matt higgins

At its simplest, storytelling marketing is the use of a narrative approach in branding as opposed to focusing on features. Getting more specific, storytelling marketing is an effort to humanize that’s meant to facilitate an emotional connection. While product can’t be ignored by marketing, storytelling makes sure the messaging isn’t just about the product and its features.

One of the best recent examples of a storytelling approach is Dyson. To market their flagship vacuum cleaner, the company told the story of their frustrated founder and his experience with inferior products. If you’ve ever used a consumer-grade vacuum, you can relate. This frustration sparked innovation and the Dyson vacuum with its cyclone technology was born. To create demand, they told a story. There was way more to the story, but they kept it short and sweet. As a result, we saw Dyson, not as a corporation, but as a person. This guy was trying to sell us something, not this corporation. Dyson was just like us. He vacuumed, and he was frustrated by inferior products. As a result, a product was released with strong demand, and a brand went from obscurity to household name and market share dominator. It was a massively successful campaign.

Storytelling doesn’t always have to be about a person. Even if a company doesn’t have an appropriate figurehead type, the brand still has a story and almost every story is worth telling.

The storytelling approach works because it makes companies relatable. The approach works because it builds trust. Instinctively big corporations can’t be trusted, but personalities can. And, again, people have personality but brands can too.

How to Start

Storytelling can cause writer’s block, but it’s easy to work through and get started. Ask “Who are we?” “What do we do and why?” “What could ordinary people relate to about us?” “How did we get here?” “What motivates us?” Simple questions will give great answers. And, like Dyson, don’t be afraid to keep it short. Just be authentic.

Beyond Origin Stories

Storytelling isn’t just about the origins of a company. Storytelling can be used for a new product. If there’s a story to tell, tell it.

Storytelling can also be used in a general branding campaign. You can show real consumers, share their story, and show how they engage with your product.

As soon as you can leverage consumer stories, do it. UGC campaigns are a perfect way to build authenticity in your storytelling approach.

Two clever examples of storytelling are the personalized end-of-year lists used by Spotify with its Wrapped feature and YouTube’s Recap. These are great on so many levels. First, it’s automated. These personal anthologies are completely data driven. Second, even though they are data, the opposite of narrative, they tell a story, and the make the user the hero of the story. Third, they’re social gold. Users were sharing their Spotify and YouTube end-of-year summation across multiple social channels.

The Complete Package

Good marketing goes beyond a list of features and highlights benefits. Storytelling takes it one step further and adds in emotional response and connection. It’s important to note that this isn’t a matter of each approach replacing the last. It’s benefits over features, not benefits instead of features. It’s not about storytelling at the expense of highlighting benefits.