How well are you using Storyliving in your marketing campaigns?

The most inspired brands in the modern market are the ones that not only tell their stories through tried-and-tired channels but live it in ways that allow modern consumers to see them prove their commitment to what they believe in, and participate as a result.

Storyliving is modernized storytelling where a company enables consumers to experience their narrative. Some people refer to this as a brand’s DNA versus what they sell.

Storytelling implies you are talking at someone but it is not a conversation. In contrast, storyliving is the opportunity for brands to start a dialogue with their community. People demand authentic and unique experiences, it’s no longer enough to buy a spot on TV or social and launch an ad campaign. By creating a conversation, one is humanizing the brand, gaining trust and fostering a more meaningful relationship. 

Storyliving goes beyond telling people why a brand does what it does, the engagement is crucial.

It is so relevant to this generation as their attention span is of a goldfish and they like stories. Think of it this way: the average teenager observes about 10,000 marketing messages per day. They’re tired of being talked at and sold out to manipulative brands, so brand trust is low. This begs the question: how do you cut through the noise to drive conversions while not proactively selling your product? If you look at Gen Z’s buying habits, about 6/10 of them prefer spending money on experiences versus material goods. This means opportunities for brands that offer value-driven experiences to showcase their narrative while engaging with consumers.

One of the most efficient ways to convert it into an authentic experience is to talk to your consumers. Sit with a group of people who represent your target audience and ask what excites them. Next, don’t try to be the cool parent and have a bunch of older folks attempt to speak Gen Z’s lingo, get influential members of their community involvement. Find the right young consumers who align with your brand’s DNA, having them represent your company and engage their peers. This will spark a much more natural conversation. The value of peer-to-peer marketing in this demographic is endless.

Scalability has always been a question against this. There is always going to be room for growth within a brand’s sphere of purpose, so the scale will be achieved by understanding what’s happening in each target market and creating campaigns well-aligned with audience and brand purpose. It’s essentially about localizing a name and its relevance. Although there is a focus on experiential and event-based marketing within storyliving, both are scalable.

You can scale an event or you can create a digital campaign around it to reach the target audiences. For example, brands can leverage Gen Z influencers to promote events, engaging their peers digitally during the experience and after, reaching consumers at scale in a natural manner. The experiences play on Gen Z’s sharing mentality, especially when it’s an ‘Instagrammable’ niche. Having influencers document the experience activates their social network, incentivizing others to share, stimulating a far more relevant dialogue.

All of these factors end up creating a strong sense of loyalty. Story Living will naturally develop relationships and foster loyalty. Ultimately, purpose-driven marketing and creating memorable experiences will be of utmost priority. Popularity plays a key role in this market. If a consumer sees a few friends engaging with a brand they will naturally do so, too. If brands are activating influencers and social networks on these campaigns, popularity amongst social groups increases. Once a brand has the inner-circle reach, consistently engaging the community to build relationships is possible as a result of the emotional ties previously created.