Does storytelling bring sales for a brand? Toms gives the answer. The American shoe company was founded in 2006 and relied on storytelling from the beginning. At the heart of Toms' story was the "One for One" model. For every pair of shoes customers bought, one pair was donated to children in need.
The backstory also played a role: founder Blake Mycoskie had seen children without shoes on a trip to Argentina and decided to do something about it. Toms used storytelling on social media, its website and in public appearances.
Through storytelling, Toms increased its brand awareness and built a loyal customer base. It was the combination of emotional storytelling and a values-based business philosophy that made Toms an internationally recognised brand.
The power of storytelling - how it works in the brain
The power of storytelling is based on the fact that stories, unlike numbers, evoke emotion. Our brains have been designed for thousands of years to process and remember stories better than pure facts.
Storytelling creates emotional resonance: the more emotional, the more likely stories are to be remembered. When stories are emotionally moving, more neurotransmitters and hormones are released that strengthen memory and make us remember better.
Stories present information in a narrative structure that is easier for the brain to process. When we follow a story, we activate various cognitive processes such as attention, imagination and memory. Through this active processing, neuronal networks in the brain are activated, and even facts embedded in stories are remembered 16x better. Therefore, you should master the story of your brand because even information about your product is better processed cognitively.
Stories tell of situations and challenges that your customers can identify with. Through the identification and relevance of the story, the brain is motivated to process the information more deeply. This identification can help your brand to get more customers with a close connection.
Stories have a clear structure with a beginning, middle and end. This structure helps the brain to put information into a meaningful context and organise it better. This creates coherent memory traces that make it easier to recall the information. By telling a brand story, you make it easier for your customers to remember you. At the next touch point, your customers will instantly know what your USP is.
The power of storytelling for brands and how it works?
The most important rule for storytelling in marketing is:
The customer is the hero of the story.
Toms' storytelling focused on the customer as the change maker. The message was simple yet so powerful: by buying their shoes, customers improved the lives of children in need. The customer associated positive feelings with the brand because they knew they were doing good.
Toms also shared personal stories from customers. In this way, customers became part of Toms' mission and created an emotional connection between them and the brand's social commitment. In addition, Toms gave customers further opportunities to contribute to the mission, for example, through projects for clean water, eye health or safe births.
Your storytelling structure for your brand
So, in brand storytelling, you put your customer at the centre of your story. We recommend the tried and tested 7-stage structure for brand storytelling:
- Customer: Define your customer.
- Problem: Define your customer's problem (that your brand will solve).
- Mentor: You, as the brand, are the guide. (You are Yoda, the wise Yedi Knight who guides Luke Skywalker and leads him to success) You fulfil your mentor role with empathy and authority.
- Plan: You, as a guide present your hero, alias the client, with a plan on how to solve his problem.
- Action: You call him to action (Call To Action).
- Failure: You make it clear to the client what will happen if he does not work with you.
- Happy End: You show him how good his situation will be after you have solved his problem.
To summarise again. Storytelling brings your brand:
- Emotionality: storytelling for marketing evokes emotions in your customers -> deeper connection to your brand.
- Authenticity: Authentic stories create trust -> long-term loyalty.
- Identification: Through storytelling, you create identification with your values -> engagement and brand loyalty.
- Differentiation: Your unique story sets you apart from the competition -> you will be remembered.
- Brand message: Storytelling conveys the core message and values of your brand -> understanding and acceptance by your customers.
Without storytelling, you are just a drop in the ocean of today's offerings. You will be quickly forgotten and quickly replaced.
If you need support to tell your brand's story, make an appointment with us today. Our expertise is in crafting your story and communicating it to your customers through automated processes.
So Demodia not only improves your storytelling but also saves you time and money through automation.
We look forward to hearing your story.
PS: Tom's estimated turnover is 277 million. From a trip to Argentina to a successful business. Good story, isn't it?
