Storytelling is nothing new. In fact, storytelling dates back to very ancient times and predates the emergence of writing.

Today, storytelling continues to thrive and has been incorporated into companies’ marketing strategies to humanise their sales messages and form closer relationships between the brand and its audience.

But how does sales storytelling work? How is it possible to create a narrative in which your customer is the protagonist and your product or service is the solution that will save them from their problems? Let’s find out.

What is sales storytelling?

In the corporate world, storytelling refers to the practice of developing a narrative around a product with the intention of adding more value to both it and the brand. In storytelling, it’s necessary to transcend the characteristics of the product or service. The best storytellers go further and reach more subjective levels in their audience to create an emotional bond between them and the brand.

Sales storytelling seeks to create connections with potential customers by making them the protagonists in the story.

The goal is to arouse emotions through convincing and relevant stories. This enables the brand to retain the attention of the target audience and positively impact it.

Also Read: Are you leveraging social media platforms to increase your sales?

Three examples of good storytelling

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola’s campaigns are some of the greatest examples of corporate storytelling. If you look carefully, the brand’s commercials and other advertising always tell a story related to friendship, family, togetherness, and love.

The product, a carbonated soft drink, appears in the background. The focus is almost never on the characteristics of the drink, but on the values ​​and feelings, the brand wants to pass on to its consumers.

Huggies

Huggies manufactures diapers, and its main competitor is Pampers. In Canada, the latter held all hospital contracts, and until 2016 was the market leader.

That year, to compete with Pampers, Canadian Huggies launched a campaign using storytelling. They created a narrative that convinced mothers to choose Huggies instead of products from their biggest competitor.

“Hugs” means “hugs”. Therefore, the sales narrative was based on a series of scientific studies that show how hugging improves several aspects of babies’ health, such as:

• vital signs in newborns;
• the immune system; and
• brain activity.

As a result, sales of Huggies diapers increased by 30 per cent that year.

Check out the video:

The stories told by Airbnb resonated with audiences worldwide because they generated identification with the narrative and emotional involvement. Viewers felt encouraged to learn more about the local culture presented in the video they watched.

As you can see, knowing how to tell a good story can help you engage your audience and make them identify with your brand. And that makes all the difference in sales results.

How to create your brand story

The protagonist is the audience. Anyone who thinks the hero of a brand’s storytelling is the brand is wrong. To tell a good story, you need to understand that its protagonist is your audience. That’s where to start. The best stories are about people, not brands.

Therefore, you need to understand that storytelling is a tool your brand can use to connect emotionally with people, not to pester them with something that doesn’t interest them.

People consume and share storytelling for the same reason that they recommend a movie or TV series: because they enjoyed the story! People enjoy stories that include characters they identify with.

That’s why the protagonists of your stories must align with what your audience wants to hear.

Stories such as the one about the homemade cake-maker who lost her job and recovered by using her talent to bake delicious cakes – and sell them – tend to generate empathy and be successful.

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COVID-19 has changed our daily lives, and we are in the process of creating a new normal. With governments around the world encouraging people to stay at home, there is a corresponding surge in online, cashless transactions.

For instance, Singapore’s largest bank, DBS Bank recently shared that the volume of cash deposits and withdrawals have plunged 11 per cent in the first three months of this year, as compared with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the volume of cashless transactions has nearly doubled during the same period. Some 100,000 customers have transacted online for the very first time, of which 30 per cent were above the age of 50 years.

Other Singapore banks such as UOB saw online grocery shopping growing 44 per cent in Q1 2020 as compared to 2019, and OCBC Bank saw customer spends rising by up to 50 per cent on food deliveries apps, online video as well as on music streaming services including Netflix and Spotify.

With more and more transactions moving online, it serves as an ideal breeding ground for money laundering and criminal activity, including around illicit activities such as human trafficking, arms trafficking, and illegal trade. Prior to COVID-19, the annual cost of financial crime to the economy in Asia Pacific was estimated to be at US$166 billion, according to the 2018 Thomson Reuters True Cost of Financial Crime report.

The damage could range even higher, per the United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime 2018 estimates which pegged the amount of money laundered each year is equal to two to five per cent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), roughly between US$800 billion and US$2 trillion.

Also Read: Top posts from e27 contributors to help you prepare for the new normal

In order to adhere to the new normal, regulators and banks are working together to meet the increasing demand for virtual and mobile payment solutions, however, it is not without friction. Money laundering-related activities are becoming more far-reaching, complex, and sophisticated, with regulators seeing the need to improvise stricter compliance requirements.

But the need to keep up to speed with the ever-changing rules now seems a challenge to some banks and Financial Institutions (FIs), with some already suffering major setbacks to their compliance programmes.

In Australia, its second-biggest bank Westpac has 23 million alleged breaches of AML laws and has set aside AU$900 million (US$586 million) to cover various fines and penalties. Similarly, Swiss regulators hit Julius Baer with a number of sanctions as a fall out from its own money laundering incident.

The Industrial Bank of Korea was recently fined US$35 million to resolve criminal charges against its AML program, which made it possible to funnel large sums of money.

Since 2008, regulatory fines imposed on FIs around compliance lapses stood at over US$300 billion; and this is expected to surge due to the growing complexity of compliance regulations.

Different monetary authorities in Asia are taking action to help reduce the impact of financial crime. For example, The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) offered guidance to assist authorities with their Anti Money Laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing risk management practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also Read: 4 ways the banking sector can respond to the digital transformation

In Singapore, The Monetary Authority (MAS) reassured that it will adjust selected regulatory requirements and supervisory programmes to enable financial institutions to focus on dealing with issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside providing monetary support amidst the crisis.

The global standard-setter for combating money laundering, the Financial Task Action Force (FATF), is encouraging governments across the world to work with financial institutions and other businesses to use the flexibility built into the FATF’s risk-based approach to address the challenges posed by COVID-19 whilst remaining alert to new and emerging illicit finance risks.

Some banks today are still relying heavily on manual efforts for their AML compliance. Rules-based applications produce 95 per cent false alerts, creating huge backlogs and massive ageing of alerts. With legacy systems, the costs of managing the process to read, analyse, and implement the changes in operations will only increase over time.

To align with the changing regulations, banks and FIs are opening up new digital onboarding capabilities for any type of banking services. Some banks are working with regulatory technology companies (regtech) to tap on technologies such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to assist their internal teams and better manage compliance risk.

The algorithms created can be used to identify risky customers, accounts or transactions and file timely reports with regulators while minimising operational costs with significantly reduced false positives. By doing so, FIs can focus their efforts more on their core business and build a sustainable compliance framework within the company.

With COVID-19, one can expect thousands more online transactions a day, but banks cannot afford to miss monitoring any transaction, especially dirty money. That is the reason, automation with the help of regtechs, helps keep money launderers at bay capturing unsolicited activities that could be easily missed by humans.

Also Read: Rise of marketplace banking: Is anyone winning?

2020 is a year of ‘new normals’ and everyone has their part to play in helping the economy recover. Digital transformation is no longer new but more relevant than ever when change is happening faster than expected.

There is a need for banks and FIs to quickly pivot and consider the risks and challenges created by these rapid and radical environmental and regulatory changes to ensure uninterrupted operations even during difficult times like today.

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Updates: The previous version of the article incorrectly stated Strive and AC Ventures as participating investors in the funding round. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Indonesian fintech startup Ayoconnect today announced that it has raised a US$5 million in Pre-Series B funding round from BRI Ventures, Kakaku, and Brama One Ventures.

Existing investors such as Finch Capital and Amand Ventures also participated in the funding round.

With this funding round, the company has raised over US$10 million to date, with its previous funding round announced in 2017.

In a press statement, Ayoconnect Co-Founder & CEO Jakob Rost said that the funding will be used to invest in tech and grow its network of partnerships.

The company also named Alex Jatra –a former executive at HARA, Dattabot, and Kejora Ventures– as its new CFO.

It has also been growing its team to up to 100 staffs in two offices in Indonesia and India.

Also Read: Indonesian bills payment app Ayopop raises Series A funding round led by Finch Capital

Formerly known as Ayopop, Ayoconnect started out as a mobile bill payments app for end-customers.

As a B2B fintech company, it connects bill providers (such as utilities, telcos, and education institutes) with online and offline channel partners (such as minimarkets, postal service, and financial institutions), so that end-consumers can pay their bills more seamlessly within Ayoconnect’s network.

As of July 2020, Ayoconnect said that it has processed more than 40 million payments through its 600 bill providers and 40 channel partners. Its partners include DANA, LinkAja, PT POS Indonesia, Bank BRI, Bank Permata, Bukalapak, Lazada and Pegadaian.

It also counted Strive and AC Ventures as existing investors.

The company claimed a 400 per cent growth in transaction volumes within six months from January to June this year.

Ayoconnect was founded in November 2015 by Rost, who was the Managing Director of Lazada Indonesia, with Co-Founder and COO Chiragh Kirpalani, who had already had two exits for his previous companies.

In 2018, it also named Aditya Vora as its CTO.

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Every business needs one thing: customers. Without customers, there are no sales, and without sales, there is no business. The development of the digital world opened the door to many new businesses and allowed many innovative ideas to be realised. However, reality has shown that sometimes a good idea is not enough.

A good idea for a product or service needs to be transformed into a value proposition that delivers clear benefits to customers.

That is a value proposition that will help them solve a problem, fulfil a need, or move from state A to state B.

Most people don’t want to buy product A or service B, but rather solve a problem using product A or service B. The sale happens when the customer feels the perceived value of the solution is higher than the price he will have to pay for the product or service.

This idea was brilliantly articulated in 1960 by Professor Theodore Levitt, who said, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole” and, more recently, by Seth Godin: “Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.”

In fact, some studies show that one of the main reasons why startups fail is that they lack a market for their products and services. Perhaps the products and services did not meet any consumer needs, or the companies couldn’t communicate the benefits of their products and services.

Also Read: Time to pivot, not panic: The startup advantage to dealing with a pandemic

Digitisation is not panacea

Since lockdown, many brick and mortar stores and businesses have come online for the first time. Going online is must if a business wants to survive in a time like this, but digitisation is not the “vaccine” for your business.

For years, we have heard hundreds of consultants talk about digital transformation and how technology can help you serve your client better, improve their experience, and help you retain them.

It’s a promise that sells easily, but it also carries several risks. A large part of creating a digital strategy involves the “customer journey”. To map this, the service provider analyses the customer’s experience at different stages – from seeing an ad to purchasing the service – and details the interactions at each point of contact.

Unfortunately, this type of advice is causing many companies to react to the effects of the pandemic in the wrong way. We can’t keep trying to digitize our operational processes and customer relationships based on how things were done up until a few months ago.

All the measures (like social distancing) put in place to protect the spread of the coronavirus have abruptly changed the way we engage in practically all activities in public places.

Thus, the pandemic is an opportunity to discover new ways of relating to customers – not only by adding digital channels but also by completely rethinking our relationship with our target audiences.

How do we do this?

Let’s start with the “why” – by thinking about, say, why our clients want to make a bank transaction today. Why they would be willing to buy pants without trying them on? Why they would continue to order their favourite dish from a restaurant, without the soothing music or the pleasant company of friends? Why they would trust an online medical diagnosis instead of visiting a hospital?

Also read: How do you optimise the customer experience during a festive rush?

What do they really expect of us as service providers? Write down all the ideas that come to mind. Then think of a new offer, a new way of relating to your customers, and implement simple solutions that allow you to test new relationship avenues that not only replace the previous experience but also improve it.

Think of solutions as more than just a patch. Instead, consider them as things that are here to stay, that will accompany us into the new normal. Start with a couple of loyal clients and make them a part of the design, brainstorming, solution development, and testing.

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Take advantage of the fact that everyone is in the pilot stage. This is just one more experiment among many. But if we do something new – not just create a digital version of the reality we know – we will have advanced our companies towards a truly new stage.

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With more and more companies having to shift to a virtual office due to the onset of COVID-19, cybersecurity has also become an increasingly pertinent issue. Attackers have been using more sophisticated methods with increased efforts to launder money, disrupt opinions, and other fraudulent activities. 

These attacks are only expected to increase during this crisis, and it’s imperative that both companies, as well as individual internet users, remain vigilant during this period. 

Understanding the threats

Threats such as targeted ransomware, malware, and magecart are expected to increase during this period, and they’re usually used to target organisations like banks. 

When companies shift to a WFH model, it may also result in security loopholes that can become an area of primary concern. Those working from home don’t have the bolstered security of an office environment, as most home networks usually have weaker protocols. 

This will result in hackers having easier access to the network, and be able to send through phishing emails that have deceptive links and attachments. Google reported that more than 18 million phishing emails were sent through in April. 

Also Read: Work-from-home: Watch out for cyberthreats amid COVID-19 pandemic

Once an employee clicks on the link, the hacker will be able to have access to the device and may even receive the employee’s personal information to cause harm to the company’s systems. 

Another threat that’s on the rise in IoT and Drones. Most IoT devices have back doors that allow the manufacturer to access the device even after everything has already been assembled. Even self-driving vehicles aren’t in the clear as they have the potential to be hijacked. 

Similarly, Drones can also be equipped with certain devices such as Wi-Fi sniffers that are used to intercept the information. These criminals will then be listening for any sensitive information or credentials to gain access to corporate networks. 

Finally, you’ve got the threat of video conferencing. With the workforce expected to be working from home for a while, video conferencing has become an integral tool for most of us. Some video conferencing tools, however, have recently experienced breaches. There have been cases where someone unknown has managed to gain access to a video conference. 

These potential breaches can result in the loss of sensitive information and are considered an invasion of privacy. In such situations, it’s recommended to: 

• Set meetings as private. You can either choose to set a password or control who will be able to enter the room. 
• When selecting your video conferencing tool, you’d want to take a look at the security requirements and what these individual vendors can offer. 
• Keep your VTC software up to date by installing the latest software updates. 

Also Read: Meet the 9 cybersecurity startups graduated from ICE71’s 4th batch

Protecting yourself or your company from a cyberattack?

With so many imminent threats, what’s the best way forward? One of the easiest ways to protect yourself is to use strong passwords across all platforms and devices used. You should make sure that the passwords are not only strong but also unique and long. It’s also better to use machine-generated passwords, and you may even want to consider using a passphrase.

Email security is also key when you’re working from home. You should make sure that emails can only be accessed via a company’s VPN which helps to create a network connection that’s encrypted, and will require authentication of the user and/or device. 

During this period, companies must take this opportunity to increase both the security of their businesses along with personal bank accounts as these few months has unfortunately resulted in a significant increase in all manners of hackers, scammers, and phishers.  

If all of this seems overwhelming, you’ll just have to remember that cyberattacks are a sustained threat, and hence, there’s a need to take the necessary measures to protect your organisational data.

If you’re not sure where to begin, it’s a good idea to invest in a managed service provider that can help you with strengthening your security against ongoing threats.

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