Tuesday, January 28, 2014

When should I use storytelling for marketing?

I have written before about the power of storytelling and metaphors. I think the ability to tell a good story is important to growth, but to others storytelling may be conceived as just the latest marketing fad.  Why would stories be more effective than just clearly displaying the price, features, and benefits?  If you are selling one product and it is very, very straight forward you probably have no need for stories  (but this is not a simple assessment, mortgages should be a commodity, but Quicken Loans is selling customer service too), you just need to say what it is and the price. But,what if there is more to your product? What if your product is different than any thing else on the market? What if the future state potential is difficult to describe using current paradigms? What if you're creating a customer service experience that is on a whole new level? What then?

The basics just won't cut it because there is nothing in the customer's mind to compare it to. In these instances, a metaphor or story can be the most powerful way and perhaps the only way to convey what you offer and get beyond just words to emotions. Zappos is a great example. Yes, they have exceptional customer service which now defines their brand, but before that was established how could they convey how amazing their service was?  How about a story about an eight hour customer service call?  Zappos offers "wow" customer service and the story about the call is a great way to show what "wow" means.




Another great example is Google's series of ads showing how their products are used in real life.  The commercial below called "Dear Sophie" is a great example. These ads are clearly stories about both life and Google products.  The ads also connect on an emotional level. They are essentially parables, telling a story so we can relate on how we could use the products.  This ad has been viewed almost 10 million times on YouTube which is pretty amazing for an advertisement.  


So when should you use storytelling?  When your offer is different than what else is out there...and really, I hope that applies to 99% of us.  

No comments:

Post a Comment