: A/B testing is a very important test that is presented to all visitors of the webpage. It is also a random test where variables like webpage and some specific page elements are shown at one time. The aim of this initiative is to find out which version is preferred by the visitors of that webpage or even page element. It is measured through the ‘click-through rate’. This shows that the customer was interested in the ad and clicked on the given link.
Benefits Of Storytelling
As already discussed, Storytelling creates an emotional connection between your company, its products and its customers. It also increases engagement between the brand and its audience. The result is more conversions and, ultimately, revenue and growth.
In other words, storytelling helps to humanise a brand. It creates numerous touch points in the buyer’s journey and therefore will help to reinforce the narrative. A brand can punch above its weight if the storytelling is powerful and compelling. This can create an emotional connection and even make one ponder over who they were related to.
Customer, the Real Hero
Everyone wants to be a hero in every situation and every day. Brands should always concentrate on the customer and not what it wants to sell. Make your customer your hero and build whatever you want to sell around him. This will only make a great story. You can create ripples in the market and turn your audience into head-turners only if you empathise with them. Show them that you understand their pain points and challenges. More than this, it is important for them to know that you will help them to surmount the challenges.
Budget
Last, but not the least, ensure that you must have enough funds to handle the strategic storytelling initiative. Remember to involve talented people to create good stories, as the foundation of any good marketing initiative is storytelling. If brands are successful in this venture, then they need not waste money on technology to drive growth.
To conclude, storytelling is a powerful tool that can help brands stand out in a crowded marketplace, build emotional connections with their customers and ultimately drive sales. By telling compelling stories that resonate with their target audience, brands can capture their attention, increase engagement, and build a loyal following that will support them for years to come. So, what’s your story? Let’s create an engaging and powerful one for the audience to hear.
conversational marketing as it creates a natural and engaging experience for consumers. The language used here is natural (does not feel like a sales pitch) and therefore conversational marketing creates a natural and engaging experience for consumers.
One way that brands are using conversational marketing is through chatbots and messaging platforms. By integrating chatbots into their websites and social media pages, brands can create a more interactive and personalised experience for their customers. Chatbots can help answer customer questions, make product recommendations, and provide support, all in a conversational style that feels more natural and engaging.
