When you are at an event—whether that’s a friend’s dinner party or a networking evening with peers—what do you notice in people? Maybe it’s an outfit that was particularly stylish or the fact that someone had lovely hair or was very elegant. And what makes you remember them the next day? It’s what they had to say for themselves, yes? We conversation you had that was funny or enlightening. An anecdote they shared that stayed in your mind. We remember people for the stories they tell. And that’s true for brands, too.
The maverick and very successful marketer and author Seth Godin says we now live in a ‘connection economy’, and what sets us apart from the Industrial Age is the fact that nothing is standardised anymore. Mass media, communication, marketing, and advertising are not the norm any longer. People now listen to those they want to listen to. They will click on the links they choose to and open the emails they feel matter to them. To communicate e²ectively and successfully, brands (and individuals) need to build trust, create meaningful connections, ask for permission to speak to someone, and exchange ideas in a generous and unique manner. You cannot stick to a formula. You cannot do anything that’s just enough—you have to bake the extraordinary into the routine. And you need to think out of the box as the rule and not the exception.
What all of this boils down to for brands, in my opinion, is storytelling. Now that you have a voice and are clear on your messaging, what do you have to say for yourself? And I want to dispel a common mistake I see people making these days of assuming that storytelling is just for social media posts. It’s really not. From the text on your website to the bio on your social media and the content you share online and offline, brand storytelling is another foundational aspect you cannot afford to take lightly. Today’s consumer no longer makes buying decisions based on price or product range.
They are driven by emotions and experiences, and they want to understand a brand’s values, provenance, and purpose before investing time or money in its products and services. Take for example the fact that if you want to buy a simple white t-shirt, you can choose to either go to a high-street brand, or support a sustainable organic label, or even buy that t-shirt with a high-luxe branded price tag. Each of these brands has a story to tell, and they have to share it consistently across platforms to not just reach their ideal customer, but also retain their attention and support.
When Deepika Gehani was talking to me about brand messaging, she also outlined the importance of knowing what to say, and who to say it to: ‘Many brand success stories are testament to the effectiveness of storytelling. Every brand essentially has its unique strengths, an angle, or a story, and customers want to hear about it. Sometimes it is the brand heritage and the journey, or sometimes the product may be state of art and innovative and therefore inspiring. This hook is an effective strategy as it compels people to make a purchase. Storytelling also helps in building brand loyalty with customers. However, there needs to be a healthy balance, and more often than not brands forget that the narratives need to resonate with your target audience. If a brand story is disconnected from the people that you want to influence, even the greatest version of it will not suffice.’
In all her years of experience, she finds that ‘honesty is what makes a brand communication successful. Any global or local or high-end luxury brand can plan the most outrageous campaigns, but if the quality of the product does not deliver, it is definitely a disaster in making. You have to focus on three things—your product and its USP, which clearly needs to be the highlight of your communication; understanding your customer; and planning, because without it, even the best ideas are unsuccessful.’
As much as it is tempting to stick to a formula or try pleasing an algorithm, your brand story needs a strong foundation and a lot of thought. So where do you start?
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
Think about your customer and what they expect from you. This is an important aspect to get very clear on because it helps you decide your storytelling pillars, the social media platforms you need to be on, and the offline strategy you have to employ. Chinmayee Manjunath, who helped me write this book and works with brands on content and communication strategy, has a couple of firm guidelines to help her clients understand their audience:
• How old is your ideal customer? This is absolutely the first step, because once you know the age group of the person you want to target, you can understand what kind of storytelling will appeal to them.
• How and where does your ideal customer consume content? This immediately helps you decide whether you need to be making Reels on Instagram or if your money is better spent doing in-store events, and maybe emailing a fortnightly newsletter. Or perhaps you need to do nothing online and focus on traditional media.
• What are the other brands that your customer supports, and is there a gap between what your competition offers them and what you can? Create a unique storytelling universe, and while there is always some overlap and repetition within an industry, getting very clear on your USP will help you stand out regardless.
• Is there a category of content or information that you know they would benefit from, even if they don’t know it themselves? Say, for example, you own a florist business and specialise in creating bespoke arrangements. What might be nice is to look at the mythology, healing properties, characteristics, and attributes of the flowers that you use. You could also share your own process of how you source flowers, what draws you to certain blooms, and guide your clients on how to choose flowers based on more than just colour and appearance. This adds many layers to what could be a very cut-and-dried process.
Next, you need to align your messaging—which the previous chapter helps you strategise on—with your storytelling pillars. Broadly, these are the most common five pillars, but you will need to tweak them according to your business and what your brand stands for.
1. Inspirational: Happy, cheerful, bright, and uplifting messaging, which is something everyone can and should benefit from. This is when you use quotes from famous people, create stunning flat lays, shoot beautiful visuals, and feature influencer shout-outs, for instance.
2. Educational: To build thought leadership, facilitate knowledge and create an environment for people to learn about your brand and your industry is essential. Content under this pillar includes tips and tricks, video trainings, and stories of culture and heritage.
3. Conversational: Engagement is always key, whether that means comments on a post or chatting with clients on the phone or via video calls. Your aim here is to spark organic interaction via events, giveaways, contests, and polls.
4. Community-building: This pillar is especially important on social media because it helps you convey the lifestyle you envision for your clients, share behind-the-scenes of the brand, and foster personal connections with your content.
5. Commercial: Fairly straightforward and essential to your marketing are calls to action, announcements of new launches or sales, and conducting lives on social media or events offline.
The excerpt is from ‘Pitch Perfect: How to Create a Brand People Cannot Stop Talking About’ (published by Penguin Random House India).