The Drivers of Brand Storytelling Strategy

socialmediat oday.com

http://socialmediatoday.com/derrickdaye/1147846/drivers-brand-storytelling-strategy?

utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Social+Media+Today+(all+posts)

The Drivers of Brand Storytelling Strategy

Customers own the story of the brand

now. What brands say is f ar less

important than what brands actually do

to serve the well being of the f aithf ul.

Whereas bef ore, the brand conversation

was based on delivery and interruption,

successf ul brand conversations are now

participatory in ever more technology

driven channels.

Storytelling is at the very heart of how

we humans share and connect what we

value about our heritage, our

communities and ourselves. Brand

storytelling is about connecting the outer

value the brand provides to the inner

values of the customer. There must be a deep af f inity between the two or the relationship is just a

transaction.

The f oundation f or this af f inity is built on the shared stories between brands to consumers, customers

to brands, and consumers to consumers. Like all relationships, there has to be chemistry. Brands have it

or they don’t. How well these collective stories line up with the experience customers have is what

creates “insistence without substitutes” in the minds of customers.

Brand storytelling is a strategic imperative not a promotional tactic.

Many marketers conf use the two. In our brand consulting work, I’ve heard many marketers complain, “We

just don’t know what our brand story is about”. Or worse, “no one seems to get what our brand story is

about”. Seemingly ubiquitous marketing obscures the transcendent storyline of what makes brands

matter to people.

There are three drivers of

brand storytelling strategy -

purpose, method and

opportunity. These drivers

work in parallel with stories

customers tell to the tribe and

stories brands tell to the tribe.

For enlightened brand

marketers, storytelling is a

powerf ul means to build

enduring connections as we

now live in a culture

characterized by participation,

interaction and dialogue.

Brands must have a storyline

anchored in a human purpose

rather than a commercial one.