Whether immersed in a good movie or lost in a good book, people love an engaging, well-constructed plot. The same principle applies to products, services, and experiences as we seek out brands with stand-out narratives to satisfy our desire for a good story. Instead of simply being told to buy something, we first want to know why. For example, should we feel motivated to purchase because of the company’s touching backstory? Does the brand share certain interests and values that align with our own? Or most importantly, is there a problem that only their product can solve? Marketers who want to create distinctive brand personalities and experiences should start by developing a quality brand narrative. What is brand storytelling, and how does it drive long-term customer loyalty?

What is brand storytelling?

Brand storytelling is a marketing strategy that focuses on creating emotional connections with consumers through every facet of a brand’s business tactics. This can include product packaging, public relations, social media, email campaigns, website copy, and so on. These narratives should also extend into how brands interact with existing and potential customers one-to-one, whether they’re answering questions in-store or responding to feedback online. Marketers typically start by identifying core values, such as quality, sustainability, or authenticity, then shape their verbal and visual narratives accordingly.

For example, a toy brand cultivating a family-friendly reputation can include copy about child safety and educational features while featuring photos of kids playing with their parents. A pet food brand with a strong focus on animal welfare can talk about how they partner with local shelters and create infographics that explain how their products provide a healthy, well-balanced diet. Consistent brand storytelling gives consumers a better idea of what a company believes in and stands for.

Brand narrative vs. conversational marketing

While brand narratives and conversational marketing focus on connecting with consumers, they are not the same. Brand storytelling is a full-scale marketing strategy that leverages psychological concepts like the reciprocity principle and social proof to drive consumer emotions. Conversational marketing is a specific type of customer service that leverages chatbots and messaging services to drive consumer engagement. Brand storytelling is more emotion-based, while conversational marketing, despite its name, is more transaction-based.

However, some companies use conversational marketing to further their brand narrative. For example, Cleo is an app that helps users manage their money and develop better spending habits by offering a fun, less intimidating approach to personal finances. Their AI-powered chatbot uses emojis, memes, and casual speech patterns to appear friendly and appeal to users’ sense of humor.

Benefits and challenges of brand storytelling

Benefits of brand storytelling

One of the biggest advantages of brand storytelling is its ability to turn complex ideas into universal concepts. Brands that use simple, easy-to-understand language are more likely to connect with consumers than those who use technical jargon or industry lingo. Compelling brand narratives also offer real-life stories to demonstrate practical applications. For example, Subaru creates short, snappy copy for each vehicle to appeal to different audiences. For the Subaru Ascent, they used the tagline “love is now bigger than ever” to call attention to its spacious interior. For the Subaru Forester, they used the tagline “goosebumps just became practical” to highlight its speed and safety. Lastly, for the Subaru Outback, they used the tagline “the road less traveled is seldom plowed” to promote its all-wheel drive. The main ad copy helps communicate a simple message in a single glance, while the smaller print provides more details for those interested in reading further.

Another significant advantage of brand storytelling is its ability to appeal to consumers’ emotions and influence their behaviors. People-driven narratives boost sales and engagement by fulfilling our need for inspiration, motivation, and commonality. For example, some brands partner with influencers and ask them to share stories about how they use their products. Other brands like Apple, Disney, and Marvel create fan communities to bring consumers together. Lastly, brands share user-generated content, product reviews, and testimonials so people can see how others were positively impacted by their products. These emotional connections with companies and other consumers ultimately improve brand recall, which leads to increased user retention and customer loyalty.

Finally, brand storytelling helps marketers share and collect data in a meaningful way. Rather than sharing a list of technical specifications in a social post or identifying consumers’ buying habits solely by their purchase history, marketers can use stories to add context to their data. One of the most well-known examples is Spotify’s Wrapped campaign, where users receive a year-end summary of their listening activity. Spotify offers information like how many minutes they spend listening to music, who their favorite artists are, which genres they listen to during certain times of day, and so on. In 2022, they even created personality archetypes based on user listening habits. For example, differentiating between people who listen to the same songs on repeat versus people who explore different artists and genres. These narratives not only present users’ data in a more digestible format, but they also help Spotify segment and target consumers based on their habits and interests. Without a narrative, data might not be enough to get people’s attention. And without data, stories may feel lacking in credibility or comparability.

Challenges of brand storytelling

The main disadvantage of brand storytelling is striking the right balance between connecting with a niche audience and having a broad appeal. Overly specific narratives can alienate certain groups of consumers, such as brand language that people can’t relate to or sociopolitical causes that people don’t agree with. On the other hand, vague narratives or a complete lack of narrative meant to appeal to everyone might actually appeal to no one. Brands fail to stand out among their competitors without a story to tell. Marketers need to understand exactly who their target audience is and what stories resonate with them to prevent this from happening.

The other main challenge of brand storytelling is the risk of miscommunication between companies and consumers. For example, a brand’s inside joke with their audience may be misinterpreted by others. Brands that don’t fully understand their consumers’ interests and motivations may come across as more opportunistic than sincere. Or, most commonly, some brand narratives miss the mark entirely. One of the most famous examples is Oldsmobile’s “This Is Not Your Father's Oldsmobile” campaign from the 1980s and 1990s. The car manufacturer, a division of General Motors, had a reputation for selling and marketing vehicles towards older audiences. In an attempt to appeal to younger generations, they created a series of commercials featuring celebrities with their adult children behind the wheel, including William Shatner, Ringo Starr, and Rod Serling. These commercials both offended older consumers and confused younger audiences, resulting in a significant decline in sales and customer loyalty. This campaign is often considered to be one of the main causes of Oldsmobile’s eventual shutdown in 2004.

Best practices for brand storytelling

Create plot devices and character arcs

Classic elements of a good story should also be used to create a good brand narrative. Every story needs a hero, a conflict, and a resolution, along with a background setting and point of view to help set the tone. In a marketing context, brands need to consider how their “characters” interact with their environment and their consumers, and how they either cause or solve people’s problems.

For example, medicine ads typically portray illnesses like a cold or a headache as the “villain” while their product is positioned as the “hero” that saves the day. Children’s cereal brands often have a mascot to personify their products and take kids on an exciting adventure. Alcohol commercials are usually either set on a beach during a hot summer’s day or at a bar during a fun night out. These plot devices help consumers feel more emotionally invested in a brand and their products, and may even make them curious to see what happens next.

One of the most well-known story arcs in marketing is Apple’s “Get A Mac” campaign, which portrayed the “battle” between the personifications of a Mac and a PC. These ads positioned the Mac as a friendly, reliable “hero” with skills and qualities superior to the PC’s, making it seem like the ideal computer. The campaign, which ran from 2006 to 2009, resulted in a 39% increase in Mac sales in 2006 alone, and remains one of the most memorable marketing storylines to date.

Collaborate with micro-influencers and brand advocates

With the overabundance of options available, people are becoming increasingly prone to brand switching; over 30% of them would seriously consider switching to a brand’s competitor after just one bad experience. They’re also increasingly skeptical of brands and often question the authenticity of their actions, such as when they make charitable donations or work with non-profit organizations.

Consumers, especially those from younger generations, are more likely to trust other people’s opinions than a company’s marketing campaigns. To gain trust and create effective brand narratives, marketers need to work with influencers who can tell personal stories about how their products left a positive impact on their life. These stories can range from something simple, such as a snack product that gives them more energy throughout the day, or something more heartfelt, such as a skincare product that helps them feel less insecure about their acne.

For example, HelloFresh, the popular meal kit subscription service, regularly partners with influencers who share stories about how HelloFresh saves them time, money, and food waste. This includes people who are new to cooking who talk about how it teaches them new skills, busy parents who express gratitude for how it saves them a trip to the grocery store, and people looking to learn new recipes who enjoy the variety in their offerings. These stories help consumers form an emotional connection to the brand and understand how their products fit into their own life, increasing the likelihood of a purchase.

Leverage zero-party and first-party data

In order to build trust and reduce skepticism, marketers need to include data in their brand narratives. Data increases their credibility and provides more context, such as how many products they’ve sold or positive reviews they’ve received. It also helps them stand out from their competitors, design future strategies, and share how their business has grown.

Zero-party and first-party data also helps consumers gain more context about their personal buyer’s journey and how they interact with brands. For example, how many products did they purchase over the course of a year? How many social posts did they like or how brand videos did they watch? How many points did they earn or rewards did they redeem in a brand’s loyalty program? Providing quantitative information throughout consumers’ path to purchase leads to a deeper understanding of their relationships with their favorite brands.

Similar to Spotify, Peloton provides consumers with a year-end summary of their data called “The Cooldown”. Peloton riders rely heavily on statistics like speed, distance, and output to measure their performance and gamification tactics like leaderboards and badges to provide motivation. In this annual campaign, they receive personalized data like who their favorite fitness instructors are, what times of day they like to work out, how many badges they’ve earned, and even what kind of music motivated them to produce the highest output. This information tells a story of their personal fitness journeys and motivates them to engage even more in the future.

Build customer loyalty through meaningful brand narratives

Customer loyalty can be tricky to nurture, as it relies on forming deep, meaningful relationships with consumers who are often skeptical and hard to please. Brand storytelling solves this problem by offering emotional connections, plot devices, and data-driven narratives that capture people’s attention. Most importantly, good brand narratives provide context for how a product or service can solve a problem, leading to increased engagement, sales, and retention.

3 tier logic’s PLATFORM³ leverages targeted messaging, game mechanics, and analytics to connect with consumers through short-term marketing promotions and full-scale loyalty programs. Modules like Dynamic Messaging, Points & Gamification, and Data Capture & Analytics give marketers the tools they need to tell their stories and build customer loyalty. To learn more, chat with an expert today.

How Brand Storytelling Drives Customer Loyalty