Narratives and other storytelling techniques captivate audiences and play on their emotions. If used correctly, these stories can be impactful because research reveals that people remember them 22 times more than just reading bare facts about your brand. Real stories will engage your IT clients and help you stand out in the crowded marketplace on the internet.
Brand backstories
Not to be confused with brand storytelling, backstories give you a glimpse into the brand's journey from inception and the stories behind your company's frontmen, executives, and employees. If you package your backstory appropriately, it will mold your content marketing strategy and capture your IT clients' attention like never before.
A backstory conveys to your prospective clients who you are and how different you are from your competition. It helps you design a compelling mission statement, especially if it exposes a journey that solves a problem that no one had ever tackled satisfactorily.
Underdog stories
Underdog stories are favorite stories for your potential IT clients as they depict your current situation that is at a disadvantage. They mirror the biblical 'David and Goliath' story with you being the small guy positioning yourself against the more established and famous competition. Such inspirational stories apply to small family-owned firms with no social proof, scarce resources, and a negligible customer base.
They appeal to the emotions of ordinary folks who can relate to such a situation. Your story will incorporate the advantages of being small and obscure such as more outstanding customer care, fair pricing, and quick turnaround times.
Customer stories
Customer stories, delights, and problems come across as authentic and effective as they come from people who have used your products or services and can relate to your brand. Prospective clients want to hear such stories that also project your brand as an inclusive one that considers its customers.
It signifies a perfect working relationship with your IT customers that many would want to be part of. For this story type, you need to know your customers well. Please use social media to ask them to share stories or memories of your products or brand. To succeed, run contests where you reward the best 3-5 stories.
The hero's journey
Hero's journey stories make for an interesting read with lessons to learn from it. The customer is the hero in your story. Though the original hero's journey developed by Carl Jung involves 17 stages, you can reduce the number (to 3, 5, or 10) to fit your time, space, and budget. You can also modify some aspects to suit your brand.
Generally, you have an ordinary person (pain point in a customer) facing adversity who receives supernatural help (your brand) to ward off his predicament. He ends up as a hero who defeats the evil forces to restore inner peace. The hero's journey appeals to customers as it makes them shine, leading to a deep connection with your brand.
Product/Service Stories
These stories pique a customer's interest so that they see your product or service from a new perspective. Creating stories around your product/service will make your customers more knowledgeable uniquely.
When they learn through your stories the reason for making your products or providing your services, they feel attached to your offer. Letting them know how you source your materials or the challenges your service addresses sucks them in. It makes them love your brand, which enhances unshakeable loyalty.
Examples of brands that successfully use storytelling to reach their marketing goals
Brand storytelling injects fun into your IT marketing campaign, drawing in and engaging your audience. All you need is to strategize to come up with a good story. No limit exists to the number of stories and storytelling ideas you put out to your prospects, as the following examples show.
Apple – underdog/the hero's journey/customer stories
Apple is a recognized brand that has a humble beginning. It uses various storytelling techniques to achieve its marketing goal. It has an advertisement video titled "The Underdogs" that illustrates the underdog story and a hero's journey. In this funny yet engaging video, Apple shows its underdog side when it first took off decades ago. Because it has now grown, it uses this same video to highlight how similar underdogs can achieve their objectives (and become heroes) if they use Apple products.
The founder, Steve Jobs, started storytelling marketing, and it continues to date. Most of their stories depict the customer as the hero, for instance, in their "Start Something New" project. The project is about art people using Apple products to create stories. Apple, through this project, provides customers with a platform to share their stories.
Microsoft - brand backstories/customer stories
Microsoft is a classic example of a brand that relies on storytelling to pass across its marketing messages. In the past, it has used brand backstories like "88 acres" to detail the technology behind its headquarters in Redmond.
Microsoft uses its campaign, Real Stories of Digital Transformation, to share customer stories. The stories touch on the way technology solutions affect all types of companies, whether big or small.
The Microsoft Story Labs shares the brand backstories of its employees. The stories are about specific staff members and their unique skills and talents, which they contribute to the company.
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