We are living in times of massive changes. Much before the Corona-shock pushed normal life out of gear, people worldwide were already spending over one-quarter of their day digitally on an average (Digital 2020 Global Overview Report). Every reliable SEO Company in Delhi was well aware of that. But things are changing now.
We are not just witnessing a quantum leap towards digital dependence. We are looking at a colossal shift in digital content consumption attitudes! The emotive appeal of content was already center-stage, but Brand Storytellers will have to be more innovative than ever. They need to take into account the long-term emotional and attitudinal changes of consumers that the shock is causing.
Relationship between Digital Marketing and Brand Storytelling
Before jumping to technical (and not so technical!) details of Digital Marketing Services’ role in developing and conveying brand stories, let’s get an idea of where this relationship stands.
- 81% of Amazon buyers of branded products recalled only the product-description page and not the TV commercial 90 days after buying. 90% do not search by brand. They choose the product search function. (Digital Marketplace Study by Accenture, 2019)
- Two-thirds of millennials use ad-blockers. 40% want informative and not promotional emails. (Meaningful Brands Study, 2019)
- Consumers in the age group 25-35 are top online buyers. 50% of them commit to online shopping for more than half their needs. 27% rely on online shopping almost entirely. (CivicScience Survey, 2019)
- 74% of brands cannot touch the lives of their consumers despite their efforts. 60% of the content from the world’s leading brands is considered meaningless by digital consumers. The figure is 50% overall. (Meaningful Brands Study, 2019)
These trends point towards:
- Consumer behavior shifts
- Strategic adjustments by each digital marketing company that wishes to deliver.
- Challenges for content marketers
- And a sea of possibilities that Brand Storytellers can exploit, especially for small and medium businesses.
All of these trends are likely to amplify. The room for creative maneuver by story tellers through digital marketing is set to expand. Imagine being that one out of every ten that is searched by brand and not via products on Amazon!
Tough, but not impossible!
Not with SEO agencies in Delhi that have story tellers to strike a chord with your consumers.
Telling a brand story involves great teamwork. SEO experts, Branding Experts, Content Creators and Content Marketers have to work in tandem. None that claims to be the best SEO Company in Delhi ever ignores how crucial each of their roles is.
How Does/Can a Digital Marketing Agency tell your Brand Story?
There are three intricately linked aspects to understand this.
Since Brand Storytelling is about touching the lives of consumers in the most imaginative ways, the Human aspect is the foremost.
Next to it is the Technical aspect. Finally, it is the Business side that matters. Brand Storytelling is executed by Digital Marketing teams and it could be hard to differ between these three aspects. For sake of simplicity, let’s understand each of them separately.
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Brand Story has to extend a human-touch into the lives of Consumers through different Digital Media Channels
Brand Storytelling is that aspect of Content Marketing that sits farthest from the direct promotional content for products in the content spectrum. Yet, it is not the informational content type.
Brand Storytelling content is of emotional nature. It has less to do with the brand. It is concerned with the relationship between the brand (not the products!) and the lives of consumers. A Brand Story conveys the values that a business or brand stands for. It tries to build a lasting relationship with consumers by placing the importance of the company’s values and ethics into the everyday lives of prospective buyers. Simply put, consumer lives and brand values are at the center of a Brand Story.
To build connections through unique stories, digital marketers work on various aspects.
- They select the elements of narrative that are most likely to engage the consumers. Brand stories may have action, drama, comedy and climax etc. However, they definitely have characters, and consumers are some of their main characters.
- Not every digital medium has an equal emotional-human appeal. Each medium touches the lives differently and lies at a different distance from the consumers’ center-of-heart. The selection, emphasis and role of each digital medium decide the dimensions of the canvas on which the story is drawn. Digital marketers decide the outline of your brand story and the limits of canvas in a singular process.
- Facts, testimonials and statistics help little in brand storytelling. Conversations, consistent engagement and developing an empathetic relationship do. You are the best person to do that without doubt, but imagine engaging with thousands of prospective customers. All in different age-groups, professions and with different expectations. Digital marketing companies use their experience, advanced analytics and data-driven insights to make your brand worth remembering and lifelike real. Engaging consumers regularly through information, empathy, creativity, thoughtfulness and a bit of surprise calls for technical expertise though indirectly.
Brand story takes a life of its own when consumers themselves become contributors to it. The story begins to branch into different directions. That’s the ultimate aim a website designing company in Delhi is geared to!
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Reaching the Right People, the Right Way, through Right Channels
Before looking at the latest trends that are driving brand storytelling through digital marketing, let’s look at the landscape in front of us.
Once the unique value and the brand itself are defined, next are the content types. They construct and convey the story. Consistency in tone, presentation, logos, photos etc. becomes the chief concern of digital marketers.
The content types used by them include:
- Website Content
- Blog Articles including Long-form Content and Listicles.
- Emails and Newsletters
- Case Studies
- Social Media Content
- Unique Photos
- Videos
- Podcasts
The consumer engagement with each content type is different and carries distinct value for storytelling. For maximum impact of each content type and deciding what type of content will work, digital marketing experts use advanced analytics. It is of four types:
- Business Intelligence Analytics: Used to find out the type and themes of content that consumers love and demand.
- Descriptive Analytics: That’s demographic analysis. It becomes useful when behavioral data analytics is added to it. It allows an overview of consumer attitudes. For example, a brand story would be more impactful for consumers that are intent on thoroughly surveying the brands and products than those that buy immediately when needful.
- Predictive Analytics: To project the consumer behavior and redesign the SEO strategy and brand story accordingly.
- Optimization Analytics: To figure out the performance of channels, campaigns and the marketing effort overall so that brand story and its projection is adjusted accordingly.
Certain trends are ruling the brand storytelling efforts through digital marketing. Foremost amongst them is the use of Data-driven insights. Use of pictorial and video content is also crucial for delivering stories. The increasing use of Social Media, especially Instagram, to connect with consumers is dominating the trends too.
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Digital Marketers alter between Consumer and Client Shoes
Brand stories have to be constructed, conveyed, sustained and expanded from the perspective of consumers. Equally important is that Digital marketers put themselves in the shoes of businesses they are handling the brand stories for.
Impactful brand stories result not from viewing consumers from a neutral perspective. They result from digital marketers putting themselves in the shoes of businesses and brands they are working for.
A best SEO Company in Delhi would lay special emphasis on this. In a matter of emotions, empathy and human-touch, merely dry and superficial engagement does not work. Brands can get the best out of digital marketing companies by allowing them an in-depth understanding of their values, aims and vision. They might as well consider them a part of their Brand-team before getting on with developing brand stories.
Before your Brand Story resumes…
A few more important things before you use digital marketing for beginning your brand story or opening a new chapter in it.
Regularity is crucial in attracting new prospective consumers, and keeping the existing ones hooked. Digital marketing companies create posting calendars by spacing the story posts at ideal intervals to balance between continuity and curiosity.
Humans can take excuses, Bots do not!
So they maintain strict schedules, else all SEO effort can go in vain.
Finally, the effort in developing story content and its appeal is visible to everyone. However, two-thirds of the Brand Storytelling effort goes in the background. Digital marketing companies bring on-board Social Media and Data-analysis specialists besides business experts to create, deliver and enliven memorable Brand Stories.
