Once upon a time, in a town called Realityville, there was a company that sold widgets and wonkets. This company spent a lot of money on marketing, but nobody wanted to buy the widgets and wonkets. It wasn’t that the widgets and wonkets were of poor quality – they were some of the nicest available. It wasn’t that they were too expensive – they were very reasonably priced. It was that nobody in Realityville knew what widgets and wonkets were! The company’s brochure said they were made of the finest materials. Their website boasted that they’d been in business for 20 years. They even won a few awards from the National Widget and Wonket Association. But still, nobody knew what to do with a widget, much less a wonket, and the company’s sales suffered.

Then, one day, a magical sheep was passing through town. This sheep, we’ll call her Baabara Ann, had thick black fur and carried a bullhorn at all times. She strutted into the widget and wonket factory and met the sad, frustrated owners. They told her of their troubles, and Baabara Ann’s eyes grew wider. She then whispered a secret into their ears and gave them three orange beans. From that day on, widget and wonket sales in Realityville skyrocketed. And the owners lived happily ever after.

What was Baabara Ann’s secret? And what about those magic beans? Her secret was STORYTELLING. And the beans… those were just a nice gift.

Sometimes, it’s hard for a company to explain the benefits of their product or service. It’s easy to get caught up in technical jargon and buzzwords when creating marketing pieces. Stories help illustrate the purpose and value in a product, and they make a business more relatable. But a story doesn’t have to be a fairy tale. There are many different ways to incorporate storytelling into your marketing strategy depending on the message you want to send and the audience you’re trying to reach.

Testimonials. Sometimes testimonials say nothing more than “We love these guys!” but they don’t have to. Encourage testimonials that describe a specific situation or event that pleased them instead of a general “two thumbs up.”
2. White papers. White papers aren’t a traditional story, but if done properly, they show the effectiveness of your company on a real-life project. When writing them, be sure to use a narrative to describe your process and set the stage.
3. Anecdotes. You probably spend a lot of time telling people who you are and what your business is all about. Instead of listing out your menu of services or describing your product, tell a story about a client or customer you’ve helped and how you did it. That story will take your 60-second elevator speech to a whole new level.
4. Make-believe. No, we’re not suggesting you lie about something you’ve done. Never. But when you’re a new business, anecdotes are often hard to come by. It can be helpful to create a character or obviously fictionalized story that still relays the same facts so that your audience can understand the end result. We’ve done this with everything from flooring companies to Vietnamese food, and it’s always a fun way to spread your message effectively.

The moral of the story: Tell a story. You loved it when you were a kid, right? You like movies and TV and music and books, right? Appeal to your audience’s appetite for a good tale, and if you see a black sheep in your neighborhood, ask her if she has any orange beans.

Appealing to your audience’s appetite for a story

Storytelling for marketing

Regular

At Black Sheep, our clients crave a healthy helping of our signature moves. This creative element can involve anything from adding a little bit of flair in the way we write website content to create a theatrical media event where dozens of people sporting presidential masks parachute onto Discovery Green (for President’s Day, of course).

Although our propositions may seem a little wack-a-doo at the outset, it’s amazing how, with strategic planning, knowledge of Houston geography and a little imagination, what often starts out as a bigger-than-life idea translates into a subtle and symbolic example of taking the Black Sheep philosophy to the streets.

We recently spent some time developing a couple of characters you might start noticing around Houston (You’ll have to watch carefully for them, they’re FAST.) – our very own Noodle Ninjas– dedicated to spreading brand awareness for the popular local restaurant development Jenni’s Noodle House. Already a purveyor of successful food spots, these ninjas were intended not only to boost foot traffic but also more fully-integrate the restaurant into the community.

With that mission, Black Sheep recruited two agile individuals educated in stage combat and committed to fighting evil at every turn who, disguised as black-swathed heroes, will be canvassing the Houston streets on a regular (though only when-you-least-expect-it) basis.

During their first appearance, people watched in awe as two identical, lithe ninjas broke their way into the modern world – poking walk signs with their plastic swords and hiding in doorways as they simultaneously swatted at their shadows and tried on clothes at Urban Outfitters. The result? Giggles, gasps and groups of teenage shoppers followed the Ninjas throughout Rice Village, mimicking their moves and – in the end – walked away with a story to tell and a treat for later.

See, the reward was twofold. The Ninjas entertained and committed to their characters, resulting in a pervasive air of mystery – and they did it while taking a strategic message front and center, a ninja business card redeemable for a prize at any of the restaurants. And, even more importantly, instead of making babies cry or storekeepers shriek in alarm at masked strangers invading their premises with swords, they struck the perfect balance of playful, authentic and meaningful – three attributes of a good stunt (and a good Black Sheep).

Our new ninjas are only one piece of the Jenni’s Noodle House campaign to take over the world. However, they represent an important and thoughtful step. One of our biggest goals for any business we work with is that they never slide towards a plateau, but are always on the path towards new markets or larger demographics or in the case of Jenni’s Noodle House bigger and better noodles. At the end of the day, be it beaver hijacking, giant piñata or some crafty lingo, it is important to never sit still – a sentiment we think our new ninjas would agree with.

A Little Bit of Mystery and a Dash of Strategery: Black Sheep Goes Ninja