Brand storytelling is crucial if companies want to create a cohesive message to their audience. Good storytelling can invoke a response, but great marketing requires sending a message that transcends into brand loyalty. The difference between the two ultimately boils down to how compelling your brand storytelling is in reaching your audiences.
As startups grow across markets, creating a unified campaign with different types of audiences can be daunting. Larger companies have the luxury of trial and error. However, with limited resources available, startups have to be more strategic in communicating their product to new markets.
Applying the 5C’s of effective storytelling
Effective storytelling can follow a format regardless of use. Whether it is copywriting for social media use, telling your fundraising story, or convincing stakeholders of your business’ value, founders can apply the formula for compelling storytelling, applying principles on building Character, Context, Conflict, Climax, and Closure.
Your character would be your target segment, and giving context on their current background would include existing trends you see in their behaviour. Conflict allows the reader to flesh out the problem you are trying to solve, and the climax generates the light bulb moment that makes your solution stand out from the rest. Lastly, landing a deal can also boil down to how you reach the conclusion or the closure. Typically, if enough emotions were evoked from your storytelling, a successful closure would highlight and summarise the desired result and build your customers’ loyalty.
This format serves as the blueprint, and the devil is in the details. Here are some tips and tricks to supplement your overall messaging.
Make sure to highlight individual customer stories
One of the more successful campaigns tried and tested by brands is to underline “before and after” case studies and narrate how they achieved customer success. This strategy helps establish an inclusive connection between your local and regional markets, as new potential customers see their user journey mirrored and solved with this narrative.
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This strategy requires brands to feature honest client video testimonials. As a startup, this is more effective in gaining trust and boosting your company’s reputation. Given the plethora of online information, providing honest reviews signifies a culture of straightforward feedback from your users and encourages the savvier customers to recommend you to their networks. In the end, responsible messaging promotes authenticity that allows for deeper connections.
Showcase a genuine connection with the market you are expanding to
Being factual about your success can only get you so far, but there are other ways to evoke deeper emotions that allow for a more genuine connection. For startups that aim to create impact, understanding their audience’s stories and turning them into homegrown heroes would illustrate a better narrative.
For example, a Philippine-based ride-hailing service called Angkas created a campaign highlighting its motorbike drivers’ inspiring stories featuring resilience and determination. The campaign crafted a beautifully packaged narrative that appealed to the mass market and proved Angkas’ loyalty to its stakeholders.
Real stories can come from clients, employees, and other evangelists who feel passionately about the company’s mission and culture. Storytelling feeds into people’s innate curiosity to learn more about other people’s lives and become the best reference materials for capturing the right audience. The impact of these narratives ensures that the people who resonate with it get to believe in what the organisation is about and try to experience what the company has to offer for themselves.
Lastly, when hiring local influencers and partners, emotions must be cultivated, as they are your most significant currency with your audience. As these people are extensions of your brand, you must spotlight authenticity and be more particular that their values and past content align.
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Spending money on influencers and partners with significant followings is easy, but ensuring quality more than quantity is trickier. This can be checked based on engagement and other metrics, but as proven by past failed startups, overspending on influencer marketing without a strategy can lead to your burn rate heading for a crash.
The pros can easily outweigh the cons if done correctly. For one, researching before expansion and outlining a stakeholder map can help the company determine the right partners who will help bridge them to the regional markets. An influencer in Indonesia, for example, would know better how to reach online users and can help navigate the nuance and complexities of local behaviour than someone more famous in Malaysia.
Another priority to emphasise authenticity is to create a diverse “Story Bank” focused on inclusivity. A “story bank” is a collection of stories from customers and partners that would humanise the brand. As writers usually advise, it is always better to “show rather than tell”.
For example, a brand focused on the mom customer segment can highlight their customers’ journeys from different backgrounds. Their needs may be similar, but each mom could share a unique perspective, further demonstrating why the brand is a success. Creating a story bank that can be shared across marketing channels would communicate a culture celebrating diversity, showing their audience that the company values and supports it.
In the end, effective storytelling is universal. The key to doing so is to use your existing resources—your relationship with your customers—as case studies as you convert your new audience into paying customers.
A landscape as diverse as Southeast Asia provides multiple opportunities for company growth, and connecting with each market would require a universal message signalling authenticity and commitment to your stakeholders.
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