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Keys to Designing Brand Storytelling
12 de July de 2022
So many things are happening all at once that sometimes it seems impossible to narrate them all. But nothing is wasted, everything is stored. That’s what the art of telling stories is all about.
Fatima Vila, partner at NORA&PIERRE and director of the Master’s in Marketing and Commercial Management, defines storytelling as “narrative in capital letters, the result of the need of human beings to tell stories in order to understand the world, applied to marketing and to your own company”.
Nowadays, brand building and the development of their values are key. And, in this process, it’s crucial to come up with a storytelling that perfectly adapts to the brand. Companies need to identify stories and then narrate them. Then, and only then, will the brand complete the cycle and achieve the set goal.
But, how do you design outstanding storytelling for your brand?
1: A TRIP TO THE ORIGIN OF THE STORY
In order to start developing the storytelling, you must take a trip to the structural core of the story. With Vladimir Propp in mind (a Russian linguist who focused on analysing the basic components of folk tales), Fatima points out the importance of going back to popular narrative, stories and the pillars of current literature in order to tell licit stories today through your brand.
A story’s basic elements are conflict, message, protagonists, antagonists and heroes. But, what can we do with these elements? Well, they are the pillars of marketing. Conflict is the starting point for any successful marketing strategy. A conflict is solved through a value proposition. We must first identify it and, then, be able to solve it with a product or service. This is the starting point for any storytelling.
2: THE RISK OF SUPERFICIAL COMMITMENT
What’s the conflict? How can I be the hero of this story? These are questions you need to answer in order to build your storytelling. However, it’s important to find emotional content to tackle the issue and connect with your audience — empty words, lacking sense, can send your strategy to waste and make it hard to come back.
3: BE HONEST
Once you’ve identified the story, there are some issues that must be tackled: Does this value proposition truly solve the protagonist’s problem? It’s time to be honest, what Fatima Vila defines as “moving away from stereotypes, which are very frequent and, at the same time, very bad in marketing. We must take a trip to what’s real”. And, yes, on many occasions, telling a hard truth may be more effective than certain stereotypes, which often lead to the superficial concepts we mentioned before. From here onwards, find and confirm the way to move your story through all the possible media, both physical and intangible.
4: BEWARE OF THE EXCESS OF INFORMATION
““The current world is a complex one, full of stimuli and people in a rush”, Fatima points out. We live in a anxious society that lives in a hurry and often without letting ourselves feel emotions. That’s why we should avoid excess information, because it stops us from thinking, understanding and feeling. It’s more convenient to let it flow; there’s always a story and, just by taking a good look at it, from a new perspective, giving it space, it can give place to great success stories.
“I refuse to think that there are products or brands that don’t have a story to tell”. Fatima has no doubt about her theory on storytelling; then no storyteller should either. Look for a story, identify it and tell it. And always remember to transmit the values of your brand so that it can connect with the feelings of your target audience.
“Storytelling reaches out to us and it should alway do so in a way that’s easy to understand and share. We need an easier world. The story must become a stable and persistent memory.”
You can see the full MASTERTALK here