Everyone in the marketing world is talking about brand storytelling.

You need to message in the form of a story that holds the interest of the reader or viewer. The question I have is which story?

Using myself as an example what would my personal brand story be? 

Am I supposed to tell about my childhood, which was fantastic and probably one of the best on record?  Should I tell about my time in the New York City Police Department and my undercover adventures or my Medal of Honor?

Or should I tell about living in the Adirondack Mountains in a town with 500 year-round residents and the horses I owned or the resort ranch I managed for a short time.  Or how about the time I worked side-by-side with my brother to build his new business.

See what I mean.  Stories, “I got a million of ‘em.” 

In marketing, when you are creating content (blogs, social posts, videos) your message is more effective if wrapped in a story that resonates.  Tech talk, boilerplate, features of products or services are ordinary and bland for the most part.  

The simplest form of storytelling is putting reality into the message and making your audience part of it by creating an alternate attractive scenario aimed directly at them.  Put them in the picture, if you will.

Short form brand storytelling is something that can be done without a major production, but does require the eliciting of immediate connection and emotional buy-in.  In other words your brand is the vehicle to the outcome. 

You could say “Rocking the beach” with imagery showing bright sunshine, beautiful water and people enjoying the setting with the portable speaker in the foreground. “The red carpet came alive” with the model well lit, in a stunning dress and the brand name subtly included. It doesn’t matter whether it is a hair product, makeup, jewelry or the gown, it is the connection to the red carpet.

It’s all about placing the consumer / prospect into the picture. Corona beer has struck gold with its “Find Your Beach” campaign showing outrageously beautiful waterfront settings frequented by its customers who always have their frosty bottle. Nike, the industry leader has mastered the concept with its images of active athletic people doing almost every type of sport on the planet and their famous iconic swoosh logo with or without  “Just do it” tag line. Never once does Nike mention or use a static image of their product. It is about sport and Nike’s place in it. 

Of course there are long-form examples of story telling that are found in magazine articles, blogs and videos, etc. but I will save those for another time.

Pay attention as you consume content.  What grabs your attention? How much do you really read and why? What type of content do you prefer? Did you immediately grasp the message? Are blogs your thing, video, memes?

We are bombarded with thousands of pieces of content everyday.  Learn from them. Capture the ones that you engaged with and understand the producer had you specifically in mind when the creative and story was crafted. 

Greg Demetriou is president and CEO of Lorraine Gregory Communications.

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