Slashed budgets, increased competition, overwhelming workloads and impossibly tight deadlines all take their toll on your marketing activities. But that doesn’t mean they need to be any less effective. A recent survey conducted by Marketing Week concluded that in this tough economic environment, where standing out has never been so important, marketers are focussed more than ever on the quality of the creative.

From more than 25 years of agency life experience, I’ve learned that creativity is the secret sauce to spice up your marketing efforts. Of its many super-powers, creativity has the ability to grab attention, create a desirable offering, make a communication memorable and fashion an emotional response.

So, what do we mean by creativity? Perhaps a good place to start is by looking at the dictionary definition of creativity:

Creativity: The use of imagination or original ideas to create something.

(N.B. if you just have the ideas but don’t do anything with them, you’re imaginative not creative!)

Creativity is about viewing the world through a fresh lens, making new and interesting connections, and finding hidden patterns to generate new solutions.

The fact that marketers have identified creativity as a crucial element in the effectiveness of their deliverables is encouraging. Let’s dive a little deeper into the different ways creativity can enhance your project.

Storytelling has been used as a powerful tool for thousands of years, and it is now a popular marketing strategy for brands. By connecting with customers on a deeper level through the art of storytelling, brands can build trust, loyalty, and differentiation in a crowded marketplace. In this article, we explore the power of storytelling and how it can be used to elevate your brand’s success.

I’m an ardent advocate of storytelling in business, stories that captivate, create a lasting impression and convey the essence of a brand. But you don’t have to be Steven Spielberg, JK Rowling or Aaron Sorkin to harness the power of stories for your brand. Storytelling is a powerful business tool that can help connect with customers, build brand loyalty, and drive sales.

Chip & Dan Heath authors of one of my favourite books on this subject “Made to Stick” conclude that our brains are “wired” to use stories to make sense of the world, helping us to process and remember new information. Stories are easy to recall and retell—far easier than facts or statistics without context.

According to a great article from Scientific American, whether fiction or nonfiction, a narrative engages its audience through psychological realism—recognisable emotions and believable interactions among characters.

Storytelling is a great way to engage customers and keep them interested in your brand. By sharing stories that are entertaining, informative, or inspiring, businesses can capture their audience’s attention and keep them coming back for more.

By the age of five, humans have the ability to use their imagination to put themselves in another person’s shoes; they have the emotional intelligence to empathise. This is a crucial element of stories.

Stories have the power to evoke emotions and create a personal connection with the audience. By sharing stories, businesses can build empathy, trust, and loyalty with their customers.

Stories activate different parts of the brain, including the sensory cortex, which is, as it’s name suggests, responsible for processing sensory information. This helps us to imagine the signs, sounds and smells a story describes, making them more engaging and memorable. Interestingly, brain research shows us that when we relate to a story we start to “feel” an emotional connection, we begin to empathise. Importantly, this science also suggests that memories formed in this way can last much longer (months or even years). That’s the super-power of stories.

John Lewis has become known for their heart-warming Christmas adverts that use storytelling to connect with customers. Each year, the company releases an emotional charged television commercial that tells a story of love, family, and giving. It’s not just about what the commercial says, it’s about how it makes us feel.

Storytelling is an effective way to create a unique brand identity that sets your company apart from the competition. A unique story can help businesses stand out in a crowded marketplace and create a memorable brand identity.

When businesses tell stories that are authentic, honest, and relatable, it can help build credibility. Stories that showcase a company’s values, mission, and culture, can establish businesses as trustworthy and transparent.

By sharing your stories, you can enhance your businesses brand image and communicate your mission and values effectively. But don’t forget it’s your story, told in your unique voice – words matter. So, whether that’s telling your origin story, your commitment to certain values or
the driving force behind your mission, getting your story right will resonate with your audience and help build a loyal following.

Storytelling can be effective for both strategic and tactical campaigns, but it is probably most effective for strategic brand campaigns, because it focuses on the long-term goals and vision. Strategic campaigns aim to create a lasting impact on customers, build brand loyalty, and shape the way customers perceive the brand. Strategic storytelling campaigns can create a deeper connection with customers and build strong emotional bonds.

Tactical campaigns, on the other hand, are usually shorter-term and focus on specific goals, such as increasing sales or launching a new product. These campaigns may be more focused on the features and benefits of the product or service and less on the emotional connection with customers. While storytelling can still be effective for tactical campaigns, it may not be the most efficient way to communicate the specific goals and features of the product or service.

So, what are you waiting for? Here are some practical insights to help kick-start your brand story…

Stories have the power to inspire action. By sharing stories that align with your mission and values, businesses can motivate their audience to take action.

But before you take the plunge, here are a few words of warning when deciding to use storytelling for you brand. Be careful not to misrepresent your products or services. Ultimately this can damage your reputation and lose the trust of your customers. A good example of this might be if a company tells a story about their commitment to sustainability, but their actual practices do not align with this story, customers may feel deceived and lose trust in the brand.

The other key to using storytelling effectively is to be consistent. Inconsistency can lead to confusion among customers. Good storytelling over time creates a compelling identity that’s memorable and resonates with your audience setting your apart from the competition.