S1:E2: What is storytelling in Marketing?

 Hello and welcome to the Marketing Woman podcast. I’m your host, Anusha Kannan, and it is great to have you here. Are you looking to move into marketing or want to learn marketing from the scratch? We discuss all things marketing, analytics, business, personal branding, and much more in a way any layman can understand. If you’re new here, make sure to follow along and get on that email list by visiting TMW anushakanan.com. Now let’s dive in. 4s Before we get to this week’s episode, I’m going to share what I’ve been learning these past couple of weeks. Honestly, it was spring break and I wanted to take a break from studying because that’s all I’ve been doing, but it just never works for me. And last month I read this book called The Almanac of Naval Ravikant, and this book has definitely found its way into my repute list. The books on these lists mostly have something that I would have really appreciated, and I go back to it often in this book. One of the parts that I also read about another book called The Compound Interest by Darren Hardy. And this concept is where you take this one thing continuously and you do it for a period of time. And it may not seem like a lot at first, but over time it creates this big picture. And the great part about this is it applies to everything from habit building to relationships. You may not be aware of it at first, but someday you will realize. I highly recommend you read this book. Now let’s dive into the episode. 2s You in this episode, we’re not going into sections because I have this one example and I only want to talk about that. But here’s an overview of what we’re going to discuss in today’s episode. We’re going to talk about what role storytelling plays in marketing, why that is so important. Where do emotions play a role in this? What are the types of storytelling and what do we take away from this? 3s Perfect it. Now, why do we like books? Why do you think we like movies, gossips, news, magazines, YouTube, celebrities, tea? Why do we like them? I think it’s because a we like to relate to something or someone. B we like to know someone else’s story. It creates this shift in your perspective. It challenges your default way of thinking. C we like to look up to someone or something and aspire to be that person with those qualities, those attributes, or the other way, just not be that person. 3s That story makes you feel heard. And the last thing I would say is e. We want to feel good about ourselves by comparing our lives with others. Oh, they’re so miserable. I’m so glad that I’m not that way. 1s Okay, so what does this have to do with marketing? Think about a story you heard about a brand or a product or someone representing that product and how that story affected the way you looked at that brand before versus now. And I’m going to talk about something that shifted my mindset. And it’s not recent, but it definitely is because of the point that they were trying to convey. And there still are. 1s I looked up beauty brands is something that would shift the way you look because you’re not beautiful just the way you are. I mean, of course that’s what I thought for the longest time. But then came Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez. And look, I am fan girling right now. I am a fan. But it’s just that I grew up listening to her music, watching her walk red carpets. But when she launched Rare Beauty, it was that time and age, and I mean age like 1819 year olds that I knew. Girls around me were almost not enjoying the process of getting ready for a girl’s day out because there was this anxiety of how would I look in that picture? This part of me is not perfect. And when Rare Beauty came out with the message and I quote, this is makeup made to feel good in without hiding what makes you unique. Because Rare Beauty is not about being someone else, but being who you are. End quote. It was really powerful and I think it still is. Just not because of the products, but because they make you feel included and that you’re not alone. We’re all going through that. Which in turn helps with your mental health. And to add to that, the founder Selena Gomez talks about the journey herself. And let’s keep in mind that it is an internet brand, which mean it relies on social media influencers and the people that support the brand and its vision. And the reason this has become so successful is because it’s not just the founder’s story that is being shared here. It’s also the stories of other people that use her products. This forms a community which in turn builds trust. Now this is a very B two C example. But what happens in B? Two B? Do we use storytelling there? Of course we do. Think about vision, mission, frequently asked questions, product or service description. And now with LinkedIn, employees talk about their companies, products and what the working culture is like. And it creates a fan base, this community. It does. And you also have social proof, your testimonials, blogs, webinars chat, bots and so many other things. This just goes to show that storytelling is an important marketing strategy which everyone should incorporate. And 1s it helps your brand to build trust, create a community and ultimately build something meaningful. 2s That’s all for today. I know it was a very short episode, but I guess I made my point. I hope you found it useful. Please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or email me at tmw@ anushakanan.com follow me on LinkedIn to never miss my journey. I’ll see you in the next episode. Peace.