Video Storytelling For Competitive Advantage

Stories have tremendous staying power and the ability to connect people on a personal level, but there’s more to them than entertainment value. Storytelling can also be a valuable business skill – when implemented right, that is.

That’s why today we’ll discuss how thoughtful video storytelling can give your business a competitive advantage as part of your digital strategy.

What Is Video Storytelling & Why Should You Care?

We live in a fast-paced, digitally-driven society, where “humanity” and “human touch” appear to be the new premium. And it’s this environment that no longer allows businesses to be faceless entities.

You want to show your brand’s personality, empathetic nature, and humanity – customers expect that from you.

Here’s the thing: Consumers’ decision-making is often more emotional than logical. To survive – let alone thrive – businesses need to make an effort to connect with the audience and engage with them on a deeper, more emotional level.

That’s where storytelling comes in, acting as the narrative that weaves the facts and the emotions your brand evokes together into a cohesive whole. People love stories; they love telling them – and, more importantly, they love hearing them.

Stories have always been a part of our day-to-day communication and a way for humans to bond, build connections, evoke emotions. We’ve been telling them for as long as – well, we’ve been human. Stories have tremendous staying power, too.

And using video to tell your stories can have a similar – if not more significant – impact, as the most effective way to distribute your message and a format that will increase the chances of it being remembered. When you manage to keep people engaged, they’re more likely to listen to what you have to say – and, eventually, convert to paying customers.

You’d be silly not to use that to your advantage.

Storytelling through video is no longer an optional, nice-to-have marketing tactic. It uses a naturally engaging format to tell a story about your brand or product in a way that captures consumer’s attention and drives engagement.

In fact, it has become the preferred communication channel for roughly 62% of millennials. The bottom line?
Video is a vital tool for your business – and we’ve outlined a few ways in which it can jump-start growth and give you a competitive advantage below.

Video Storytelling Helps With Brand Recall

Compelling storytelling will make your messages stick. So, rather than bombarding your target audience with a series of facts, numbers, and features, tell your brand’s story – and make it even more memorable through powerful visuals.

The more authentic and compelling it is, the better.

See the power of storytelling in action in this moving spec commercial for Google Home. The goal is to ensure that your brand is at the forefront of the customer’s mind. Better ad recall equals increased brand awareness, directly tied to lower funnel stages, mainly consideration and purchase intent. And video storytelling is the route that can get you there.

It Reinforces Customer Loyalty

Stories have this incredible power to draw people in and create long-lasting impressions. If you can ensure that people remember your brand and associate it with positive emotions, you’ll earn a spot in your customers’ hearts.

And that’s precisely where you want to be when your goal is to build and reinforce customer loyalty. People are generally inclined to trust companies that appear empathetic and human rather than faceless enterprises.

In that sense, storytelling is a powerful tool. It evokes emotional reactions, shows your brand’s personality, and gives the consumer something to relate to and believe in when they think about you and your brand.

“Narrative is foundational to the future of branding.”

Watch this HMCT Video Lecture and learn more about what Rudy Manning, Chief Creative Officer at Pastilla, means by that.

It Provides Valuable Information

Video is a powerful format to promote a brand; users are naturally drawn to it – but as we said already, there’s more to it than the entertainment value. And that brings us to video storytelling as a means of providing valuable information:

Stories told through video can also educate and explain things without overwhelming the viewer. Even more so, viewers are more likely to retain up to 95% of the message, including factual information, when it’s in video format and tells a compelling story. As such, video storytelling can be an effective medium for sharing how-to’s, recipes, and case studies, for example.

Implementing Video Storytelling: How To Create A Winning Strategy

Now that you’ve learned more about what storytelling can do for your business, you might be wondering how to create a digital marketing strategy that will tell a compelling story through video.

While we’re not big on one-size-fits-all solutions and approaches to marketing, there’s one piece of advice we’ll often give businesses that consult with us regarding how to implement video storytelling.

It’s usually something along the lines of:

Start with your story. Allow the “why” behind your company – your core values and what you do – to shine through.

The basics of video storytelling can be summed up in four simple steps:

• Conceptualizing the story you want to tell and create a framework that will guide the rest of your storytelling process
• Work on the visual components, including the colors, setting, text overlays, animations, angles, and other aesthetics-related aspects of your video
• Start working on executing your vision, as in, actually shooting and editing the footage, and make necessary revisions along the way
• Think about the distribution method of your video and how you plan to reach your audience – through YouTube, social media, or your website, for example

Of course, the process won’t always be as straightforward, and you may need the help of a full-service marketing agency to bring your vision to life and tell your brand’s story. But more on that later.

We’ll leave you with this: Tell, rather than sell.

Video storytelling can be so much more than a sales pitch; the goal is to build trust and connect with your audience on a deeper level. Be honest and tell your story with authenticity, rather than through overly “salesy” messaging that focuses on the product.

Jump-Start Your Growth With Video Storytelling

Look around; you won’t find many successful brands that don’t have a good story behind them. And as video content’s current popularity continues to rise, businesses need to understand that leveraging video is no longer just another optional, nice-to-have tactic but a must-have aspect of their digital strategy.

We’ve hopefully shown you how thoughtful storytelling can give your business a competitive advantage. The key takeaway from today’s read?

Treat storytelling as a compass for your digital marketing strategy and growth plan. Done right, it will help you build a brand that’s as profitable as it is authentic and memorable.

If you need help implementing video storytelling into your own company’s online presence and capitalizing on its power, get in touch! We can guide you through the process!