Storydoing is a recent marketing strategy that emerged after revolutionising another previous strategy: storytelling. The term, made up of the words "story" and "doing", already explains what this strategy consists of. If storytelling was about telling a story, now storydoing pushes us to do, to carry out an action, which has been previously told in a story , it would therefore be a further step to storytelling.
It is, therefore, a further step to storytelling. It includes all the elements of storytelling, but adds something more: living what has been told. Action is the fundamental key to storydoing, it wants to lead the customer to action. Just as a picture is worth a thousand words, living the experience, or witnessing what you have previously been told in a story or advertisement, generates more benefits than settling for the story. These benefits concern both the brand and the customer.
Story and action
The story is the most important element for the success of the campaign. Even if the action is what customers will remember afterwards, they would never have reached that experience if they had not been captivated by the story beforehand. The story you include in your storydoing (and of course also in the storytelling) must be truthful and honest. It brings very good benefits if the content of the campaign touches the customer's feelings. You must somehow get something inside the user that makes them want to be part of the project: they feel they are doing something to improve the planet, they see the possibility of witnessing something extraordinary, they can fulfil a dream, they can achieve something they never thought they could have... All these stories generate a good reaction in the user.
The action referred to in the story can be something that is going to happen imminently and that the user is invited to witness, an action that summons customers to experience something in their own flesh, or actions that do not involve any travel or take place in a specific place but can be carried out on a day-to-day basis with small gestures (such as redeeming points and obtaining benefits).
Once the two phases have been carried out, story and action, they will be of no use if their success and the return on the actions are not analysed. Checking the results of the campaign is fundamental to improve some part of the process, to rule out repeating it or, on the contrary, to start preparing the next experience.
Some examples of storydoing
For textiles or furniture:
In your business, materials, raw materials and modes of production are key elements. Customers value positively the quality of materials and, increasingly, a sustainable and respectful production. Focus the story on the origin of your products, where they come from, how they are sourced, how they are made.
For the action, invite prospects to live the experience and participate in the process. Witness, for example, the manufacturing of a chair or a table with the extracted wood. Even allow them to create some pieces that they can take with them. This way they will feel that they have been part of the project and will be, from then on, potential customers very well informed about your brand. Which makes them, at the same time, very susceptible to future campaigns.
For food businesses:
The best action you can carry out in your storydoing will always be the tasting. For a new launch, a new recipe, or an improvement, there is nothing better than letting customers try it before they buy it.
Implement the storydoing strategy even further if that tasting includes some other experience, which, in this case, does not necessarily have to include the tasting. For example, an ice cream company could organise an event with water slides and offer samples of their new product. A confectionery brand could offer a nutrition seminar and later let customers try their new product, breaking the stigma of sweets and offering quality information about sugar consumption.
Benefits of storydoing
- Media attention
Capturing the public's attention for your brand will always be a goal of any marketing campaign, but storydoing goes a step beyond traditional advertising attention. They don't want you to remember the name of the brand or the music of an ad (which they also expect), they want to make the news .
If the storydoing action is sufficiently powerful, the media can echo the event, which means a large-scale advertising campaign achieved for free. If the action mobilises many people or generates reactions in networks, the media, following the criteria of newsworthiness, will end up echoing the news, either because there have been long queues at the centre, or because of the unusual nature of the action being carried out, etc.
- Return and good customer relations
Customer feedback after a storydoing campaign is very positive. The customer has already been able to try the product or has had a positive experience that they will always relate to your brand, so they will have generated very positive feelings and connotations towards it.
- Loyalty
Customer loyalty is one of the biggest challenges of the marketing department since its inception. It is not the same thing to get customers as to make them loyal. However, thanks to storydoing, customers become loyal buyers, even promoters, more frequently, simply because they feel close to the project and the brand, even because they have been able to be part of it.
- Differentiation
Storydoing is not, however, a simple strategy. Not all events or actions generate good results, it is not enough to choose an action at random, it must be the right one for your company's project, product or moment. However, if chosen correctly, storydoing will differentiate your name from the rest of your competitors.
Storydoing is one of the newest marketing strategies that joins the trend that already started at the end of the last century, which puts the user and the customer at the centre of the focus. Stimulating prospects is the key to any strategy, but in the case of storydoing, it is a reality.
