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What do all nice tales have in widespread? OK — apart from having a starting, a center and finish?
All of them have that particular “one thing” that makes the reader care.
As a marketer, you’re a digital storyteller. It’s all as much as you to weave a story that draws your audience and will get them to really care about your model’s message. And, once you do it proper, you possibly can keep away from creating simply one other advertising and marketing marketing campaign. As a substitute, you’ll construct a real, long-lasting connection together with your prospects.
Learn on to study 5 best-in-class digital storytelling campaigns from the previous 12 months and begin writing your model’s personal fortunately ever after.
What’s Digital Storytelling?
Like all good story, we’ll begin from the start: What will we really imply once we say “digital storytelling?”
At its most elementary, the digital storytelling course of includes utilizing a combination of content material and digital media to carry a story to life. These campaigns mix audio, photos, animated clips and extra all to inform a single story.
As described by Forbes, 3 of essentially the most extensively used digital storytelling strategies embody:
Buyer-generated tales: This class is mainly word-of-mouth advertising and marketing to the max. Right here, you give your current prospects a platform to talk about their expertise together with your model in an effort to attach with and educate potential prospects.
Knowledge-focused campaigns: By utilizing compelling information and statistics to display the affect of your model, you possibly can entice the eyes of your audience.
Minis: Typically, much less is extra. Brief snippets of teaser data can higher seize and interact the more and more shorter consideration span of the fashionable client.
Don’t really feel as if your digital advertising and marketing marketing campaign must be constrained to simply 1 of those strategies. Relying in your goal market, utilizing a mixture of two multimedia parts or pulling from all 3 may be precisely what it’s worthwhile to inform your model story.
Actual-Life Digital Storytelling Examples
OK — we all know what digital storytelling is. However what does it really appear like in follow? Let’s dive into 5 of essentially the most distinctive digital advertising and marketing examples from the previous 12 months:
1. Toyota Large Sport Industrial: Jessica Lengthy’s Story
While you assume Toyota, you most likely don’t really feel all that heat and fuzzy. Nonetheless, that’s precisely what the Japanese automotive producer got down to change when partnering with Paralympic gold medalist, Jessica Lengthy.
In only a single minute, we watch as Lengthy “swims” by way of her life, sharing her and her mom’s story of hope and willpower. An emotional soundtrack swells as Lengthy watches as an actress enjoying her mom reenacts the cellphone name the place she is advised her daughter will stay a tough life. Her response?
“It won’t be simple, however it’ll be wonderful.”
Following an enormously difficult 12 months, Toyota used its coveted Superbowl spot not as a plug for automobiles, however as an alternative as a reminder that there’s energy in us all.
2. iPhone 12 Fumble
Not all digital storytelling must be emotional. In actual fact, typically one of the best ways to narrate to shoppers is thru comedy.
A fast present of palms — who hasn’t fearfully picked up their cellphone after an particularly dramatic, face-down fall?
Yeah, we figured. And that’s precisely what Apple was banking on.
The viewers watches as our unnamed protagonist struggles desperately to cease her cellphone from falling. No judgement — we’ve all been there. When she grimaces and eventually picks it up, it comes out unscathed.
Relatively than outright saying, “purchase the cellphone,” Apple concludes with a quick message for each current prospects and potential patrons: “Loosen up. It’s an iPhone.”
3. Play New with Nike
Over the course of a minute, we watch on a regular basis folks in addition to extremely adorned Olympians attempt their palms at a brand new sport and … fail. Like, fairly dramatically. However in Nike’s “Play New” marketing campaign, that’s greater than OK.
By placing the play again in health, the corporate encourages the viewers to tie up their (Nike) shoelaces, exit and check out one thing new, even when they aren’t nice at it proper off the bat. As our narrator says, “Right here’s to going for it, and being horrible.”
4. Spotify and Harry Kinds
Spotify has positioned itself because the king of streaming. Simply check out social media come December — your newsfeed is probably going flooded with screenshots of your folks’ yearly listening breakdowns.
Within the “Solely You” advert, the corporate performs on this, comedically highlighting a listener who performed Harry Kinds’ music over 15 occasions in a row. By offering a personalised breakdown of customers’ listening habits, Spotify works to attach with shoppers by specializing in what units every of us aside.
5. Dove and the Reverse Selfie
Since first launching the “Actual Magnificence” marketing campaign in 2004, Dove has dedicated itself to tackling conventional magnificence requirements. With this advert, the model reaffirms that mission.
The viewers watches in reverse as a younger lady will get able to take a selfie. The video unwinds as she takes a glamorous picture, making use of picture distortion results, filters and heavy make-up to attain the look she needs. On the finish, we’re left with a younger woman staring sadly within the mirror. Dove shares a poignant message in regards to the adverse affect of social media, urging viewers to understand their pure magnificence.
Every of those advertisements create a compelling story by way of totally different techniques. Whether or not it’s emotion, humor or a mixture of the 2, an important factor is that the story you inform resonates together with your viewers and displays your model.
Advantages of Good Digital Storytelling
In 2000, Microsoft performed a research measuring how lengthy folks can give attention to one factor for a particular period of time. The outcomes got here in at round 12 seconds. Fifteen years later? It dropped to eight seconds. Though there hasn’t been an replace on the research since, researchers estimated that the quantity would solely proceed to dwindle.
Shoppers are uncovered to 1000’s of advertisements each single day. When you’re a digital marketer, slicing by way of the noise and really capturing your viewers’s consideration for that sacred 8 seconds (or much less) goes to take a extra compelling narrative than a conventional advert may include.
Along with capturing the eye of your audience, digital storytelling gives your workforce a bunch of different advantages:
Real messaging: Clients are inundated with aggressive promoting and extra conventional gross sales practices on a regular basis. Leveraging a private narrative will help your model stand out among the many crowd.
Cohesive content material planning: When you create a digital storytelling venture, the exhausting half is completed. From there, you possibly can leverage elements of your story throughout social media and different channels to get the phrase on the market.
Significant branding: Actions communicate louder than phrases for in the present day’s shoppers. Utilizing digital storytelling to display how your organization is devoted to your mission in addition to your prospects will help you show that you just’re in for the proper causes.
In in the present day’s market, digital storytelling is rapidly changing into the brand new norm. Maintaining together with your prospects’ expectations and your rivals’ advertising and marketing will take some further creativity in your half.
What To Keep away from
Now that we all know what a great storytelling marketing campaign appears to be like like and why it’s so essential, let’s break down what you need to attempt to keep away from as you develop your individual:
Present, don’t inform: It might be tempting to over-explain your story. Nonetheless, attempt to lean extra closely on partaking visuals and compelling audio cues to let the viewers come to their very own conclusion.
Preserve it temporary: Simply have a look at the campaigns we went over in the present day — not 1 was longer than a minute. The most effective digital tales don’t want extra time than that to get their level throughout.
Keep constant: Don’t pull a bait-and-switch maneuver and observe an emotional private narrative with an outright advert. Make certain that your story flows by way of from begin to end.
In search of some further pointers relating to crafting your individual one-of-a-kind digital marketing campaign? Subscribe to the Brafton publication for advertising and marketing ideas, business updates and extra!
Editor’s Be aware: Up to date October 2021.
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