The Art of Happily Ever After

No matter how amazing your product is…

No matter how much your audience needs your brand…

No matter how much money you throw at publicizing your idea…

The only way to make a long-term impact, to drive brand affinity and engagement, to generate true brand love… is to tell a great story!

Since the dawn of man we have been telling stories: on cave walls, via hieroglyphics, on papyrus rolls, with the help of the printing press, on screens of all sorts. The good news is that everyone can relate to a great story. They cut across age groups, gender, cultures, geographies. 

Technology has elevated video brand storytelling to the front of the pack. YouTube now regularly clocks more than 1 billion hours of watched content daily. (There isn’t a broadcast network that can match that staggering figure!) Video is forecasted to grow to 80 percent of internet traffic by 2019. Recall of videos watched is at a dramatic 80 percent, and 46 percent of those watching take some follow-up action, like asking for more info or visiting a retailer website. Take note… these are impressive stats to consider.

So how do we get buy-in to happen with our content, the scrolling fingers to stop on our video contribution? Effective brand storytelling satisfies one of four key consumer needs: it provides an emotional reward, it shows how to solve a problem, it delivers a punchline, or it generates intrigue.

Here are 10 key tips to help you satisfy those needs and make your content storytelling meaningful and effective, leading you the happily ever after:

1. Find the Common Thread: (I wrote more about this in a previous post you should read.)

2. Plot a Compelling Story: Stories come in all styles, approaches and lengths. The key is to remember that our audience wants to connect, so let’s help them. Craft a meaningful beginning, middle and end to your story and use that as the framework for bringing your idea to life.

3. Make a Human Connection: People want brands to care about them. It’s true.

4. Show, Don’t Tell: The old adage is true… a picture is worth a thousand words. Don’t over-complicate things. Let your images do the work for you.

5. Focus on What Matters:The most effective brand storytelling is easy to understand… quickly. You don’t need to overly explain it. If your audience doesn’t get it right away, you aren’t telling a good story.

6. Edit, Edit, Edit… Ruthlessly: Avoid the urge to overstuff. Remember that you can always add another chapter to your brand story later. But you will chase away your audience if you try to tell them too much with every outing. Unpack the meaning of your main point and build your story on that. (See Point 5 above). Avoid the bloat in storytelling by outlining everything you want to say and then editing content for maximum impact, clarity, and to best leverage opportunity.

7. Connect the Dots: In the end, we want to help consumers get to the main point of our storytelling… action. Make sure your branded content leads them towards the need to act.

8. Don’t be boring.

9. Don’t be boring.

10. Don’t be boring…. Got it?