How to use the story for marketing communication

This is an era of information flooding, in which people instinctively refuse to be overwhelmed by information. For the chattering statements and preaching that are full of thick copper odor, people have long been bored and want to avoid it. The boring preaching in vulgar advertising has no appeal, and huge advertising costs are wasted in people's constantly changing channels. Why is such a critical marketing communication so weak? How to make marketing communication more attractive?

Communication tool in the era of information overload

In the era of excess information in the senses of numbness, the scarce resources are happy and touching stories. They are like a chilly, boring pleasure, with incomparable penetration and appeal, breaking into people's senses. Especially the legendary, tortuous, conflicting, dramatic, communicative, and inherited stories will undoubtedly become a weapon in the marketing communication. This attractive way of communicating has made many business legends and created many successful brands.

Zippo is the world's top lighter manufacturer. So far, no lighter manufacturer has been able to instigate its dominance. This is in addition to its excellent quality and excellent anti-counterfeiting design. Story communication is indispensable. Zippo created a series of wonderful stories: the lighter swallowed by the fish is intact; on the battlefield in Vietnam, Anthony blocks the bullets to save their lives; the Zippo flame sends out a distress signal; even a lighter can cook a pot of porridge... The audience was impressed and increased the popularity of the Zippo brand. In addition, like Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, KFC, Marlboro, Gillette, Ford, etc. are also relying on the story to achieve excellence in the brand.

As a popular and interesting way to communicate, the story has become an important way to communicate effectively in the era of information flooding. Therefore, understanding the story marketing mechanism and grasping the strategy is critical to improving communication efficiency. In "The Persuasive Power of Story" published by Edward Wachtman and Sheree L. Johnson in "Marketing Management" (Marketing Management), the misunderstanding of traditional communication, the mechanism of story communication, and how to develop storytelling are explained. Chinese companies that strive to improve the efficiency of marketing communication have certain reference significance.

Misunderstanding of traditional marketing communication

From the general exclusion of people's advertising, we have seen that traditional marketing has entered the misunderstanding of communication, and the farther and farther away, the huge advertising fees of many enterprises have been invested in the rarely effective and chattering preaching. The following are the main misunderstandings of traditional marketing communication.

Cognitive misunderstanding of the audience. "The wine is not afraid of the deep alley" is the advertised by people who are genuine goods. However, in reality, there are many high-quality and high-quality products that have lost in the market competition. For ordinary people, people's cognition is limited. For example, foods with high nutritional value and color, fragrance and taste are easily rejected by people. Things with high internal quality and difficult to be displayed are easily overlooked. Therefore, marketing communication must face the cognitive inertia of the audience. It is not that people who are interested in good products will be interested. Communication can only make people understand the content behind the information by overcoming people's cognitive inertia.

Communication content is limited. People have metaphysical needs, and brands can shape metaphysical meanings and symbols. The traditional communication content tends to describe the product itself, and promote the brand, can not deep and vividly expand the connotation of products and brands, and give products and brands more vivid emotional content.

The information is rigid. Traditional advertising expressions tend to be statements of facts, direct appeals and expressions, so that information can not be full and vivid, flesh and blood, and rigid information expression can not effectively attract people's attention.

Story marketing mechanism

Story marketing is a marketing and communication method in which enterprises use the relevant corporate events, legendary experiences, historical and cultural stories or fabricated stories to stimulate consumers' interest and resonance, and enhance consumers' recognition of key attributes of brands. Through the change of communication content and communication methods, story communication is more likely to cause emotional resonance between enterprises and consumers.

Two changes brought

The effect of marketing communication depends largely on the content of communication and the way of communication. Story marketing is different from traditional marketing communication in terms of communication content and communication. In communication, it mainly solves two problems of consumers: First, metaphysical Emotional and symbolic needs, and second, the cognitive inertia that consumers have in communication.

The story can satisfy the metaphysical needs of the product or the brand with emotion and symbol through the fictional plot. The creation of the Shaanxi liquor brand “Taibai Yihu Zang” fully reflects this point: According to local legends, when the Dharma masters practiced Taibai Mountain, they drank too much liquor and created drunken fists every day. One of the young disciples could not resist the temptation of wine. Secretly sifting the master's wine into a small pot and drinking it in the back hill; as a result, the wine was accidentally spilled into the spring water, and the spring water immediately scented, and the downstream passers-by rushed to drink. This little story became the brand foundation of “Taibai and One Pot” and was widely circulated in the local area.

At the same time, the story can be designed with interesting elements such as fun, vividness and tortuosity to overcome people's cognitive inertia and achieve effective communication.

The story can extend the content of communication from a simple product or brand to an emotion and symbol that is more likely to inspire people to resonate. Through a specific story, the product is humanized, and people unconsciously accept ideas and emotions and accept ideas or product. Psychological research shows that rational behavior is often driven by perceptual factors. People are emotional people, and they drive their rational behaviors because of the sensibility caused by the story. Story marketing has changed the way of communication, attracting people's attention with vivid, lively and interesting expressions.

Persuasiveness of the story

Due to the two changes in story marketing, the story is more convincing in communication. Edward Wachtman and Sheree L. Johnson believe that the story is convincing because:

The story can educate people. Story is an important way to spread knowledge. Many ancient knowledge is spread through stories. The story can effectively educate people and change people's perceptions.

The story can unite people. Sharing the same story is sharing the same beliefs and experiences, enabling people to form common values ​​and find a sense of belonging to each other.

The story can give meaning. The story allows us to examine our lives from a broader perspective, giving a broader meaning to ordinary life and behavior.

The story can stimulate behavior. The story can stimulate people's emotions and stimulate people's behavior. The sensibility of the story can drive people's rational behavior.

The story is easier to remember. Because of the vividness of the storyline, the story is easier to remember and more easily spread than the trivial information.

How to conduct story marketing

Plain and boring is full of advertising in China, and story marketing is an important way to change this situation. How to make people not use advertising as visual waste but as a visual feast? How to turn people's rejection of advertising into resonance? This requires the advancement of story marketing to a certain extent. There are many strategies for story marketing, but in the formulation of the strategy, we need to distinguish the external expression of story marketing from the core, so that the theme of the appeal is not overwhelmed by the story.

The story is a way of expression. The brand's appeal point is the core of the story, and the core of the story is divided into metaphysical and metaphysical parts. For example, for the appeal of function, we can see it as a metaphysical, while the appeal of emotion and culture is metaphysical. So, how does story marketing deal with the relationship between the external representation of the story and the core of the story?

The theme of the story and the brand appeal. Businesses don't tell stories for storytelling, but tell stories for effective communication. Any communication requires a clear theme. Building a brand through story marketing requires the theme of the story to reflect the brand's appeal. The plot can add interest, but it can't deviate or drown the theme for added fun.

The way the story is expressed. The story is expressed in a variety of ways, can be fun, can be emotional, or exaggerated rendering. In addition to effectively attracting the audience and enhancing the communication effect, the way the story is expressed should be matched with the brand's appeal. For example, to create emotional elements in a brand, it is easier to achieve results with an emotional story.

A story show of functional appeals. For the functional appeals in the brand, the external expression of the story can be realistic or fictional, but the performance of the core part of the story can not be too exaggerated. In other words, we can use fictional and attractive plots to express more realistic themes.

Take China Mobile's story marketing as an example: A sea boat has an accident. Fortunately, a passenger with a global pass, he opened a call for help, and the entire ship was saved. The story explains to people that the value of life cannot be changed by any preferential price, and a good network is more important than price. The story interprets the concept of “infinite communication” of China Mobile, and fictionalizes in the plot, but the key part of the performance signal is not out of reality.

A story show of emotional and cultural appeals. For the way in which the emotional and cultural appeals are presented, some fictional plots can be used to shape an atmosphere and emotions. Because emotion and culture belong to the metaphysical category, there is no realistic requirement in the core of the story, which can be rendered according to the brand's appeal.