We all remember our high school English teachers pressuring us to “show, don’t tell” in our essays and stories. But beyond English class, what does this actually mean, and how do you apply it to your brand?
Showing and not telling, for our purposes here, means that you’re demonstrating the story behind your products and the people who have created that product, and how this translates into benefits for the consumer. Rather than simply stating, “This product will give you healthier skin,” or “This product will help you reduce stress,” you’re showing them how it will provide these benefits by capitalizing on the human element of the brand.
For example, one of our favorite partner brands creates superfood snacks out of a plant called moringa, which offers a high dose of plant-based protein, iron, and other nutrients. When marketing these products to vegetarians and other plant-based folks, they often highlight the founder’s own awesome story: before founding the company, she worked as a Peace Corp volunteer in a small village in Niger, where her rice-heavy vegetarian diet left her feeling weak. The women in the village introduced her to moringa, and after adding it to her diet, her energy returned. Upon realizing the power of moringa, she began helping them sell the leaves, and her company was born with the mission to introduce the nutrition of moringa to consumers around the world while supporting women farmers in West Africa. Now foodies of all kinds can use it for plant-based energy in their own daily routines while knowing that their purchase helps global farming communities.
Pretty cool, right? Telling this story resonates with consumers so much more than saying, “this product is healthy and gives you more energy.”
And here’s why that’s so important. Consumers connect with brands that demonstrate strong values. Everyone and their mother is obsessed with Patagonia, and that’s due in no small part to their focus on environmental stewardship and care for their employees. Buyers want to see your brand as something more than just a commodity. They want to feel good about themselves when they purchase from you. Demonstrating your values, humanizing your brand—showing, and not telling—forges that connection.
“Alright,” you say. “My brand has a cool backstory, and we have strong values. How do we go about sharing them?”
This showing and not telling can be integrated into every stage of the customer journey, from the packaging of your product, to your website, to the emails and social media posts you share. One of my favorite examples of this is Nuttzo, a line of nut-based products that was born from a mother’s efforts to find healthier foods for her nutrient-deficient adopted sons (talk about tugging at the heartstrings).
And of course, because we’re a digital marketing agency, we’re all about those social media ads. When you use these ads as a space to tell a story about your brand, you’ll stand out from other ads clogging the newsfeed. Start by fitting storytelling into your ad copy (yes, this ad copy can be very long if it needs to be—just use paragraph breaks to break it up!) and your videos.
Want some proof that this works? Here are the social reactions to an ad for a partner company that highlights the story of two young skateboarders using this brand’s bandages to protect their scrapes.
This is for an ad selling bandages. Mind. Blown.
You can also apply this longer-form storytelling copy to your organic social posts and your emails, and it feeds into the trend of influencer marketing, which works so well because it shows the real (well, Instagram-real) people using and benefitting from your products on a daily basis. Again, it’s all about showcasing the human element behind your brand.
So nail down your brand values, the story of your brand, and the real people working behind the scenes or using your product on a daily basis. What are the good things that your brand puts into the world, and how do consumers benefit from using your products? Plug these elements into every area of your consumer touchpoint, and you’ll lay the foundation for a powerful brand that turns people into not only buyers, but also advocates.
Want us to do an audit of your marketing content? Schedule a complimentary, sales-pitch-free, 30-minute strategy session with us:
