Magnetic Stories

Connect with Customers and Engage Employees with Brand Storytelling

Gabrielle Dolan

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780730388531
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Success

Improve customer and employee loyaltywith your brand stories

Your brand is the stories people share about youwhen you'renot in the room.Whether a small, one or two-person company or a large multinational; a not for profit or a Governmentorganisation; a start-up entrepreneur or a corporate institution; a school or a sporting team; a religious institution or a political party; a local café or a global franchise—everyone has a brand and everyone has a story.The reality is peoplearealready sharing stories, both the good and the bad.

Magnetic Stories will walk you through how to developandcommunicateyour own brand stories, focusing on the five types of stories you need in business to connect and engage people with your brand.You'll learn how to:

• Connect with your customers in a more authentic way
• Increase the engagement of your employees
• Make decisions based on your company values and purpose
• Have a stronger presence online by sharing great stories
• Take control of your brand and reputation for greater success

Magnetic Stories delivers a unique andtimelymessage which is perfect forany business, regardless of size or industry.

PART I
bring together brad and STORIES

So, what is a story and what is it not? How can telling stories help communicate your brand? What does ‘brand storytelling’ actually mean, and how will it help you connect and engage your customers and employees?

Storytelling is not some airy-fairy kind of fluff. There is some pretty impressive research conducted by neuroscientists around the critical role that story, emotion and memory play when it comes to our actions and decisions. So we'll look at some of these studies to show us why stories are so sticky and how, when used correctly, they can create the kind of magnetic attraction we are talking about.

Let's dig in so you can understand what to do — and what not to do — when it comes to your brand and stories.

The power of brand storytelling

Growing up, I was what everyone would have called a tomboy. I preferred to be outside playing cricket or football or riding my skateboard and BMX bike. I was not into dolls at all. Needless to say, I never owned a Barbie and, decades later, when Barbie was being shamed as not being a good role model for girls, I happily went along with this. I refused to buy my two daughters a Barbie (and I think might even have told others not to buy them one).¹

Last year, however, I heard the backstory to Barbie and I realised my assumptions had been all wrong.

Barbie's backstory

Ruth Handler was the wife of Elliot Handler, the co-founder of Mattel. She noticed that when her daughter, Barbara, was playing with her paper dolls that she was actually pretending they were adults. In this play, her two children (Ken was their son — yes, Ken and Barbie were named after their children) would act out future events, rather than the present. She also noticed that while Barbara only had dolls that had her playing the role of caregiver, Ken had dolls that encouraged him to imagine himself as a doctor, firefighter, astronaut and so much more.

There were limitations with the paper dolls, including paper clothing that failed to attach well. So Ruth set to work to produce a three-dimensional plastic doll with an adult body and a wardrobe of fabric clothing.

Her husband and other executives at Mattel did not think it was a good idea at all. They assumed parents would not buy their children a doll with a voluptuous adult figure. Basically, a doll that had breasts.

While holidaying in Europe Ruth saw the German Bild Lilli doll and bought one, as it was similar to what she was thinking. She redesigned the doll, named her Barbie, and convinced her husband and the other executives to produce a prototype.

On 9 March² 1959, Barbie debuted at the New York Toy Fair and, as they say in the classics, the rest is history.

When you look at the early years of some of the career Barbies that were created, they were actually very progressive. For example, in 1961 we had the Executive Barbie, 1965 Astronaut Barbie, 1973 Surgeon Barbie, 1985 CEO Barbie, 1989 Pilot Barbie. And way back in 1968 Mattel released Equal Rights Barbie, which was one of the first Black dolls on the market.

Ruth Handler is quoted as saying, ‘My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.’

The point of this story? Well, it made me connect to Barbie on a whole different level — what about you?

THAT ONE STORY ACTUALLY CHALLENGED AND CHANGED MY VIEW OF THE BARBIE BRAND. AND IT WILL INFLUENCE MY FUTURE BUYING DECISIONS.

That is what a story can do for your brand.

Tales from Europe

Good stories will attract people to your brand, and to your company. These stories drive people to decide to buy your products, to engage your services, to work for you, to recommend you, to support you, to speak favourably about you, to follow you, to refer you, and to keep coming back to you, time and time again.

Stories are so powerful that they can immediately influence purchasing decisions. Here's another couple of good examples I found while on a family holiday in Europe a few years ago.

Story 1: Botas 66

During a guided food tour in Prague, we learned about Botas 66. We had thought they were just an ordinary shoe company, but we soon discovered that they were an iconic Czech brand that make sneakers. The story goes that under communism, they were the only sneakers allowed to be worn. Imagine that? You only had once choice of sneakers to purchase. Once Czech Republic gained independence (again) in 1989, Botas 66 went out of business as people now had a choice. However, two design students resurrected the sneakers in 2007 as part of a school project. They made the sneakers cool by coming up with contemporary designs and colours that still give a retro nod to their heritage. They now have three stores in Prague and over a hundred designs. The word on the street is that you have instant street cred when you wear Botas 66 sneakers. And seriously, who doesn't want street cred?

So we sought out the store and my husband and I bought a pair each.³

Story 2: Currywurst sausages

Currywurst sausages are a famous fast food dish in Germany. The story goes that in 1949, care packages were distributed by British soldiers to the people of Germany. One woman received a care package that contained, amongst other things, curry powder and tomato sauce. Not having seen these ingredients before, she mixed them together and served them with a sausage.

Typically, the dish is made from steamed then fried pork sausage, cut into bite-sized pieces and served with fries, mayonnaise, tomato sauce and sprinkled with curry powder. Upon hearing this story from our Berlin guide, we felt compelled to give them a try. The next day we decided to go to the original store that started selling them in 1960. It actually tasted surprisingly better than it looked, but we would never have bothered even trying the dish if it was not for the story!⁴

Story 3: Ampelmann

Ampelmännchen is the name for the human figure depicted in the green and red signals at pedestrian lights in Germany. The East Berlin Ampelmännchen, a male figure with a hat, was first installed in 1969 and after reunification in 1990 they started to gradually get replaced by the generic West German Ampelmännchen. This caused protests, and as a result the East German Ampelmännchen was reintroduced in both East and West German cities. As one of the few features of communist East Germany to have survived the fall of the Iron Curtain, it has now become an iconic symbol that adorns a variety of clothing items and souvenirs under the brand Ampelmann.

We were so fascinated by this story and brand that we bought up big in one of their many stores: baseball cap, beanie, t-shirts, socks, lollies, coffee mug, laptop bag, shot glasses, wine glasses and even doormats. Granted, I may have slightly gone overboard — but I did stop short of buying an actual traffic light. (Only because it would have been a bit more difficult to get back home.)

THIS IS THE POWER OF STORIES WITH A MAGNETIC ATTRACTION.

These stories I share over and over, all the time. I don't talk about the facts, or the product benefits, not even the quality of the product.⁵

Your stories, your brand

If you search the definition of ‘brand’, you will find an enormous range of terms and phrases that vary greatly. You will also find man...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• About the author
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• How to use this book
• PART I: bring together brad and STORIES
• PART II: tell 5 types of brad STORIES
• PART III: implementbrad STORY telling
• PART IV: see magnetic stories in ACTION
• Conclusion
• Connect with me
• Index
• End User License Agreement