Jan 12

THE POWER OF THE STORY IN BUSINESS AND MARKETING.

Stories are a vital element for the successful communication of a message. Regardless of your company's industry and size, you are working with people and they love stories. Stories help people sympathize, think, laugh, and sometimes cry. All this gives increases trust. And these are just a few reasons why stories are needed to excite existing and potential customers.

We can have difficulty remembering specific numbers and details, but we do remember interesting stories. Everyone has probably heard the story of how Steve Jobs returned to Apple when the company was facing bankruptcy. That thanks to his persistence, uncompromising ambition and a passion for clean design and excellent ease of use, Apple has been able to create the world's most desired products. And despite the various shortcomings in iPhone and Mac computer production, Apple's rapidly growing fan base is willing to tolerate it all, because they are fascinated by the Apple story, focusing on things that really matter (design, ease of use, quality of performance) and putting aside the less important (features gigahertz, megabytes, etc.). There are many familiar local stories as well. For example, how the creators of the Stender's Soap Factory originally mortgaged their own and their mother-in-law’s apartments, risking everything they owned to continue making soap and move the production out of their home. Now the idea has developed into a large network with nearly 160 stores in more than 15 countries around the world.

Then there is the story of a couple of girls so fascinated by everything natural and organic, that they one day developed Madara Cosmetics, a company that now sells its products in over 25 countries. Perhaps these stories have become folklore and consequently embellished, but they continue to live on and make these brands more personal, understandable and closer to costumers.

Why are stories so critical in solving business problems?

1. Stories draw attention.

When you are communicating business news, stories serve as an extra dose of energy. A story is based on events, which hold people's attention. Professional conference speakers also often start with a story. Facts and figures may indicate the excellence and value of the product or service, but if you don’t package it as an exciting story, the information may be lost in the overall abundance of news.

2. Stories are memorable

If a story is interesting and has a clear goal, the business news will be remembered. One of the tasks of marketing is to ensure that it continues to live in people's minds for a longer period of time. If you are successful, your story can begin to travel in social media and elsewhere. Just recently, I heard a story from my colleague (a car expert) about Lamborghini. It turns out that the owner of Lamborghini, Ferrucio Lamborghini, used to produce only tractors and drive a Ferrari. One day, he visited Enzo Ferrari who lived nearby, and advised him to improve the Ferrari engine. When he received a negative answer, he decided to open his own sports car company and show Ferrari how it’s done.

3. Stories can be identified with

One of the main reasons for the use of stories in a business context is the ability for people to take part in the story by consuming the product or service. If we read IR magazine or listen to Radio 101, we can feel like rebels, ready to fight for a high quality and socially active media format, freedom of thought and modern design. This is the power of stories – to create the vital emotional link.

4. Stories travel

Regardless of whether you use traditional marketing or social media, you're talking to human beings who have similar needs and who are experiencing similar challenges and successes as you are. Stories are small fragments of the life experiences we all share. No wonder we are easily affected by user stories about the strengths and weaknesses of a specific product or service. And no wonder we want to hear travel stories, so we can choose where to go on holiday. Or hear stories about the products and customer service of one or another telecommunications operator in order to assess our current or future choices. The best and most thrilling stories travel from mouth to mouth, from blog to blog, from one medium to another; often reaching a wide audience that would otherwise cost a lot of money.

I have often heard the claim that the story is more powerful than the brand. And the most successful brand will be the one with the best story. When developing the new social fashion brand MAMMU, that designs scarves and other fashion accessories, the most important step was to keep in mind that it should be an interesting story first, and only then another product on store shelves. That’s why we wanted to combine two co-existing but independent worlds - a social movement and a commercial product. That’s how the idea of creating support for new mothers and an ambitious fashion brand was born. And that’s how we created a story proving that social and community support ideas can look modern, have an elegant design, creative marketing, and stand alongside the best products of the traditional business world.

There are plenty of similar stories in the world. The story of social entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie is also inspiring. He created the social business TOMS Shoes and donated one pair of shoes to charity every time he sold one. Or the story of Bellota, the tool chain store who, as part of their sales promotion campaign, offered customers the chance to exchange their old tools for new ones, delivering the old instruments to Burkina Faso, where people still mostly use tools created from materials found in nature.

The fashion industry has many successful storytellers – Diesel, United Colours of Benetton, Prada, etc. However, one of the most prominent story creators in the past few years is H&M, who involve world famous designers and artists in the creation and promotion of their new collections. This year, the presence of the famous fashion designer Lanvin created a big stir around H&M in the media and forums as well as blogs and social networks, becoming one of the most highly anticipated events and talked about stories of the year 2010. But it doesn’t end with stories about a company or product's origin. Stories that make the brand relevant to consumers today are important. Every business needs a story of why they exist, what they hope to achieve and what they want to give. Here at the creative agency DDB, we call it brand confidence, which covers its mission, uniqueness, personality, and other important aspects. So, when we started working with Maxima a little less than five years ago, it was very important for us to understand what their unique story is. And we found it in their efficiency. Every month, the store network rewarded the fastest cashiers, and the manager of the efficiency department had prepared a plan with 26 different performance measures. Meanwhile the management team believed that the shopping process should take place within the store as fast as possible to give consumers more time with their families and friends, more time for hobbies and leisure, more time for life. The real story inspired the birth of the advertising story about Maxima’s head effectologist Centis Ūbele. He is not seen on TV very often any more, but still participates in various Maxima activities and continues to be alive in people's memories. Fun Theory, inspired by Volkswagen Bluemotion, is also in reality nothing more than a series of fascinating stories that made people smile all over the world, share the stories with friends, participate and perhaps even change their behavior. And once again share the stories of the Volkswagen brand.Brand confidence and a story are the basis for the world's most successful brands. Coca Cola has even gathered countless stories from people about how Coca Cola has affected their lives and which moments of life they most associate with that brand. The story of the creation and confidence of Facebook, by now known to the whole world through the film "The Social Network", will definitely help the world’s biggest social network continue on its march of victory. What is the story of your company and brand? This is a question every entrepreneur must be able to answer. It is important to tell the short version of the story in 2 minutes. It is important to be different from others. And it is important that it inspires employees, customers and the media become the brand’s ambassadors and storytellers. In today's technologically complex world, creating meaningful relationships with the help of a story is probably the best thing you can do.