Why Brands Are Switching to Narrative Marketing
Generic Burger Joint sells about 20% of Anytown’s burgers in the United States. Andrew Nemo started a small hamburger restaurant at the age of 18 with a loan from his father George. Andrew argued that preparing a good burger is an art that cannot be automated. His burger chain currently sells 50,000 burgers a day.
Ok, now count to ten in your head. Hello? SO. What do you remember about Generic Burger Joint? Probably nothing. Or Andre Nemo? Chances are you can tell a pretty accurate version of his story.
This difference is one of the reasons brands are turning to narrative marketing. So let’s dig a little deeper. Millennials are becoming the leading power buyer group. They also reject traditional marketing like advertising.
When traditional approaches don’t work, brands need a new approach to grab millennials’ attention. The idea behind value-added content is that it is intrinsically valuable. Let’s say a dish soap brand creates value-added content in the form of a YouTube series.
Instead of advertising, the brand develops scenarios and builds a well-founded story. You look at the story and the brand can present its products. Alternatively, they can upload branding to the front by saying “Featured by AmazoClean Dish Soap” at the beginning of each episode.
Stories Generate Emotional Responses
People are emotionally involved in stories, and stories can even shape emotional responses.
Let’s say you have pest control websites. Traditional advertising would showcase your pest control product.There’s a small problem.
Parasites make people revolt and dead things make people revolt. So showing people dead parasites is likely to overwhelm them with disgust.
How about telling people how these parasites suddenly appeared and how much it bothered Jenny, a devoted mother? Suddenly people are worried about Jenny and her fate.If your product helps him fight the plague, we’d love to.
This good feeling is transferred to the brand. This humanizes the recommendation. Suppose you are trying to get a famous person to endorse your brand. It can help you sell.
Now suppose your celebrity agrees by talking about how they use the product to improve their life.You instantly get two in one.
You get the power of consent itself, but you also get the benefits of the story. This combination becomes an integral part of your branding.
