How to use Branded Experience & Storytelling for Impact

Branded Experience + Storytelling for Impact

(Or, How to Help Your Customers Catch the Really Big Fish)

Guest Post by Sharlene Sones of Brandstoria

As brand manager or marketer, you seek impact on performance goals -- gains in market share, revenue and loyal customers. There’s no shortage on concepts to achieve this; you’re told you need to connect, engage, personalize and even humanize. Go social. Create buzz and “viral“ content and campaigns. There’s a litany of great resources for these and many more strategies that all make sense but still can leave you pondering, “but how do I actually do this?” The answer, I believe, is in expressing your brand’s story. Couple this with designed brand experiences - ways for people to interact with you that reinforce the very essence of your brand – and you will ignite a powerful marketing chain reaction. 

Experience and story are really pretty much inseparable -- they go hand-in-hand, creating emotional and meaningful connection between you and your customers. Whether it’s the world’s largest ATM, a gigantic M&M that opens to unveil a stage of singing American Idols, or the world’s largest logo visible from space, whatever experience you design will create stories that people can share. Stories that feature your brand and customers together front and center. That convey what makes you special.  This is much bigger than just public relations – it’s a core marketing strategy that can have far reaching impact. Here’s a few ways it works:

“The One With The Best Story Wins.”

Your brand story reveals the very essence of what makes you unique and valuable to people. That’s no minor deal in today’s competitive world where meaningful differentiation has become harder and harder to convey. The good news is that behind very brand is a great story -- a why-you-came-to-be narrative that creates relevance and meaning for people. Giving them another reason to care about you, inspiring purchase and loyalty.  If this sounds like common sense, it’s because storytelling is an age-old “technology,” the way our brains retrieve information and make sense of our world.  It’s automatic. This kind of cognitive sales pitch can make all the difference in a purchase decision. Consider this: I have friends who loyally shop at Whole Foods (one driving a half hour for the nearest store) simply because they share a passion for the store’s brand story. By shopping there, they feel like they are supporting locally grown, organic farmers. They have a sense of ownership, of participating and sharing in the Whole Foods story. This kind of personal shared narrative can act as a powerful driver for deciding which products and services you choose. We don’t just buy products, we buy their stories. Think not?  I left my office in hot pursuit of M&M Pretzels simply after hearing about their event.

Experiences: Ready-To-Go-Viral Stories in the Making

A successful, well-designed brand experience creates stories that you’ll remember and talk up with others.  At sporting events, in retail stores, even in restaurants  -- marketers understand it’s more than just the game, the product or the food that brings in customers.  It’s the experience.  This is, after all, the catalyst for generating emotional stories that can realize buzz and viral momentum.  After the M&M event ended, thousands of people went home to tell their friends about their experience.  Woven into the story was the new M&M product launch. The beauty: the customer is the hero of a very personal story, with brand as the memorable enabler.  In a world where customers want to participate in creation of everything, the experience provides the ultimate opportunity for co-creation of story.  And, as all great fishermen know, stories can take on life of their own, keeping the emotions of the memory fresh and alive over time and even taking on myth-like status.  That sounds like a trophy-winner to me.

[Sharlene Sones is a Storyteller and Strategist at Brandstoria.  She helps develop and leverage powerful brand stories]