4 minute read
Everybody and everything has a story. Some of them we study in schools in history classes, some we read for pleasure in the form of a novel, and most of them nowadays we consume in the form of movies, painting, music, architecture and others. Today, the power of storytelling enters the businesses and becomes an indispensable skill for success. Article examines the successful storytelling examples and provides with essential parts of the story building elements.
The story of
storytelling
The storytelling comes to us from the ancient times. The spoken storytelling was the only way to share the experience of the communities and to get to know the world around at times before the appearance of media. The power of storytelling has been recognized and used by governments. One of the examples is the power of the church in the medieval Europe, where the narration of Bible held the population in fear and obedience. Moreover, the priests have been well known for their rhetoric skills. Even nowadays, in some countries the content of the history books is changed with the new governments getting to the power. But the power of storytelling does not necessary have to be abused. In most cases, the storytelling is used to promote science, and the method is being utilized by marketing as a new wave of product promotion. TED talks is a great example of the storytelling success, which have been promoting the storytelling in many ways raising awareness of social and environmental issues.
The parts
for success
There is no difference on the subject of the story. However, there are some rules to be followed for the fruitful and efficient delivery of one. First, and the most important, is the Big Idea. A well-told story will be with the audience for years to come and inspirational to be shared with others. That’s the reason the TED slogan is “Ideas worth sharing”.
Moreover, there is the method how to engage with the audience. Following this structure is proven to bring great results and feedbacks.
Emotional
connection
The story as no other can deliver the values of the brand and company. The dry state of the product quality does not stand out in the overcrowded global competition. The tragedy of Advertising Commons states the human attention gets overpressured with the growing volumes of the information and advertising. That creates the new weight in the role of storytelling and its impact on the emotional connection between the brand and its customer. Addressing just the prosperities of the product is not enough to get the attention in the highly competitive environment. It is important to deliver the value that the product and service, or the utility of consuming it, will bring to the customer. Adding the emotional note into the storyline will help to connect to the recipient. Academic literature has evidence on how familiarity increases the cooperation levels between people. In 2015, researchers run an experiment implementing an immersive environment, the virtual reality, triggering different emotions to figure out which of the can lead to cooperation. Haley Adams at al state: “We postulate that participants who never meet their partner in a collaborative environment will perform worse than those who are able to interact with their partner prior to the performance of a task. If this holds true, then it could have important implications for long distance collaboration.” Same with the storytelling and marketing. Delivering the value and the mission of the brand, company, to the client has to increase the “cooperation” between the company and the customer. That stays true for both Business-to-Business and Business-to-Customer.
One of the examples of storytelling base of the marketing is Coca-Cola. The company delivers the message of friendship, connection with others, as the main benefit of their product. As the result, customers perceive the drink as the one that will make them happy. For many years, the Coca-Cola’s advertisements would concentrate on the emotional utility of consuming the product and it has proven its effectiveness, as the brand is the leader in its segment.
