The Power of Storytelling in Influencer Marketing
One of the foundations of human connection is storytelling. A powerful story should evoke emotions, encourage empathy, touch on morality, and (when done well) persuade people to be open to a new worldview. Humans are natural storytellers; it’s how we build community and shared experience. While you may associate the term with novels, movies, shows, etc., storytelling is actually everywhere you look, including in influencer marketing campaigns.
Every brand is born from some idea to make the world better. Whether that is a cleaner moisturizer for consumers or a medical test that can identify if you’re at risk for a genetic disease, each brand has its own mission to better an industry or consumer experience. Not every brand communicates this well to its audience, but this is where the strategy of storytelling comes in.
The Brand’s Story
When creating a general marketing strategy, it can be easy to fall into the mindset of campaigns that are focused on being the new trend or relating to consumers based on whatever is most popular at that moment in time. While this strategy can be effective, it’s not a long-lasting or incredibly impactful one. With so many brands emerging in the marketplace, it’s important for yours to stand out, regardless of the current trend. Beginning from a place of brand storytelling is one way to being timeless, so how do you find your brand story?
How to Craft a Story
Every story begins with a who, what, when, where, why, and how. For influencer marketing, these questions stay the same but some of them become combined and the order of them might change a little bit. Here are the things that need to be answered when crafting and defining your brand story.
The Why:
Define why this brand was created in the first place.
Is there a world problem your brand is trying to solve?
What are the brand values?
What is the mission?
Why now?
The What:
Define your product or service.
What hole does this product fill in the world?
How does the product relate back to “the why?”
How is this product different from others?
The Who:
Define your target audience.
Who is this product for?
What are your target audience's pain points?
Does your target audience relate to your “why?”
Where does your target audience live (virtually and physically)?
Not only do these questions help your brand come to life and help your team understand its mission, but it is also incredibly important for successful marketing and brand awareness. According to Sarah Klongerbo, people who love a brand story are 55% more likely to buy the product in the future. Part of the success of a strong brand story is that if a brand can confidently show who they are and why they have entered the marketplace, people are more likely to trust them. Creating brand trust and awareness is one of the most important factors to a successful brand, especially in influencer marketing. This trust is then extended to the influencers you will begin to work with which is crucial in obtaining authentic campaigns and endorsements.
The Influencer’s Role in the Story
Now that we’ve covered how to create a brand story and the importance of one, let’s talk about how this relates specifically to influencer marketing. Storytelling doesn’t end with the brand story. In creating an influencer marketing strategy, crafting a story for each campaign will help immensely. As cited in a Sprinklr article, conversions improve by 30% when brand-influencer posts focus on storytelling. Adding storytelling to your campaigns is an easy way to boost your campaign's success.
Composing stories for each campaign may depend on the influencers you choose. Storytelling is a great opportunity to collaborate with the influencer and create the most authentic content possible. Before diving into the collaboration, it’s good to have an idea of story structure so that when you approach the influencer, you’re prepared. Below is an example of story structure for campaigns inspired by Hubspot.
Status Quo: Before your product, the marketplace (or world) was missing something. Whether that is cleaner beauty products or plastic-free supplements, the world before had a need.
Example: Everyone used deodorant that contained aluminum because it was what was available.
Conflict: This need created some problems for the world. It could be people’s health declining due to chemicals or plastic in products or something else related to your brand.
Example: Some customers began to notice irritation and studies came out showing possible links between aluminum deodorant and Alzheimer's and breast cancer. Additionally, aluminum-free deodorant worked because it blocked the body’s natural processes; this was not popular among some consumers.
Resolution: Here to fix it, is your product. Your brand provides an alternative to the status quo, giving people the freedom of choice and option.
Example: The introduction of aluminum-free deodorant was less harmful to the body, reducing instances of irritation and removing the variable that was linked to health problems.
One way to apply this structure to a specific campaign is to find an influencer who has a personal connection or story relating to the conflict. Say you find Influencer Anna who is already at risk for breast cancer and has been trying to find ways to change her lifestyle to overcome the odds. After reading some studies about the potential effects of aluminum deodorant, Anna decided to eliminate any risk from deodorant and began to search for an aluminum-free one. Living in the status quo stage, Anna had a difficult time, until your brand approached her.
Collaborating with Anna, you learn about her story and find a way to gracefully incorporate it into your next campaign so that she can share with her followers about her aluminum-free deodorant journey. Through sharing her story, she’s connected with individuals in her audience who had the same or similar experiences; that’s the power of storytelling in influencer marketing.
Adding Storytelling to Your Strategy
Storytelling can be one of the most exciting parts of influencer marketing and there is so much more to explore in crafting stories for each campaign. Not only is storytelling beneficial for your influencer marketing success, but it makes the work that much more exciting. We highly encourage storytelling to be part of a brand’s success which is why we focus on working with mission-driven brands. If you’re a brand looking to increase your storytelling skills within your influencer marketing strategy, reach out today for a consultation on how to improve your strategies.
