People love stories, ever since the first civilizations we have had the desire to communicate and tell tales of adventure, love and fantasy. But there is a more popular genre than the aforementioned and we, marketers, have known how to take advantage of it.
Heroic tales, where the good triumphs over the evil and the adversities, are people’s favorites and, the best of all, they have such a simple narrative that it can be applied in any marketing strategy.
It is well documented that emotions motivate our actions. To effectively captivate your public, the history of your product, service, company or evenly your personal image must reflect the following:
Great Aspirations
Your story should inspire people to want more, to not settle and to better themselves. An example of this is Nike’s slogan: "Just do it". This American company famous for sponsoring the biggest stars in the sport’s industry places the consumer as the main character in the brand’s story. The message is simple: Everyone faces challenges and the only way to overcome them is with Nike’s help.
David vs Goliath
A good story wouldn’t be interesting if the main character did not have anything to lose. People identify and react more emotionally seeing that the protagonist is someone "common" and "ordinary" fighting against the seemingly invincible odds imposed by life and / or others. In this age where entrepreneurship is the trend, people want to see small businesses that can go against big companies.
A great example of this point is the life of the charismatic Richard Branson, a British entrepreneur who for a long time didn’t ring any bell and now his group of companies under the name "Virgin" is worth about 5 billion dollars.
Bravery
The protagonist of your story must be brave and tenacious. No matter how difficult things gets, the main character (in this case represented by your product, service, company, etc.) should always succeed and never give up.
Steve Jobs remembered as the visionary behind the iPhone and success of Pixar, had to face failures and exile of the company he founded. However, his quest to transcend gave him the courage to bring Apple back in track.
Personal Stories
It is very important not to fall into exaggerations when telling the story. You must captivate your target audience by communicating in a way that everyone who receives the message identify themselves like the main character. Personal stories are those in which the audience knows perfectly the character in all its stages in their good and bad moments.
Communicate it effectively
Knowing the correct means of communication is key to the success of your story. It's of no use having a good story if people are not going to have access to it. Beyond traditional media, the philosophy of the company, the product or even that person who symbolizes the brand (for example: Steve Jobs) are the main channel by which your story must be seen.
You must ask yourself:
What are your company’s core values?
What is the extra value of your product or service?
What are your competitors doing that you can do differently?
Once you’ve answered this questions, you’ll have a solid foundation for your story and to the brand’s philosophy that will dictate how future communication efforts will be done.
We hope to have placed you in the right track on how to start an effective marketing strategy. If you want results, Orangegoal will help you obtain it.