What The Hero's Journey Can Teach Us About Brand Storytelling
How to create authentic, emotional connections with your customers using the age-old narrative framework.
Brand storytelling just ain't what it used to be, at least in the digital marketing space. The Mad Men days of big ideas and small words, were great for traditional channels, but the maturation of the digital space has given way to a more direct approach to messaging. Online advertising success tends to get lost in the analytics, deals, the 50% off discount codes and transactional messages, while creating authentic stories that connect with consumers tends to take a back seat.
Don't get me wrong, there are still fantastic brand storytellers out there. But as you travel down the consumer funnel you travel, the more transactional these stories tend to become; a deviation from the core understanding that people are emotional creatures. Part of this is due to different entities creating marketing to different parts of the funnel, creating a natural disconnect.
At the end of the day: we may think our decisions are based on reason, but in reality, intuition drives more of the consumer decision-making process than we realize.
94% of consumers said they would be highly likely to recommend a brand they were emotionally engaged with. – Gensler Brand Engagement Study.
So, how can you create this emotional human connection? The answer has been with us for thousands of years. It forms the story behind just about every Hollywood film you've ever watched. The answer: The Hero's Journey.
A hero (main character/customer) encounters a problem. The hero sets out on a journey to find a solution. The hero finds a solution. The audience establishes an emotional connection with the hero throughout the journey and shares in the hero's joyous victory. Sound familiar? At it's core, this age-old framework is built upon three simple concepts:
Find the hurt
Amplify the pain
Offer a solution (your product/service)
The identity of a brand and consecutive brand messages should follow the same framework.
So, where do you begin? Park Howell, host of The Business of Story, presents a 10-question approach to identifying authentic brand stories. It all starts with a little inflection. When branding your company, a new product, or even yourself as a professional, ask yourself these 10 questions:
What do you do better than anyone else?
Who should/will care? Identify top 3 audiences/stakeholders in order of priority.
What does each audience really want/need?
Why do they want/need it?
What is keeping them from having it?
How are you equipped to help them get it?
What actions are you going to do to deliver this desired result? This is the consumer journey part.
What does success LOOK like?
What does success FEEL like?
How do you continue to level up their brand loyalty, belief in the company/product/service to keep them coming back?
Asking these questions will allow you to sift through the fluff and allow the essence of your brand, value of your service/product and, most importantly, the mindset of your customer/audience rise to the top.
Connecting with customers in lasting ways isn't about changing a market. It's be about changing a mind.
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