Insights on the Power of Story Telling to Connect to Customers  

SXSW is what I like to call “grown up camp.” It’s a chance to both learn and play, while taking a break from the real world. The city of Austin, Texas is taken over for ten days by what’s new and what’s best in technology, music, and film. During the five days of Interactive, the city is filled with panels, trade shows, parties, and endless opportunities to engage with the world of technology and emerging companies.

I work in the field of marketing operations for a vacation rental company, and specifically focus on email automation for large-scale email campaigns that target our travelers. So for me, SXSW Interactive (SXSWi) was a chance to learn more about my field; I’m not particularly tech-savvy, so I was slightly overwhelmed by my surroundings at the start of the conference. However, I found that there was much more to absorb and experience than the newest app or gadget. I quickly found that it’s not just a place to see what the future of technology has to offer, but rather can offer great insights about marketing.

Re-Branding an Acclaimed Car Company

To wit: James Thompson, Co-Founder, CSO, and CTO at Evoke Neuroscience and Melody Lee, Director of Brand Strategy and Planning at Cadillac, made up half of a four-person panel titled “Heads and Hearts: Consumer Engagement Where it Counts.” This panel, which also included Christina Binkley, Fashion/News Editor at The Wall Street Journal and John Box Bricker, Principal and Creative Director at Gensler, an architecture and design firm, was aimed at explaining how brand marketing and neuroscience go hand and hand.

Lee made the appeal that marketing and advertising should try to focus on mindset as opposed to demographics. To re-inforce her point, she showed an example of the most recent Cadillac commercial, which uses stories of real people to evoke emotion. She then juxtaposed it with a Cadillac commercial from the prior year. That commercial was created based on demographic research and resulted in a message that was cold, arrogant, and ultimately pushed away the audience they were hoping to draw in.

After illustrating this drastic difference between mindset and demographic metrics, Thompson explained how the brain responds to stories. Even in the short minute of the mind-set based commercial, our brains connect with the people in the commercial, causing us to trust the brand. Lee explained that this shift has changed the way consumers now see Cadillac, and therefore she has successfully achieved her goal in re-branding. Among other things discussed, these panelists proved that there is a shift that needs to be made in marketing to draw in and retain your audience – specifically via the use of story.

So what was the takeaway from this? First, let’s look at the other side: in the modern day, it’s clear that technology is both necessary and important. In a fast-paced world that thrives on the newest advances, it’s easy to see how those advances have helped drive change and increase growth. However, there is no possible way to move forward in the field of marketing and advertising without appealing to the need for narrative. Whether that be getting to know your audience better during the onboarding process, or adding more personal accounts from customers into your communications, story has a way of capturing attention and activating the brain, so that the audience is left wanting more.

Cadillac is a prime example of a brand that moved towards a story-based message. They have successfully re-branded themselves to be seen as more relatable to a younger generation, while still remaining luxurious. They no longer feel completely out-of-reach as a brand because they have added a personal narrative to the way they address their audience. 

The Power of Story to Connect – both Personally and in Business

I experienced this human need and search for story on another level at SXSW as well. During the evening events (okay, let’s be honest – the parties), I met people from all over the world. Sure, this was a chance to network. But these were some of my favorite moments of the conference, as we shared moments of our lives with one another – relating things that we had in common, and learning about things that were different. We spent time forgetting about business, so that we could hear stories about life in different cities and countries.

Going back to my job after the five days had come to an end, I realized I could more successfully market to my audience because of this experience. Instead of thinking of best practices or about the results of tests, I think of those metrics as a narrative that the test is telling about, for instance, the travelers who are looking to book a vacation rental. The upshot realization? That a more personal approach to email communication can allow for a better understanding of the needs of our travelers.

It’s encouraging to see that, even though, for a while, the concept of story was ignored and replaced by purely metrics-driven decisions, the marketing world has brought it back. Leaders in the industry have seen the power it can hold over an audience and incorporated it back into their messaging. It’s not a matter of manipulating audiences, but connecting over deep human sentiment.

So SXSWi, though mainly a tech conference, was also a place to learn about communicating successfully with your consumers through one of the oldest methods – storytelling.

Marketing at the Forefront: Metrics Meets Narrative

So where do tech and stories come together to meet in the middle? Here are a few ways to think about combining data and marketing in today’s world:

• First of all, take some dedicated time to do market research. Get to know your audience, and yes, the demographic. This is not something to be completely disregarded. Just don’t let it rule your message.
• Next, invest some time in using the necessary tools and technology to learn how you can best reach them, and then go about crafting a message around their mindset. Message-testing will be a necessity here – so figure out through A/B testing as well as focus groups what will be best received by your target demographic.
• Then, take advantage of the technology out there to ensure that your message is widespread and widely received. Don’t only send emails or just run commercials.
• Instead, utilize all the necessary channels to ensure your message is visible, and at the forefront of the mind of your audience. Give them new ways to interact with you – redirect them to the newest landing pages, embed funny videos, and use click-throughs to gather data that you may not have been able to get otherwise. With email, test subject lines that pull in readers, with interesting graphics fonts, or by utilizing well-known names.
• Lastly, tell stories in a creative way. Remember that the attention span of today is short, and information is consumed within seconds. So tell stories that are unique, interesting, and that capture attention.

Using tactics to draw in your audience is just the first step. Then once that initial connection is made, they can interact with the story and be left wanting more, and thus continue to return as a loyal customer.