(This article is part 2 of Content Storytelling 101)
The art of storytelling is a strategy that can possibly save interruption marketing. Interruption marketing is a traditional strategy that most people believe is a dying species. Consumers have the ability to ignore ads, direct mail is simply tossed in the trash, and the process of inbound marketing allows people to search for what they want rather than dealing with interruption.
However, with television ads holding on to their ability to entertain, they might as well be thought of as product of permission marketing thanks to the help of storytelling. Agencies have successfully found a way to integrate the art of storytelling into a company’s brand to make television ads more shareable, especially on sites like YouTube, allowing consumers to search for specific television ads on their own terms. According to Mashable, “each month, millions of page views are directly obtained from commercial views alone”. The art of storytelling strategy is one of the steps towards going viral. If a commercial is published on a site like YouTube, company’s won’t have to interrupt anymore, consumers will promote the commercial for them. The art of storytelling-type ads create buzz, make people laugh, and are usually thought-provoking or emotional. They capture people’s attention by connecting them to the brand on a more personal level.
Most importantly, the ad is not all about the brand, but it’s about you – the consumer. Like mentioned in Content Storytelling 101, “A good story is not all about the company, but rather symbolizes the representation of the company’s values.” For example, Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches ad that came out last April has reached over 54 million YouTube views.
Not once does the commercial mention soap or any of their other products, but rather focuses on the process of finding your inner-beauty. After watching the ad, you can join others on Twitter who are talking about it using the hashtag #wearebeautiful. To put this in perspective, Real Beauty Sketches is the title of the book and the hashtag is the book club.
About the Author: Shannon Callarman is the Inbound Marketing Manager at Cubicle Ninjas. She’s the tiny ninja behind the CN Twitter. You can also follow her on Google+.
