Digital Storytelling:
Not Just Another Boring Video

Published in France for the first time in 1697, this fairy tale has survived for 312 years! Our fascination with princesses, fancy balls and dreams coming true for the downtrodden, ensures its survival and chances are it will continue to be retold for many decades to come. Such is the power of storytelling.

Fast forward

In this digital age of competition for eyeballs, storytelling has become THE tool to engage your customers. Who doesn’t like a good story? If you’ve ever experienced the guilty pleasure of a weekend in your pj’s, binge-watching Grey’s Anatomy or Game of Thrones, you get what I’m trying to say.

A good story has become the vehicle driving the online landscape. Social media sites are all about becoming involved in the life stories of your friends, business associates – along with your preferred brands and service providers. Storytelling is that non-invasive, informative and entertaining way in which you can pull customers into your company fold.

Do I have your attention?

Apart from setting the stage for your message, storytelling can take even the most dull, difficult and boring subject matter, reframe it and make the content more digestible and even attractive to your specific audience.

A story is so much more than stark facts and figures. It’s your company’s hopes and dreams as Procter & Gamble proved with their 2012 Mother’s Day advert. Framed differently, commonplace and re-used content can take on a whole new meaning, but only if the story is expertly told.  

Customer testimonials get an injection of truth because they become identifiable. Product benefits come alive instead of remaining bullet points on your product packaging. Stories resonate with us because we can put ourselves in the characters’ shoes.

This form of marketing isn’t only valid for a target audience of customers. Your story will also speak to your employees, shareholders or possible funders. Stories have universal appeal.

A pet peeve

Stories speak to the character and personality of the storyteller. Seen in this light, it becomes very important for building the credibility of your brand. The end goal is for your target audience to take your company and its products and services seriously. This is done by convincing me that your company takes me seriously.

Authentic companies offer authentic solutions. I personally won’t spend 2 seconds watching a video sales pitch that tries to convince me I'll starve without this meal delivery service, that I'll never get decent sleep without that mattress or that I'm unable to make fashion choices unless my options are curated by an algorithm.

The bottom line is to never underestimate (or appear to underestimate) the intelligence of your target audience. Let your story reflect the basic respect you have for your consumer’s grey matter.

Whiteboards are for “bored” rooms

When the first UPS whiteboard video’s hit YouTube in 2007,  a slack-jawed marketing community decided that this was the next big thing. And for a while, it was. Granted, it was a fantastic application of the storytelling formula but like most great ideas, the format has been copied (and not always very well) so many times, that whiteboard videos in 2018 have become largely irrelevant. Today your story needs to pack a very specific punch while remaining true to your brand in every way, from the voice to the visuals.

But even the best story succeeds only if it’s seen. The infamous 2015 Microsoft study on attention span that (while much debated) posed the question of how long you have to capture your audience. It placed our ability to concentrate on a single task at a measly 8 seconds! This Nielsen Norman Group study is slightly more optimistic, but it still sums it pretty bluntly: “Users often leave Web pages in 10–20 seconds, but pages with a clear value proposition can hold people's attention for much longer. To gain several minutes of user attention, you must clearly communicate your value proposition within 10 seconds.”

When you consider the odds, it becomes quite clear why your content needs to be visually stimulating.

Not all all storytellers (or stories) are created equal

Never tell a story just for the sake of telling a story.

There’s nothing as boring listening to Uncle Jim reminisce yet again about that bottle of soda costing a nickel in 1935! Or as predictable as the “hot guy in a small speedo” at a barbecue relaying his tales of conquest. It follows logically that you have to distinguish your tales from the rest of the contenders in the marketplace. Storytelling is an art. Some people are born with the ability and others are just not.

The trick is in finding a creative production partner who can convey your story in a memorable and credible way. Someone who has the insight to drill down to the core of your message and the technical know-how to bring that insight to life. Not only does your story have to speak to your credibility, but your brand identity has to be given a voice. It takes a very specific mind-set to combine all these factors to create a piece of marketing art.

Converting words and pictures to dollars and cents

A well thought-out call-to-action line at the end of your marketing message tells your audience what to do with the information that you have so expertly communicated to them through your story. The importance of a well-crafted call-to-action cannot be underestimated. Check out the examples of a few of our projects to see what I mean:

Girl Power
Brand Awareness Video

 

Food Fight
Food Literacy Toolkit Promo

 

Exponential Faces
Product Explainer Video

 

 

Call-to-Action: “Are you up for the challenge of being a happy grown-up? Get a head start now at egirlpower.com"
Audience: teenage girls

 

Call-to-Action: "We're picking a fight and we need you on our side.  Join us. Join the Food Fight."
Audience: parents, education professionals, nutrition advocates

 

Call-to-Action: "Contact us to see how we can open up a whole new world for your professional skincare practice today."
Audience: dermatologists, spa owners, other skincare providers

Girl Power
Brand Awareness Video Call-to-Action: Call-to-Action: “Are you up for the challenge of being a happy grown-up? Get a head start now at egirlpower.com"
Audience: teenage girls

Food Fight
Food Literacy Toolkit Promo

Call-to-Action: "We're picking a fight and we need you on our side.  Join us. Join the Food Fight."
Audience: parents, education professionals, nutrition advocates

Exponential Faces
Product Explainer Video Call-to-Action: "Contact us to see how we can open up a whole new world for your professional skincare practice today."
Audience: dermatologists, spa owners, other skincare providers

So what is the point?

To cement your company’s credibility in the minds of consumers of course! Your stories will introduce your company to potential buyers as a persona, a living organism with which it can have meaningful interactions. This will aid them in making the decision to buy from your company rather than from the guy next door. I can already hear you asking: “How will I know whether this is happening?” The answer is to measure any and all marketing activity. There are plenty great online tools you can use to keep track of audience engagement and plenty of experts who can help you get as precise as you wish.

Once you have their attention, it’s all about keeping the audience interested. For insight on efficiently and cost-effectively developing a content campaign that can sustain engagement over time (in this case, four years to date!), read our case study on how we created the NHL/SAP Enhanced Analytics Campaign.

Don’t let your marketing material become just another boring video. Find yourself a creative production partner with the insight and technical know-how to translate your company’s stories into digital masterpieces.