Story driven interactions

Introduction

Today digital marketing content is mostly dry and boring. No Character or humanity.

This combined with low relevance is the reason for current spam level click response rates – i.e. 000.009%.

With the huge resource of “tech stacks” and smart consultants the imaginative potential of these channels are not being reached – by a long shot. The imaginative potential of these technologies are not being reached by its users.

Indeed, truly engaging content plus relevancy is the holy grail. A win-win solution. However great content is built on a great story. A story adds much needed relevance to digital interactions.

This article is about making story telling the basis for marketing interactions.

Storytelling

Storytelling is one of the oldest methods of relaying information. It’s built into human psyche. A story which resonates can be remembered for centuries. Insights, and learnings are captured unconsciously. Consciously you have been entertained by an engrossing story line. 

Many blogs, Posts, Whitepapers preach the virtue of being able to tell a story in marketing. But how? Can you recognise a interesting story in any marketing communication you have received? In fact, when was the last time you can remember any marketing with a storyline?

Today, marketing interactions are driven by data insights. Data scientists crunch and analyse data in their virtual labs. They produce predictive insights. Content is geared towards driving calls to actions (CTA) based on those insights. The result is direct, bland, and forgettable. Low response rate and spam irritation. Dry and creepy.

Easy to imagine that a direct message concisely explaining a product’s benefits would be an effective use of customers and the company’s time. However, what’s lost is interest. When interest is lost, so too is the conversation and conversion. Even relevancy may be not strong enough to counter a lifeless message.

Story driven interactions show customers and prospects that the next level of imaginative effort has gone into an interaction. People will notice that effort and care – Engagement improves. The focus here is Next Best Action and Storytelling. The truth is that Story driven interactions can be applied to any marketing technology. However, NBA has a great fit. Let’s start with what a story is.

Storytelling Elements

What is a story?

There are five key elements to every story: plot, scene, characters, narrative, and challenge.

Plot

This is the path of the story. The sequential steps and highlights.

Scene

Provides the plot settings and background. It also includes minor characters.

Characters

The story lead character and protagonist.

Narrative

This is the storyteller. Their version of the story. Is it the main Character? Related Character? Or a combination of Both.

Challenge

The protagonist wants to reach a goal. Obstacles are in the way. The challenge is to navigate these obstacles.

Resolution

A happy ending. Or a “to be continued”. The protagonist have overcome their challenge – or a sub challenge.

The NBA angle

Next Best Action is all about arbitration. Arbitration of propositions. At any given time, a customer can potentially interact with multiple simultaneous propositions. NBA finds the best one at that moment. There are many truths, but only one matters at a given moment in time.

NBA provides a dynamic story telling canvas. Any campaign can be expressed as story.  However, the underlying 5 elements of the story will be the same for the selected audience. NBA enables each customer to experience a different story. All five elements can be tailored to the customer’s needs. Endless possibilities.

The non-deterministic nature of NBA interactions ensures that the flow of the story is responsive to the customers situation.

Think of it as a data driven “Choose your own adventure”.

The Customer Story

Digital channel advertising is dominated by static banners ads, short videos, or animated gifs. Telling a story in a single banner ad is challenging to impossible for most creative teams. Short videos have story-telling potential. However, compressing a story into a few seconds can also be difficult.

Splitting content into episodes with an overriding theme is one way to create a rich story experience. Like your favourite soap operas or comedy series. If relevant and interesting – customers come back for more. Customer Journey Orchestration is the perfect mechanism to combine those episodes together.

Combining Next best action marketing with Journey Orchestration will enable marketers to create personalised movies to convey a rich and relevant message to existing customers or prospects.

Storytelling format example

Mortgage rate renewal awareness

Proposition: Renew your Mortgage in 2 months

Plot: The Bill payer knows the fixed-rate mortgage should be renewed for at least five years – but they have so much on their plate.

Scene: Kitchen. Letters and documents on the dining room table. Its Sunday evening. Kids are watching TV. Dog is sleeping in the Baskets.

Narrative: Spoken from the Bill payer perspective

“I have been putting it off – now’s the time to investigate my mortgage options”.

Characters: The Bill payer and partner

Challenge: Finding time to renew your Mortgage while juggling other tasks.

Resolution: We (the building society) will make the process super easy for you with the mobile app.

This is a straightforward example of storytelling. Imagine the variant possibilities. Thriller-Theme, Sci-fi Theme etc. These variants could be tailored to the Customer.

The Content challenge.

Do you prefer movies with fancy special effects? Do you prefer video games with 4K 3D graphics over low-resolution 2D graphics?

For me, the answer is – it depends on the story. The content needs to fit the story – “The film was alright, but the book was better”.

Images and videos will generally have a stronger impact than text. However, personalisation allows for content to suit the customer as well as the story.

In the above Mortgage example, there are many ways to present the storyline.  Every customer will have their preference.

A message worth telling.

Storytelling adds interest and substance to an interaction. This combined with the science of relevancy-based targeting with the creativity of storytelling. However, the power of the story is the main factor. People like a good story.

Advancements in technology has led to large reduction in cost in Marketing. This has been abused. Quantity over Quality. Spray and pray rules. However, organisations who have stories to tell will emerge from the sea of spam in a strong position.