Where Does #BrandStorytelling Fit in Your Marketing Strategy?

How do you cause disruption in your segment? You may alter your pricing, so that customers notice your brand when compared to your competitors. You may alter your product offering by adding some appropriately aligned items. And you may offer discounts to entice buyers to visit your retail stores on holiday weekends. But, do you feature brand storytelling in your marketing? The easiest way to appeal to your customers is to create memorable stories.

Dave Sutton (@TopRightPartner on Twitter), author of MARKETING, INTERRUPTED, wrote, "The power and impact of your brand, your product, your services and your story comes from making the customer the hero, and you, the marketer, serving as the guide on their buying journey."

Consider two famous icons in the automotive industry and their personal stories: Henry Ford and Elon Musk. According to Sutton, "Ford aspired to transform the marketing for automobiles, which at the time were expensive toys for the wealthiest few, into a mass marketed vehicle for the many…He was an industrialist and the father of the modern assembly line mode of production." Musk wants his Tesla "to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass market electric cars to market as soon as possible…He is known as an explorer, inventor, and engineer."

Sutton used these examples to explain that everyone has a personal brand story – more than what you do for a living. "It speaks to who you are and what you represent – it speaks to the core of why you do what you do." Personal brand stories are key to understand the importance of brand storytelling.

"The most remarkable personal stories are generally about a transformational journey. What traditions and norms must be challenged? What are the treacherous obstacles to overcome and pitfalls to avoid? What overwhelming odds must be beat? Who are the villains that must be conquered? Who are the dragons that must be slayed along the way? By bringing this level of clarity of action, you can create a more compelling and emotive story for yourself and the journey you want your audience to accompany you on."

Despite all the messages that bombard us all day long – whether in emails, texts, pop-up ads, TV ads, radio ads, newspaper ads, etc. – no one wants to be interrupted. Everyone wants their time to be valued and respected. As Sutton wrote, "This calls for marketing to make a change: a change in how customers understand you, engage with you and experience you."

So, will you alter your marketing before it’s too late? 

TWEET THIS: No one wants to be interrupted. This calls for marketing to make a change: a change in how customers understand you, engage with you and experience you. ~Dave Sutton @TopRightPartner


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