Skip Advertising. Stick To Stories For Marketing

4 Tips For Marketers To Overcome The Advertising Mindset

We all come across pop-up advertisements or video advertisements when browsing a site or streaming a movie. And all of us (at least 9 of 10 viewers) hit the ‘Skip’ button if there’s one. When driving, we look at billboards, but we don’t really look at what they say (unless it’s out-of-this-world kind of interesting). It’s simple. The world has become tired of advertisements. Guess what, so are the brands.

It is no surprise that marketers are reverting to storytelling as their new advertisement strategy. Novels to theatres to movies – meaningful stories have always hit their mark. But the equation of brand storytelling is different involving multiple steps. And not all marketers have got this figured out. Digital branding does not mean advertisements anymore, its more about storytelling. The four steps here are to set you on the right path, moving away from advertisements towards narrating stories that work.

1. Chuck fiction in the junk
Marketers end up taking the advertising and promoting route rather than storytelling. Eventually, 8 of their 10 ideas become overtly flashy and exaggerated advertisements than meaningful stories. The audience can smell overhyped stuff from miles away. And they steer away or hit the Skip button.

Fiction doesn’t sell in business. It’s fact fused with empathy that connects the right chord with the audience.

2. Value the time of your audience
A two weeks worth of effort behind a 2-minute video advertisement can only be justified if it justifies that 2 minutes your viewer will spend watching the video. Don’t let your advertising enforce itself on the audience. Narrate your story in their perspective and their pain points. Your end product will automatically make a connection.

3. Don’t shy away from being specific
When thinking of a story, marketers try to scale – looking at a generalized concept to attract/capture the mass audience. Again, this is advertising mentality at work. Storytelling is at its best when it’s specific – personalized to solve certain market challenges or slay the unspoken demons of end-users.

4. Don’t interrupt
A great brand story might not receive a grand response if its delivery is at the wrong time through the wrong channels. Consumers today will only consume when they feel and wherever they feel it’s right for them. It’s important to understand their behavior and deliver your brand story through the right channel. Nobody likes a pop-up video that will run for 30 seconds before they can access their desired content. But the same advertisement when channeled through Instagram sponsored post might have a better impact. Give a shot to storytelling and skip advertising with TALKD.