Why srotytelling for brands is important

Brand Storytelling: A Buoy to Stay Afloat In general, storytelling is the process of sharing events, ideas by means of both images and words with the aim to entertain, educate and inform others. In this regard, brand storytelling appears as telling a story of the brand. Personally for me, brand storytelling seems to be closely connected to content marketing and corporate storytelling; they are not the same things, though. The main characteristic feature of brand storytelling is that it uses narrative with the aim to establish an emotional connection with the customer and communicate the essence of the brand. From this, it follows that a brand story is more than mere content; it goes far beyond it. Overall, a brand story is a narrative that defines the brand itself and presents the strategy of the company. Also, as Bernadette Jiwa puts it, it is a “ complete picture made up of facts, feelings, and interpretations”, which means it is the story created not only by the company itself but by its customers as well.
The majority of brands do need brand stories to survive in the marketplace. Today, we live in the world, in which everybody tries to be better, faster, and stronger than others. This also applies to the marketplace where companies usually swim against the stream in the sea of a boundless content. Because of this, a brand story is what a brand needs in order not only to stay afloat but to come in first and be chosen among others. As Mark Di Somma writes in his article, “ Without a storyline, a product just is that”. In fact, a truer word was never spoken. A storyline is needed to help consumers differentiate between what they are offered and choose what they want based not only on the functionality of a product for there are numbers of products, which are only the versions of one and the same thing. These days, any type of media can be chosen to tell a story of a brand, such as print, social networking websites, film, blogs etc. Each of them causes different reactions of the audience; consequently, stories should be optimized to fit both the medium and the audience.
A good example of a company with an effective brand story is Nike. As it is seen from its campaigns, the company does not sell just shoes or clothes. It rather sells attitude. In addition to this, the company creates a community around what they promote and sell. The Lego Story is also a good example of well-created story narrated by animated characters. The video shows the founder as well as the values of the company and its commitment to children. Finally, it is Jack Daniel’s brand story, which proofs that storytelling can be effective by means of personalizing the brand, the company succeeds in reaching the customer (Ratcliff).
Overall, for a company to stay afloat while others sink, a good brand story is the best choice. It is so because stories tend to interest and fascinate while bare facts may bore. If we like a story, we care; and if we care, we react.
Works Cited
Jiwa, Bernadette. ” Brand Story.” Thestoryoftelling. com. N. p. Web. 28 Jan 2015. .
Ratcliff, Christopher. ” What is Story Telling for Brand and Why do You Need it?.” Econsultancy. com. N. p., 23 Sep 2014. Web. 28 Jan 2015. .
Somma, Mark Di. ” Every Brand Price Point Needs a Story.” Branding Strategy Insider. 23 Jan 2015: n. page. Web. 28 Jan. 2015. .