Dig Deeper
Think back to a time when you began to become closer with a friend or significant other. How did the first conversation start? Did you talk about the weather? Maybe it was raining and you forgot to bring a coat, and you talked about how you always forget to bring a coat when it rains. Perhaps you talked about how the full moon was larger than usual, and how it made you feel like you had stumbled upon the twilight zone on accident. And maybe all of this small talk led you to tell this person about that one time you saw a thunderstorm and a full moon at the same time, and that it was at that very moment that you realized your dream in life was to be the world's best storm photographer.
We build relationships by grabbing onto loose threads and turning them into something thicker and more authentic.
Surface level communication is easy to start and easy to stop, but we must dig in order to deepen relationships. The same goes for marketing your brand; if your strategy for garnering interest in your company relies on surface level advertising, you will have a hard time connecting with your customers on a more emotional level. How could you? They can’t see who you really are. That crucial element of human connection is lacking.
In essence, we grow more connected with people by sharing our stories with each other. It’s a delicate back and forth exchange of little parts of ourselves, linked by “That reminds me of this one time” and “I feel the exact same way.” This is how we find out what we have in common with people; this is how we find out who we’re really talking to. And like people, companies must reach deeper to access and share the narratives that define who they really are. They must tell these stories in order to reach customers on a more emotional level, because at the end of the day, this is the kind of thing that establishes long lasting relationships.
In the end, the goal is to connect with your customer through emotionally compelling, narrative-driven marketing, and it’s clear that video is the way to go when it comes to getting people interested in your brand. 70% of marketing professionals report that video converts better than any other medium[note]https://www.vidyard.com/blog/b2b-video-marketing-metrics-research-report/ [/note]. And if your video is well-crafted, personally engaging, and genuine, that statistic can only go up.
The goal is to sell customers on who you are as a company, and in doing so, the hope is that your customer will enjoy the content you’ve created and not feel like they're being manipulated or advertised to. The best instances of video marketing entertain, inform, and build a relationship that is based on substance and authenticity. If you can show your customer why they should care about your company, they will be more likely to engage with your brand and share their own stories with you.
What’s your story? We’d love to hear it.