The Gist

• Emotional appeal. Storytelling humanizes brands, creating stronger emotional connections.
• Customer resonance. Authentic stories evoke emotions, aligning with customers’ values.
• Brand identity. Storytelling reveals the people, values and culture behind a brand.

Storytelling is not just a tool, it’s a potent strategy that breathes life into a brand and creates emotional connections with customers. It’s about humanizing a brand, presenting it as more than just a business entity, but rather as a relatable character with its own personality, beliefs and values. Storytelling creates emotional ties, the kind that lead to loyalty and an affinity toward a brand. It allows brands to illustrate a unique narrative that resonates with their customers. This article will delve into storytelling, what it means for brands, and how brands are successfully using it as a marketing strategy.

Humanity Is All About the Art of Storytelling

Humans are natural storytellers and have been telling stories since the beginning of humanity. We enjoy hearing a story, as well as sharing a story with others. Very often, the story one tells others has a main character — the storyteller — and many secondary characters — everyone else. We’ve been listening to stories all of our lives: from our parents, siblings, school teachers, ministers, as well as neighbors, entertainers, musicians, artists, writers and businesses. 

A 2017 report from Harvard Business Review revealed that chemicals such as cortisol, dopamine and oxytocin are released in the brain when a person listens to a story. If our goal is to drive a point home, cortisol facilitates the formulation of memories. Dopamine assists with the regulation of emotional responses and helps to keep the listener engaged. Oxytocin is associated with empathy, a crucial element in creating, deepening, or maintaining deeper connections with others.

John January, co-CEO at Signal Theory, a brand development, marketing and design firm that humanizes advertising through behavioral science, told CMSWire that it’s important to remember that people really don’t change — we still think and react the same way now as we did when we gathered around the bonfire after a successful hunt or gather.

“Around those fires, what did we do? We told stories,” said January. 

“Storytelling is a singularly powerful strategy for brands because our lives revolve around stories. The stories of our history. The stories of our tomorrow. The stories that we tell ourselves. Whether they are little or big, stories are fundamentally human. And that’s why brands should tell them,” said January.

When businesses tell stories, much like human storytellers, the stories they tell have a main character — the business itself, and secondary characters — their customers. Similar to the stories one person tells another, they often have a theme, such as the secondary characters having a challenge that must be surmounted — and of course, the hero of the story (the business) comes along and solves the challenge, providing the secondary characters with a happy ending. Of course, this is an oversimplification, but essentially the business tells the story about how they are able to provide a positive outcome for the customer, the community or the world at large.

“Meaning is at the top. Joy is in the middle. And comfort is the foundation. That’s it. That’s all people really want,” explained January. “It’s truly no more complicated than that. So, in the end, those are the fundamental factors that should underpin the story you want to tell.”

The stories that brands tell today also have another element: They seek to humanize a business, to put a face on a faceless entity. Stories can tell a tale about the founder, the executives, the employees of the business and the community it serves. This gives the brand an opportunity to express itself in ways that traditional marketing practices do not provide. In order to be effective, brands must fully understand themselves to be able to articulate their stories.

“Every storyteller has a POV. What’s your brand bringing to the world? What is the point of the story you want to tell? Not just the selling strategy,” said January. “But your own worldview. Are you a joy, comfort or meaning brand? Do you offer a combination of two? To resonate, you need to offer all three. How can the story you tell amplify a different, perhaps less developed, part of your brand?”

Brands are often convinced that technology is the solution for every problem or challenge, but the simple act of telling a story creates a human connection that technology alone cannot replace. “Technology is not a replacement for the connection a story can build with the people you want to reach. Don’t look at tech as a magic bullet. Look at it as a tool that can help you tell richer, more immersive stories,” said January.

Related Article: Storytelling Drives the Modern Customer Experience

A Brand’s Stories Must Resonate With Customers

Anna Grace Du Noyer, consultant, speaker and group director at Fierce Brands, a group that includes niche agency Fierce PR and circular fashion label Fierce Wife, told CMSWire that her personal journey, which was defined by overcoming a lifetime of trauma, the traumatic deaths of her parents and domestic violence, led her to become a well-known advocate for inclusivity and empowerment, which formed the bedrock of the narratives that are woven across the Fierce brands. “These narratives have transformed the Fierce Group into more than a corporate entity,” said Du Noyer. “These narratives serve as an aspirational beacon to our audience, resonating with their experiences, aligning with their values, and fostering an emotional connection that transcends typical consumer-brand relationships.”

Du Noyer provided an example of a brand that successfully uses storytelling as a way to resonate with customers. “One compelling example is Apple, with its iconic “Think Different” campaign. Here, the narrative centered around the rebels, the troublemakers, and the round pegs in square holes — an ethos which resided at the very heart of Apple’s identity,” said Du Noyer. “By aligning themselves with the narrative of innovation and non-conformity, they not only appealed to the emotions of their customers but also differentiated themselves from competitors.”

Related Article: The Power of Storytelling

A Brand’s Stories Must Be Authentic and Organic

Authenticity is the foundation of trust. Consumers today are increasingly skeptical of traditional advertising and are more likely to connect with brands that are genuine and transparent. When a brand tells authentic stories, it demonstrates its honesty and builds trust with its audience. Authentic stories have the power to evoke emotions and create a deeper connection with customers. When a brand shares stories that resonate with its customers’ values, aspirations or challenges, it creates an emotional connection that goes beyond mere transactional relationships.

Ricci Masero, marketing manager at Intellek, a cloud-based learning technology provider, told CMSWire that to tell genuine, organic stories that align with a brand’s values, it’s important to humanize the brand and present it as a relatable character with its own personality, beliefs and values. “This approach generates emotional connections and fosters loyalty,” said Masero. “By incorporating narratives into content, businesses can engage readers emotionally, rather than just presenting facts. This immersive experience helps audiences connect with the content on a deeper level, leading to better brand recall, engagement, and sharing.”

Masero explained that when it comes to incorporating storytelling into your marketing efforts, it’s crucial to remember that authenticity is key. “To achieve this, start by delving deep into your brand’s identity and purpose. Understand what makes your brand unique, the journey it has taken, and the impact it aims to make in the world,” said Masero. “Then, identify stories that exemplify these qualities and create emotional connections.” Masero suggested that the stories can revolve around a brand’s origin, customer testimonials, or the positive changes the brand’s product or service has brought to people’s lives.

“Storytelling is a powerful tool that can elevate your brand and create meaningful connections with your audience. By embracing genuine, organic storytelling techniques, you can breathe life into your brand, making it relatable and memorable,” said Masero.

Storytelling Reveals the Faces Behind a Brand

Through storytelling, brands can go beyond the typical product or service descriptions and reveal the face behind the brand — the brand’s identity, values, culture and the people who drive it. By humanizing the brand, storytelling creates emotional connections builds trust, and enables customers to see the brand as more than just a business.

Erin Banta, co-founder of Pepper, a unique sustainable custom-made home goods ecommerce site, told CMSWire that consumers like being able to put a face to a brand, and businesses can achieve that type of brand awareness by using storytelling as a marketing strategy. “For example, testimonials or client highlights are one way you can tell the story of your brand and your business,” said Banta. 

“On social media, repost user-generated content and endorsements from influencers to give your brand that personal touch. Once you’ve created that brand awareness, your name will remain in the forefront of your customers’ brains,” said Banta, who believes that building that story, and history, around your brand builds customer engagement, investment and loyalty.

Final Thoughts on Storytelling

Storytelling is a potent marketing tool that humanizes brands, creating emotional connections and enhancing customer loyalty. By authentically presenting their unique values and impact through stories, brands can resonate with customers on a deeper level. This not only personalizes a faceless business but also differentiates it from competitors, building enduring customer engagement and loyalty.

Applications are being taken right now by the Kentucky Arts Council for next year’s Kentucky Crafted arts marketing program. The deadline to turn applications in is August 15^th.

Applicants for Kentucky Crafted must be a visual or craft artist who does original work in any medium, a full-time resident of Kentucky and 18 years of age or older. Officials said they should also have a well-developed body of work and some marketing experience.

Communications Director at the Kentucky Arts Council, Tom Musgrave, said beyond those requirements, artists should also have a strong narrative.

“You have to apply to get in it,” said Musgrave. “Not just your work but your ability to communicate your story as an artist and the story of the work you do. Obviously, the work has to be of very high quality.”

Officials said Kentucky Crafted not only assists visual and craft artists but is a symbol of artistic excellence in the commonwealth.

Musgrave said since 2020 the council was forced to meet virtually to evaluate applications.

“This is the first year since the pandemic that we are doing in person panels once again. We are very excited about that and I know the panelist are too because they like being in the same room as each other and be able to look at the art up close and see texture of the natural and organic products and get the scents,” said Musgrave. “So that is a very big deal for us.”

The council plans to start application evaluations sometime in September and start orientation in October.

More information on how to apply for next year’s market can be found at the Kentucky Arts Council’s website at kyarts.gosmart.org.

Artificial intelligence has a variety of uses in the automotive industry. While many dealerships use artificial intelligence in a marketing and customer service capacity of writing content and offering assistance with chatbots, artificial intelligence can also help you determine the who, what, and where of advertising. We’ll go into more depth about current and future cases of how to use artificial intelligence within automotive advertising.

Efficiency Advertising

One of the main advantages of AI-based advertising is the ability to make decisions in real time with human guidance, but without the need for a human to push the button.

In many ways, artificial intelligence is already used in advertising. Google, Bing, and other major advertising and search platforms, for example, have lots of data on their customers and use “Smart Bidding” methods of deciding who and when to serve an ad, and how much to pay to serve that ad. Within these same platforms, ads are also made on the fly from a collection of images and pre-determined ad copy which specifically targets that user.

No matter the platform, artificial intelligence is a quick and smart decision-maker when it comes to determining when and where to place an ad with some human direction, which generally involves knowing which customers convert the best for you.

Issues: Transparency, data privacy, and bias

While some owners, general managers, and tech people might express come concerns about data privacy and transparency, the companies that provide artificial intelligence are largely responsible for maintaining and storing data in a way that won’t be harmful to you, your dealership, or the customer.

If you are worried about knowing how well the artificial intelligence-based platforms are performing, we strongly suggest you use analytics-based platforms, which are often free, and tag campaigns so you understand how well artificial intelligence campaigns work.

Humans and AI

At some point, you have to align what artificial intelligence is capable of, and your actual goals. For example, artificial intelligence doesn’t know when you want to change budgets, or when you are short on a goal. The idea here is that you’ll need humans guiding your artificial intelligence through shifting goalposts and needs so that it doesn’t learn the wrong things.

AI Vendors and technologies

Getting a good grasp on how AI programs work is the same challenge as getting a good idea of how digital marketing vendors work without truly understanding digital marketing. We have a couple of tried and true methods of evaluating how these work: Ask for references, even if they aren’t local. You’ll want to understand how things work from another store and know how they are set up to handle artificial intelligence programs before diving into it on your own.

If a company is new enough not to have any references, you might skip them and try something else. Look online for reviews too, of course.

Integrating Artificial Intelligence into your advertising

A couple of things that will probably be impacted by launching an artificial intelligence advertising campaign are your art, ad copy, and data. Artificial intelligence often uses data that is floating around at secure points on the web, and your own DMS or CRM, Be prepared to open the doors to your DMS so that artificial intelligence knows the same things you do about your customers, like loan end dates and driving habits.

Stay Informed

Look out for articles like ours and new advancements that help you better understand artificial intelligence and how it will integrate with your business to make it better. We also suggest considering your dealership’s weak points and how artificial intelligence can help there. If you are having trouble keeping your business development center staffed, consider finding information specific to that topic so you know how it can really help you.