Storytelling in Marketing
If a Picture is Worth 1000 Words, Imagine What a Video is Worth…. By: Jason Manders, Core Crafted Designs
W
e are all in an age of advertising media overload. Emails, TV ads, social media. On our phones, in our living rooms, in our cars. All designed to get our attention and motivate us to act on what we just saw or heard. And in some aspects, the days are gone where a business just needs to tell the world about its product or service. Now, customers want to know if the business is acting responsibly, has good intent, good culture, good people or maybe even a mission to make the local area (or better yet the world) a better place. Trying to sum all this up in a single image with simple text would be quite a challenge.
Connecting to your customer The use of video in advertising can create a connection to your customers like no other
Lights, camera, action!
Much like a Hollywood movie, your video should be designed to cover the basic elements of a story. What’s the plot, the purpose, the characters? What is the location setting that best captures your message? Who is your target audience and what is important to them? And where the video will be distributed has an impact on how it’s shot. Do you have 30 seconds to tell your story, or three minutes? All of these are important factors to consider and design into the project.
way. They see firsthand what you do, what you are about and what matters to your company. And the icing on top is they almost get to experience it firsthand Being different makes without actually being there. the difference The key Your customer hears your The key here is to be memorable. story delivered in a way that here is to be Stand out and be different. We all truly connects with them. memorable. have short attention spans and are They see your emotion quick to click or swipe away. What and even get a chance to Stand out and sets you apart in the industry? feel it themselves. The be different. How is your product or service video story you tell helps better? How will you help your your potential customer customer make their life easier, understand what it is that your business and tell them in a way they quickly and easily does, why you do it, and how it can help understand? Sometimes it’s the small things them. It can explain your values, mission, that make a big difference in their lives. Many how you got to this point in your business customers will even pay more for a product or and where you plan to go. Way more than service because of what the company stands a photo could ever “say”... if it had a voice. for. Many choose to give their business to a company that is making a difference on an issue they care about, and the extra cost is looked at as an investment in the cause.
Take a little journey together
Video storytelling shouldn’t be a direct sales pitch. It should connect to your customer and tell a real story about things that matter to them. You want your story to be engaging from start to finish. You want it to be relatable to your potential customer. Think like they do, not like you do. What do they want to hear and see? You’re not speaking AT them, you’re speaking TO them. And better yet, you are speaking LIKE your customer. They should see and hear why you are the right choice for their business without thinking that much about it. It just clicks.
22 Collective IMPACT | Spring 2022
