Marketing is a mixture of many profound talents. Over the years, technology has become a large part of it. Technology, however, doesn't make it less necessary for marketing to connect people and connect with people. This Q&A explains why that is and how storytelling makes for winning strategies.
In today's dynamic marketing landscape, storytelling is essential for creating compelling campaigns.
Especially in diverse markets like South Africa, connecting with audiences through authentic narratives is vital.
You might wonder about the importance of storytelling in marketing, how to do it the right way, and what the future holds for this part of the marketing profession.
media update's Joreke Kleynhans asked Fisokunhle Tshivandekano, managing director at The Hive Group, the important questions to give you more insight on storytelling in marketing.
Why do you believe it is important to build campaigns with storytelling, especially in the South African context?
The content landscape has evolved over the years. The rise of TikTok and streaming services has truly diversified content creators, and it has become more difficult to reach people.
Therefore, storytelling is very important in breaking through the clutter and connecting with the audience. Storytelling allows brands to be part of culture and be included in key conversations that matter to the people.
What are some other geographical considerations one should make when drawing up a marketing strategy?
We currently live in a world where we are all connected, thanks to technology. Keeping this in mind means that we have to create work that resonates locally but that can be recognised outside of your territory.
For this reason, access to data is crucial as it allows you to understand areas you cannot physically reach.
Many people see a clear divide between factual and emotional marketing. How can data contribute to storytelling and towards merging the two approaches effectively?
In the world that we operate in, it is now a norm for emotions to cloud people's minds [before] they act. However, there is always a reason why someone becomes emotional — and these reasons can be found in data.
Data allows us to understand the root of why individuals feel the way they feel. So, having a strong suite of martech tools means that you are able to understand the why. Therefore, [you can] create opportunities to put out emotive content and have variables that you can measure.
What are some future trends you predict for the marketing industry in terms of storytelling and emotional appeal?
Feel-good marketing will become big again in the coming months. This is because people are becoming more unhappy and are fast losing hope.
The trick will be how a brand tells feel-good stories that are infused with the products and services that they offer. The brand will be required to be on the side of the consumer and has to be seen understanding the situation that people find themselves in.
How can marketers go about drawing up an effective marketing strategy for a more clinical brand?
Successful brands are ones where people are at the heart of what they do. It is very important that brands invest more into understanding their people so that they can deliver personalised marketing plans.
In a world where everyone is prioritising being first, brands tend to reduce the amount of investment into understanding people. Put the time in to understand the people and the people will be drawn to your brand.
How can marketers strike the perfect balance between marketing that is highly relevant to current events as well as in the long run?
I believe that any marketing activity by a business must be anchored by short, medium and long-term goals.
This will allow brands to draw up a comprehensive marketing strategy that has clear tactical approaches. A brand can tap into current trends to achieve short-term goals and marry that with strategic activities that gradually embed the brand's DNA into the minds and hearts of the audience.
For example, if your long-term marketing goal is that you want to be known as an explorer brand, you can form partnerships with organisations that explorers endorse. Through this, you are gaining traction within that community while in the short term, you enlist the help of explorer content creators to tap into the current conversation.
Gradually, your brand will start to win in that space. In summary, you have to tap into the current conversation with the view of achieving success in the long term.
What are some common mistakes brands make when using storytelling in their marketing initiatives, and how can these be avoided?
A common mistake that brands make in storytelling is telling stories for the sake of telling stories. They create stories that do not match their brand identity and brand ambitions for the sake of “FAME” and jumping onto what is trending.
Imagine Nike telling a story about saving the Rhino — that would raise eyebrows. That is not to say the brand doesn't care about nature conservation; they have their set of sustainability goals. That is just not what they are known for.
I always say that whenever you feel stuck as a brand, go back to what made you an iconic brand in the first place. Therein lies the strength of your brand. Leave the gimmicks.
With context, storytelling and data in mind, what advice do you have for aspiring local marketing professionals when working their way up in the industry?
There are no shortcuts in marketing.
If you truly want to build a strong brand, you must take the time to understand how to mine data that helps you understand the relationship between brand and people. You have to become a social-cultural anthropologist. This means you must immerse yourself in the communities that you are trying to communicate with.
Access to [the right tools] will allow you to formulate hypotheses much quicker and point you in the right direction. Then, you can really translate those hypotheses into stories.
You have to go into communities and there you will find the gems that inspire great stories and great work.
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*Image courtesy of Canva.