Value commercials are advertisements that have the specific purpose of selling or otherwise converting the audience, even if this purpose is covert. (This type of commercial is quite unlike brand commercials that many large businesses use for purposes that make sense only for their unique privileged circumstances, often because large companies may no longer need to expend much effort on product selling advertising). While value content aims to convert customers, it is also entertaining and informative. As much as possible, it should avoid looking and feeling like just another advertisement.
Before you begin
Before you begin formulating a commercial, prepare with knowledge on the following points.
Who is your ideal target customer / audience? ... Prepare to speak to this persona, exclusively. The more intimately you know your target persona, the more relatable and attractive you can make your message.
If you are talking to women and realize they are mothers, their unique problem you discuss from their buying process will be more meaningful.
You can use self image identification, ie using models that look and experience life like your ideal customer.
What is your distribution plan, ie on what types of platforms will the ad appear? (a website, YouTube, Instagram, etc?) ... As discussed below, there are several very important editing considerations.
Hook introduction within the first 5 seconds. A hook aka 'pattern interruption' is an attention grabbing statement. It is commonly based on pairing odd elements into a statement, even in a taboo way that will catch the audience off guard. Example(s):
Nuns won't teach you about lingerie.
Imagine how attention grabbing a name can be like 'Naughty Nun'
Someone speaking on behalf of Coca-Cola might say that they 'taste happiness'. The idea is attention grabbing because the physical senses are not usually associated with emotional states in this way.
I will tell you how this pair of old pair of rubber boots led me to my husband.
Tell a story (of problem resolution). Common equations include the following elements.
consumer 'problem', ie the unmet need as per the buying decision. This goes into varying levels of detail based on what is suitable for the particular context. If possible, reinforce the cost to the consumer of not investing in the offer. Also consider using scarcity marketing techniques.
I had trouble achieving a-b-c.
Do you have a-b-c problem?
A company selling a pricey solution for camera lenses sold the problem idea as follows. "Water droplets can ruin your best memories" and then proved this idea by showing how the failure to use their product resulted in the ruining of images of very important events.
A transformation for the consumer related to the UVP. Do NOT skip ahead to talk about your business, your experience and so on. Focus instead very narrowly, at least at first on promising to the consumer a transformative experience to the problem they face.
This product delivered benefits x-y and z. Now, I can a-b-c comfortably.
End with a crystal clear offer -- AND -- Call to Action / CTA. Make at least one of the three types of offer. The first type is a lead generator in which you ask for contact details at the top of your sales funnel or the lead's buying funnel. Hopefully, your subsequent contact can graduate leads to either a consultation or purchase offer. Ensure that your offer can convince buyers that your product is worth more than the money they will spend.
Using the problem statement above related to not getting the special camera lens solution, a call to action to go capture life's best memories will tie in well.
If you want to also get a-b-c benefit; subscribe.
Platform Considerations for production and editing. Consider the psychographics of each social media platform. For instance, Instagram users are younger and respond best to visually appealing content.
Facebook video ads should not depend on audio or even visuals because roughly 84% of people look at ads without audio, while doing something else. Consequently, the best Facebook ads should throw words across the screen.
(Unlike the case of Facebook ads,) YouTube advertisements should depend on visuals. People prefer to visually engage with YouTube ads. After all; have you ever felt irritated by YouTube videos in which content creators presented a silent slideshow of words? Whenever possible, include b-roll. B-roll may include video of consumers using the product like different angles or panning video footage of the product.
Be strategic with b-roll. It may seem counter-intuitive, however, visuals are the least impactful alone of the 3 video quality triangle. They should be used to amplify your most important video element, the message. Never try to focus only or mostly on the visuals.
Use very good sound. A Neurosite study suggests that long term memory is strongly related to the use of sound effects and music that fit and reinforce the concepts and theme of the message.
Finish with a hero shot. A hero shot is the primary image or video that represents the entire marketing effort. It should accurately depict the product, service or action and its purpose. To this end, the imagery is usually enriched with props, background and lighting to infuse mood and impart brand spirit. This type of image is ideal for social media and category or catalog section pages in online stores. Example(s)
For a video commercial, the hero shot for a coffee product as its key ingredient may involve the product being thrown into and splashing up coffee beans.
Unfortunately, there is no fixed recommended video length that always converts the best. Your market-specific variables will determine this. So focus on satisfying the must-have content that is needed to convert your specific target market. However, many experts recommend testing with lengths for YouTube or Facebook commercials of 2 to 3 minutes. More time on YouTube is likely more successful, so take advantage of that when possible.
Format accordingly. Facebook and Instagram advertisements are usually square. Conversely YouTube ads are rectangular.
Social media are highly interactive online technologies that allow individuals and groups to share content, often in virtual communities. Their best advantage is their ability to facilitate engagement, and I mean lots of highly valuable engagement I have often mentioned otherwise, like in posts about nurturing leads through x number of touchpoints down through the sales funnel. Social media is the tactical side of those discussions. To put it otherwise, the whole point of social media is to network, ie to reach and engage with otherwise strangers.
The game changing aspect of social media is the fact that they are dialogic (ie they provide two-way communication) which varies considerably from earlier monologic (or one-way) forms of marketing communication like newspapers, television and magazines. For this reason, when using it, remember to harness its dialogic super power. If you can do that, you will be exploiting it far more fully than otherwise.
Uses & Benefits (of multiple social media channels. Beware however that, if you wish to use multiple channels, only select the few best fits. Avoid spreading yourself too thin.)
Improve market reach. Reach as many portions of your market as possible by participating in multiple communities. Do not put all of your eggs in one basket, especially since many of your competitors likely limit themselves this way.
Improve search engine rank. Your social media presence will be considered as part of the content that affects your rankings. Consequently, if you have your brand’s name on social media, and even multiple websites with their own high page rankings like Facebook, Twitter and so on, your business will piggyback off of those high rankings.
Improve Customer Service & protect your brand's reputation against negative feedback in 2 key ways. First, social media platforms allow you to track what is being said about your brand. It also allows your customers to communicate with you directly regarding their grievances. You can therefore respond quickly to resolve customer problems. Your quick responses signal that you are willing and able to resolve customer concerns and are therefore a good choice.
Follow your competition to platforms to reach their customers. Once your competition is on a platform with an audience, you will likely benefit from it also. Review their website or content for a list of all of their social media accounts.
Go viral. If your content is well received, your audience actually does the promotion work for you. This is a marketer's dream because it costs considerably less that otherwise. Social media sites typically provide some type of function(s) that facilitate this. Examples include Facebook's 'share' function, Twitter's 'retweet' button, Pinterest's 'pin' function, Tumblr's 're-blog' function and so on.
Social Media Strategy
Do not post just for its own sake. Have a strategy instead. For for-profit businesses, you likely want your posts to convert leads through stages of the sales funnel. A social media strategy involves 1) objectives, 2) tactics and 3) performance measures.
1) Objectives.
Establish social media marketing objective(s) that align to business goals (like mission statements) and your corporate strategy plans. Ensure these objectives are S.M.A.R.T, ie specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Common social media objectives include the following.
To use [a platform, to be subsequently selected] for customer support to lower average response rate to under 1 hour by the end of quarter 2.
Track your brand's performance and adjust your strategy accordingly
Know your audience as intimately as possible. The better you know your audience, the more consistent and attractive you can curate your brand voice and tone.
Know your competitors. This includes looking closely at their offering and social media behavior. Can you create a type of mini marketing communication centric SWOT analysis (using Porter's 5 Competitive Forces and Pestle)?
Strength: You can use the special dialects of the small local towns community while the international market leader can not.
Select social media platforms that meet your objectives. Key considerations include whether your audience comprises customers (B2C) or businesses (B2B), the type of content you produce, whether you want the content to be found via daily feeds vs audience searches over the long term. For instance, if you want to know what people are saying about your brand right now, feeds are more useful than search engines. Since pull marketing content requires keywords for search optimization, YouTube is a better option over Facebook. Consider the demographics of your audience. 10-year old YouTube content can continue to generate leads and engagement in ways that Facebook won't. See basic details about different social media platforms to consider when undertaking this step.
Be sure to get your account verified as a safeguard against imposter accounts. See each platform's steps.
2) Tactics.
Create a social media content calender. To this end, establish tentpole events that are most likely to appeal to your target market. For each tentpole, calculate all associated dates that require your action for each tentpole event. Use tools like Buffer to schedule your posts well in advance to different platforms (Twitter, Instagram, etc).
Determine what content is truly valuable and engaging for your target audience. If unsure or need inspiration, follow these tips.
look at the content of closest competitors, direct and indirect.
Sometimes, a competitor is strong on one platform but weak on another. Analyze whether dominating the platform with their weaker performance is an opportunity for you to dominate that platform and attract a lot of the market.
Use social listening tools. Social listening allows you to know what current and potential customers think about you and your competition. These analyses may uncover opportunities for brand (re)positioning, at the very least in your messaging.
Design brand voice and tone that appeals to your target market. Include it in your brand style guideline to ensure that your personality remains consistent, even across platforms.
Create content that will appropriately engage your audience. Examples include the following.
answers to audience questions
routinely seek out posts of other creators with a significant following. Make some meaningful and positive feedback that could get the attention of their followers. Various platforms have their means of facilitating this like Twitter's retweet feature, Instagram's @tag and so on.
In response to an article, you can say "I liked your perspective on X ..." (and NOT simply 'I liked your article").
Demonstrate your expertise. However, for the sake of being relatable, post content that also shows your imperfections like mistakes.
include images (NOT only text and links). For instance, businesses using inforgraphics generate traffic over 10% more than otherwise. Remember that humans process visual content faster than text. This is particularly noteworthy when considering the limited amount of time in which to capture the attention of an audience online.
Kylie Cosmetics engaged its audience over 2 years of content in the form of selfies and home videos. They portrayed Kylie just as a luxury lifestyle brand with repeated, obligation-free touchpoints before the launch of her lip kit business. Read my full case study of Kylie Cosmetics.
Gamification is fast becoming a great opportunity for encouraging customer engagement.
...
3) Social media audits.
Perform a social media audit of your accounts. Since specific steps are outside the scope of this article, read otherwise on how to perform social media audits. Example(s) of common metrics of social media audits include the following.
engagement metrics. Focus on these metrics (over less meaningful types like vanity metrics) because engagement indicates actual engagement. They include engagement (like comments, virality behavior, etc), click-through, conversion and so on.
vanity metrics (number of likes, followers, )
audience profile as planned? (demographics, demand, etc)
Find and report imposter accounts that use your name to capture or mislead your target market.
Useful analytics tools include hashtracking, Followerwonk, etc
Have appropriate expectations for the results. For instance, brand awareness marketing is geared towards long term results like trust, loyalty, authority and so on. Consequently, do not expect immediate 'direct responses' like purchases, clicks and so on from efforts designed for brand awareness. Brand awareness is a more nebulous measure and usually takes several months or longer before sales occur. Here are some common examples. To ensure you are taking a strategic approach, list your metrics in a meaningful way. The stages within the sales funnel is an example.
Brand awareness
To drive traffic (with Linkedin) to your website, monitor click-throughs.
To raise brand awareness (Instagram), track number of Instagram Story views.
number of followers, shares, etc
Engagement (ie how much audience interacts with your content)
Comments, likes, mentions, etc
Conversions
to advertise (Facebook), monitor cost-per-click (CPC).
Relationship management
testimonials, repeat sales, your team's average response rate, etc
Adjust your strategy accordingly.
Summary of most popular social media platforms
Among the most popular forms with over 100 million registered users include the following (listed in alphabetical order).
Facebook and its associated Facebook Messenger.
Audience profile: teens to grandparents for B2C
Your method(s) of use: business pages; groups; host events)
Useful feature(s): influencer marketing is potentially much higher on this channel; Interactive questions in 'Stories' make the feature exceptionally good for engagement; Up to 30 hashtags are allowed per post as a means of potentially appearing in the continuously trending search results; @ tags of other accounts are useful for shoutouts for non-competing companies with the same market for new customer acquisition / market penetration.
Useful features: ranks highly on Google search results pages. It is also a search engine itself. This is powerful for creating backlinks and therefore boosting SEO. Consequently, it is ideal for business promotion. Users select specific topics and can therefore find you if you offer something in which they are truly interested. Your content can be shared and liked by users to rank it higher on results pages. You can enter your credentials in your profile. in order to plan your questions strategically, you can search for questions with the highest number of followers.
Tik Tok
Business content type: short viral videos, creative.
Audience profile: mainly popular among young viewers.
Useful features: some of the videos get shared on other sites as well.
Twitter
Audience profile: Males; between 35 and 65, especially below 49.
Business content: microblogging (NOT as visual) so best for news and B2B; starting conversations; images, links (back to your business website) and other types of popular social media features
Your content: business-oriented; general posts that showcases your expertise, long-form content, and even job listings; great if you are a startup or entrepreneur looking to boost their professional networks, to reach out to B2B clients, to reach investors or to boost brand recognition
YouTube
Business content type(s): video content; tutorials or demonstration (very popular).
Usage: brand awareness, educational content, how-to videos, SEO-focused content (NB.YouTube is the second most popular search engine), influencer marketing.
Useful features: share videos on non-YouTube sites; create playlists; interact with audience on the YouTube platform; content is optimized for search.
Audience profile: Varied, even including persons over 55; over 2 billion monthly logged-in users and even more viewers without accounts, fastest growing demographics. B2C and even some B2B.
WhatsApp
Content type & useful feature(s): text, voice or video messaging mostly to audience's mobile devices; 1-on-1 or group chats (group chats may allow or block audience participation);
Audience profile: U.S. and globally; especially younger groups.
Telegram
(similar to WhatsApp)
Snapchat
Audience profile: young audience
Content: photos, short videos or text messages that remains available for 24 hours.
Features / benefits: useful for raising brand awareness among adolescents.
Pinterest
Business content type: visual; posts of products, blog posts and a variety of other content; fashion; home decor; food; DIY content.
Feature: search engine
Audience profile: young people; women.
Reddit
Chat bots
CONTENT RELATED TO USING MULTIPLE SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS
Sales funnel 101. Social media is useful for the all important 'engagement' phase of the sales funnel.
Use tools like Buffer to schedule your posts to various social media platforms well in advance.
Be guided by where in their purchase decision process your customers are. This will help you to create appropriate posts, advertisements and other engagement content.
Summary of other social media platforms: https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/09/social-media-channels-marketing.html
Internal links
Details of the most popular social media platforms to be considered when selecting social media platforms.
Social media content ideas
Nudge customers closer to buying decision by asking questions like:
'Which do you prefer between A, B and C?, Which is your most favored or hated
disliked option?
Use a snippet of the most powerful part of a testimonial in a graphic. Then place the entire testimonial in the description of the post (of Instagram for instance)
Transparency: Show behind the scenes, where ingredients come from, etc
especially if not usually made public knowledge.
Lifestyle branding is a form of brand promotion. Its primary means of resonating with the target audience is to use content that focuses on the audience's perception of a 'perfect' lifestyle. In other words, it is an indirect means of encouraging sales. It can be likened to a slow burn dating approach that promotes building deep emotional connections. So rather than aggressive sales tactics, it uses the desired lifestyle as an emotional trigger to connect deeply with the target audience. The brand seeks to trigger the target's personal lifestyle goals, whatever that looks like, whether literally physical life style or the application of deep shared beliefs. Consequently, the brand (and its products) are only 'embedded' within the broader picture of the lifestyle message. Afterall, when you meet with beloved friends, you chat about things that connect you, not what you want to sell to each other. The ideal is therefore to create a tribal or cultish following of like-minded people. Needless to say, the primary discussion is that emotional hook while sales are a secondary feature of the relationship.
Lifestyle branding is very beneficial for brand awareness (especially as it relates to highlighting brand core values) and loyalty. It may therefore be scheduled more heavily in the social media content management plan when its benefits (like brand awareness or loyalty) are part of current business goals. For other brands, lifestyle branding is always prominent. In other words, the degree of its application can vary on a continuum according to the brand.
At the surface level, 'lifestyle' relates to anything that people like to do with their time, often a specific sport like biking, mountain hiking or yoga or genre like any extreme sport, talking about certain values or even a particular emotion (as with Coco Cola's 'happiness') through time spent with others. This activity is always a passion, almost to the point of addiction. However, consider 'lifestyle' as holistically as possible. This most likely requires customer relationship marketing (CRM). For instance, know if your brand were to be the ideal best friend to its targets and becomes personified, where would it (and the target) go, what do they do there, how they are motivated and so on? Essentially, 'lifestyle' is like the 'culture' of your brand and its community of target customers. Ultimately, your brand should become a clear symbol of the lifestyle.
Uses & Benefits of Lifestyle Branding
Lifestyle branding encourages customers to connect with your brand more emotionally than would have been possible through otherwise only transactional interactions. This is most true when combined with brand storytelling. Brand lifestyles should allow consumers to feel a certain desirable way (quite outside of what product units provide). If the brand can communicate in a way that is and feels very authentic to consumers, the brand are likely to emotionally hook consumers.
Lifestyle branding allows businesses to expand their product mix with an already captive audience. In turn, a more extensive product mixpresents more press opportunities (to more demographic groups, content producers, etc) than would have been the case with only a single product.
Lifestyle branding is an ideal way for a little known or unknown brand to become well known and liked within a limited time.
It even allows brands to appear bigger than they would have appeared otherwise. After all, it gives the brand persona the opportunity to show up at events, be highly visible and connect with more 'friends' than just their often otherwise boring products alone would have allowed.
Furthermore, the strategy allows brands to differentiate when their products are not very original or special when compaired with direct product type competition. In other words, it is a clever method of brand positioning. The Red Bull case below illustrates this point very well.
Case studies of Lifestyle Branding
Case study: Red Bull. Red Bull offers an energy drink that really is arguably just an overload of sugar and caffeine. Red Bull illustrates how this brand strategy allows a brand whose entire branding pivots around only one product can invent itself into having a larger-than-lifebrand persona. Red Bull developed its outrageous lifestyle to differentiate itself from any other soda on the market. This was its basis for unique brand positioning whose unique selling / value proposition is as its tagline suggests, a feelgood' emotion of achievement and invincibility. It called itself an energy drink, aligned itself with the word 'extreme' and sought to embody the word in its personality. Consequently, Red Bull became immersed in the lifestyles and culture of extreme sports. As to be expected for such a 'person' with such interests, they consistently appeared at highly niched extreme sports events, often having the logo attached to helmets, rally car hoods and so on. Like a best friend, they support extreme sports athletes in accordance with their tagline that 'Red Bull gives you wings' which essentially means that they support people to push the envelope to do anything. This was genius exploitation of a market gap in that media outlets were not giving extreme sports much attention. In fact, Red Bull even began creating their own events that, in addition to promoting their brand, promoted the sport. Like Coca Cola (another brand whose product's qualities alone are unlikely to win people over) that has the keyword 'happiness' from which it suggests relationships arise, Red Bull's advertising at events promotes the lifestyle of being 'extreme' over the drink's features. Just as a friend with a personality penchant for anything extreme, Red Bull consistently attends and advertises at extreme sports events therewith sealing its brand personality, arguably even moreso than its television advertisements. Like a proud friend, Red Bull gushed the stories of top extreme athletes in a way that truly engaged the audience. Red Bull's events marketing encourages the public to keep talking about the event in a way that the public won't about a mere product. With such a strong brand lifestyle and branding in general, Red Bull has been able to successfully remain a premium priced product which is a far cry from the brew's old life in Thailand gas stations as a working class / low priced alternative to coffee for long distance truck drivers. In other words, lifestyle branding helped to elevate the image of the product to the extent of a premium brand, associated with high end contact points, starting with its first Formula One race driver. Learn more about Red Bull's use of storytelling. (VIDEOS: How Red Bull got wings: A case study for entrepreneurs; Red Bull: The power of an owned media strategy; Building an engaged audience through content. Lessons from Red Bull Media House;).
Case study: Patagonia. Although Patagonia sells clothing, the brand personality does not simply attempt to sell on its website. Rather, the personality is of someone who loves the great outdoors and has a spiritual connection with nature. All of its processes and operations align with having a neutral impact on the environment and promote the simplistic lifestyle and the enjoyment of nature. When you land on the website's homepage (pictured below in July 2012), the clothing they sell is not center stage. In fact, the 'Read' button that links to an article about the natural phenomenon in which they are currently interested is larger and has more contrast than the links to the clothing. The brand is only secondary to the lifestyle; it is 'embedded' into the portrayal of the lifestyle.
Rather than request email addresses to 'get the next biggest sale discount', the brand speaks like a person, wanting to maintain the discussion of interest.
Case study: LuluLemon. Lululemon sells high quality athleisure (ie athletic clothing that is sufficiently stylish that it can be worn socially as well). LuluLemon is an upscale brand that was able to quickly gain significant popularity in the yoga world among its target market: mostly well-dressed, health conscious people. It is noteworthy because it has stolen market share from the otherwise unbeatable giants like Nike, Adidas and Reebok. The high quality products were therefore sold as a status symbol. In fact, despite its bad press due to faux pas of the founder, the brand continues to remain strong in the minds of consumers who still associate the brand with yoga and wellness. LuluLemon was able to achieve this cult-like following by being consistent and using heavy promotion. Its promotion was done through established industry ambassadors (the present-day equivalents of whom would be social media fitness influencers) like yoga instructors. They collaborated with prominent fitness influencers to promote the idea of being eliked by experts in the field. Their brick and mortar retail outlets also offer free yoga classes and other wellness events for their consumers. Some outlets also feature a cafe that sells only health food. They have a consistent presence on social media, responding to as many customers as possible via social media. They used the storytelling strategy by creating a platform for telling the fascinating personal stories of relatable challenge and triump of sports enthusiasts. Red Bull tells the stories of these athletes performing extreme feats to emotionally resonate with its audience and motivates others to tell their story of doing anything extreme. Their management explained that they wanted to create an environment for their community and to facilitate their goal of pushing more 'health' experience. (Some of the reasons for LuluLemon's success also stem from their taking advantage of emerging trends. The brand aligned with yoga before yoga was commonly practised but beginning to grow in the West.)
Methodology: Photography
Vivid pictures that photography offer are among the most effective means of appealing to the target of lifestyle branding, especially since humans can digest and remember imagery much faster than is the case with words. Imagery is therefore useful for enhancing brand awareness.
Tips for lifestyle branding (DOs & DONTs)
Establish brand attributes.
Red Bull attributes include 'revitalize body and mind', 'extreme', 'sports and adventure'.
Coca Cola attributes include 'happiness'
Do things outside of the product and core activities that create more humanlike dimensions to the brand. Examples inlclude events, review films the audience loves, etc. Lifestyle brands have some type of viewpoint or sense of activism, purpose, mission.
Embrace your lifestyle specificity. Truly live your brand persona in your lifestyle without apology. For instance, if your brand resonates with a certain type of music at a certain volume, do not compromise because, like a personality, your brand does not exist to please everyone.
Communication is extremely important to lifestyle branding. Consequently, get your brand voice right.
Master the following.
the psychographics aspect of your target market profile. Use customer relationship management (CRM)
lifestyle desires. To streamline this task, consider:
a keyword like Red Bull's 'extreme', Coco Cola's 'happiness', etc.
how the lifesstyle looks (like a particular type of sport or activity)
ability to promote the lifestyle
communication channels like Red Bull's use of the storytelling strategy through high quality content based on stories of extreme sports enthusiasts or like social media of influencers and experts. So the brand is considered loved by the experts).
the most suitable psychological associations between the brand and a lifestyle. Your brand should always be a clear symbol of the lifestyle.
experiences that provide the lifestyle
means your brand can use to help the target market to experience their desirable lifestyle.
Create facilitative avenues for interaction among consumers. Encourage consumers to showcase and enjoy the lifestyle. You may also encourage interaction between the target market and the brand. However, it is simply a place for like-minded people to connect as a community. While your brand need not directly interact with consumers, it is necessary for your brand to trigger conversations by providing some type of content. This interaction provides data that can be analyzed qualitatively.
LuluLemon encouraged consumers to give design feedback and suggestions. They ensured that consumers participating in such initiatives also felt heard.
Focus your communication on the lifestyle, rather than your product. However, the product must be able to fit very well within the context of the lifestyle.
Brand storytelling is a type of content marketing that is designed to engage consumers emotionally. Content marketing involves creating and sharing material (commonly video, blog or other social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is absolutely intended to stimulate interest in its products (albeit indirectly). In other words, rather than use boring educational e-books or infommercial content about product features, you can instead use storytelling, best yet with lifestyle branding, to engage a consumer's buying mind via their emotional backdoor. In short, brand storytelling is a strategy to emotional stimulate consumers.
What is a brand story? A brand story is the narrative or the reputation attached to your brand. It is what others may say about your brand, often the first thing they think of. It is useful to consider the term 'brand story' as a collective term because it is the residual idea that is left in a consumer's mind having interacted with your brand over an extended period in numerous ways. If your brand shows up in the world in a way that remained strictly consistent with the brand personality, a consumer's response when asked about your brand is likely to incorporate some key aspects of your branding design plan.
Examples of what some customers might say for the following case studies.
Red Bull support extreme sporting events.
Nike encourages athletes (of more conventional sports) to excel.
Coca Cola is about happiness and friendship.
Harley Davidson's brand thinks people should enjoy life and feel free. Notice that, rather than sell motorbikes or roller coaster rides, these brand stories sell the core belief.
Disney thinks people should have fun.
Since the brand story is often known only implicitly, it is even more critical that a brand's content remains consistent and clearly aligned with branding goals. A brand suffering multiple personality disorder will find it hard to maintain a good niche of 'friends'.
Uses & Benefits of Brand Storytelling
Emotional branding. Research shows that stories trigger the brain to respond to stories in very affecting / moving ways and people are 22 times more likely to remember story-based information than fact-based information. Stories even encourage people to feel more emotionally connected to brands than otherwise. Using the brand story as a more organic advertisement is ideal. Your story should ideally include how you resolved their pain points, etc, the story will be even more beneficial. Read more about emotional branding (along with case studies for the emotions of happiness, sadness, anger and fear).
Differentiation. A compelling brand story can help to seal competitive advantage. After all, according to the Content Marketing Institute's 2019 B2C Content Marketing Trends, roughly half (only 52%) of content marketers frequently use storytelling in their marketing. If you are fortunate to be in a market with even less focus on content marketing, you have even a greater opportunity.
Brand Story Tips
Know the brand attributes. (See examples of brand attributes). This are essential parts of the brand and need to be communicated.
Integrate all aspects of your business with branding so that it is consistent.
Red Bull marketing model is consistent globally.
Own and control your content without needing to seek third party rights.
This is the motivation behind the creation of Red Bull Media House.
Generate quality, authentic content that truly is emotionally engaging. Focus on the brand personality and attributes, NOT the product.
Red Bull tv tells real life stories of the challenges and triumps of its star extreme sports athletes. Red Bull does not show athletes holding the can of their product. They are relying on the audience to be so emotionally connected with the content that, when they need to 'feel revitalized', they will buy Red Bull. The subtle placements of their brand imagery is sufficient for the audience to know the source of the content.
Create different communication media products (video, blog, etc) based on your market's preference.
Red Bull creates its own featured films, episodic series, documentaries and so on.
Create valuable media channels that could provide 360 degree publishing.
Create innovative content.
Red Bull's events are often very innovative. A key case in point was the famous man jumping from space.
Do not allow the brand story to develop by chance. After all, it can be implicit and left to perceptions of others (much the way any human being has a 'story' that can be concisely construed by observers). Take charge; direct how your brand story is told. For instance
When creating brand awareness from the earliest stages of the brand's life and or when your target customer is still only at the top of the sales funnel (TOFU), expressly communicate the brand story in writing in the 'About' page. Essentially, begin training everyone about your brand's narrative.
Brainstorm for brand stories from daily activities that relate to your brand's source of competitive advantage, featured employees whose practices reflect the customer experience that is integral to your brand's competitive advantage, things learned, etc Examples include show how your buyer who is concerned with eco-friendly materials visits suppliers; show how you make the product is handcrafted with thoughtfully sourced ingredients.
Articulate the brand story to anyone being recruited to provide content in one way or other, from employed content providers to customers about to write reviews or feedback. Prompt and guide these content providers accordingly.
Have a communication marketing plan whose raison d'etre is to honor the brand story. For instance, establish details for managing each type of content element (above).
Include brand style guidelines regarding types of content. What you say is just as important as the form you use to communicate it.
Always make the target customer profile into the protagonist with problems and show your product as the hero or resolution to customer problems. (Focus on benefits NOT products and features). Use customer stories. This helps to showcase that customers love your brand. Publish customer reviews and stories that are compliant with your desired brand story. Whenever possible, use classic storytelling techniques; character development, a character's arch / transformation, etc. Wherever possible, be inspirational.
Be social. Show your brand's human side. After all, customers have relationships with people. You can humanize your brand if you showcase yourself as the brand's founder, team, the office, behind-the-scenes activities, daily activities and so on. Consider that the KarJenner clan social media achieves this very well. The public has such intimate knowledge about the family members that their humanity is a people magnet that allowed Kylie Jenner's product launch to result in a complete sell out within hours, even though she was a teenager selling products that offer nothing extraordinary that can not already be achieved from other brands. Inclusions in brand story telling include stories about how and why the founder created the company.
Teach others how to tell your story. As early as possible, preferably within the first few words of content, let customers be clear of how the brand adds value. Be concise to maintain the emotional hook. This is important because you are NOT the only one telling your story.
Take advantage of internet marketing tools. Examples include.
Use video contagion
create a unique hashtag
CONTENT RELATED TO TELLING A BRAND STORY
Emotional branding (with case studies illustrating the emotions of happiness, sadness, anger and fear).
