Storytelling and content marketing are related terms since they complement each other. However, they are not the same. More and more companies are using both brand storytelling and content marketing as the means to reach new customers.
Both of these are useful tools to engage with the existing customers as well. Apparently brand storytelling and content marketing share company-related stories, yet, both of them are not the same.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is the practice of creating and sharing educational and promotional content for your target audience. A brand shares helpful and interesting content instead of telling people how interesting the brand is itself.
Content marketing is not actually selling the brand but instead, sharing the content. In this way, the brands aim to be the authoritative voices of a specific industry. It builds a trusting relationship between the customer and the brand.
The most common forms of content marketing include the following:
- Ebooks, Blogs, and articles covering content regarding a specific industry or topic relevant to the brand.
- Whitepapers, also known as an authoritative and in-depth report on a specific problem and offers a solution.
- Videos, GIFs, memes, and image content for social media platforms.
- Infographic content representing the details of a topic in an interesting and visual way.
- Seminars conducted over the internet, also known as webinars.
Using a content marketing strategy, the brands become publishers. They create content around topics that they know that their target audience will like. Multiple brands use this strategy as a way to attract new customers, engage the existing customers, and create brand loyalty.
What is brand storytelling?
Brand storytelling represents the messages that the brands send out. It also covers the advertisements and marketing campaigns that a company sends out to its audience. A brand’s story is more than what it tells people. It includes how the brand is being perceived by the public.
Brand storytelling is about what the audience believes about the brand depending on the signals that your company sends out. The story includes a complete picture of facts and feelings shared by the company about the business, its customers, and the community.
This means the way the company treats its customers, its employees, and their experiences, all contribute to brand storytelling. Content does play a role here, but one of the elements form the story of the brand.
Along with the published content, the story also includes:
- The defining message
- The core values
- Your USP’s
- The reviews customers post online
- What your customer support team or sales reps share with your customers
- Experience of the customers using your product/services
- The way your company deals with its staff and customers
- Mentions of your brand in the media or any press release
- How your employees talk about your company
Brand storytelling has become extremely important as society moves in an age where digital transparency and trust matters. That is how the customers determine which company’s products or services they are going to choose.
Thus, a brand’s story is as important as advertisements and campaigns. It is imperative for the brands to include storytelling as a part of marketing strategies to make sure it thrives.
Content marketing vs. brand storytelling
Content marketing is geared more towards nudging people into changing their behaviors instead of outright selling anything. Brand storytelling is a small yet distinctive niche in the wide array of content marketing.
Storytelling does what it says. This means, it tells a story that may or may not involve the product in the advertising campaign. On the other hand, content marketing is simply a brand or a company trying to encourage customers in changing their buying behaviors using different advertising tools.
Content marketing is one of the many ways of telling your brand’s story. It is a component of brand storytelling. Brand storytelling includes a lot more. When a B2B company makes a pillar page for introducing a new prospect to the brands and establishes credibility that is content marketing.
Brand storytelling includes a lot of moving pieces and they are not always in control of the marketing department. Thus, the ultimate difference between content marketing and storytelling is whether the consumer is taken on a journey inspired by the products that are going to be advertised.
That being said, we also mentioned content marketing and brand storytelling are relatively complimentary terms. So let us explore the similarities existing between these two.
The existing similarities between content marketing and storytelling
There is a term that states, content is the king, right? The reason is 76% of the buyers look for content that speaks directly to the company. More than half of B2B buyers view eight pieces of content while making a purchase. 73% of the buyers want a personalized B2C-like customer experience.
It can be said beyond doubt that content reigns supreme. The problem is, there is a ton of it, which makes it easy for people to get distracted. Thus, the content that only presents business value and information, don’t cut it. Buyers need an emotional connection for helping them in differentiating one brand from others.
Brand storytelling forge the way to create an emotional connection. By presenting the prospects with a story, you will be able to address the top business challenges and answer the queries. Thus, it drives them to form an emotional connection that justifies your competitive edge over others.
Speaking about brand storytelling vs. content marketing, one thing is for sure, emotion is a missing ingredient. A lot of renowned brands have significant marketing budgets, but they overlook the storytelling aspect. They miss out on the fact that buyers depend on emotions to make a purchase.
Merely presenting facts on content is not enough. It is imperative to add color, context, and emotion. Marketers need to use these “softer” elements. Yes, it is important to cover the facts of what your business does and at what cost, but those are not the deciding factors.
Did you know that 50% of the visitors tend to buy if they can connect emotionally with your brand? Seven out of nine brands have an emotional connection with more than 50% of the customers.
The bottom line is, B2B buyers face more risk while making a purchase than regular consumers. They invest millions of dollars, both on short and long terms while risking numerous jobs. This is why they need that extra emotional push to get over the risks and make the purchase.
The conclusion is, with a thoughtful focus on the content marketing and brand story; you will be able to create an interconnected customer experience. This will provide the buyers with a journey to build an affinity towards your brand.
Are you looking for a professional organization to present an impeccable brand storytelling and digital marketing strategy? Get in touch with Skyram Technologies.
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