Do Real Stories Make A Difference in your Marketing?
This new generation has changed how we need to advertise—seeing an increasing need for explicitly authentic marketing content. Ohio State University did a study that showed that true stories would win out on social media, and stories that are false, fictionalized, or made up will have less engagement.
Let me lay out an example: Back in 2021, we worked at a featured brand called Eastside Golf on an episode of a documentary series we did titled "Black in Golf."
Eastside is a lifestyle golf brand developed to raise awareness about golf for non-golfers and encourage diversity and inclusivity in the sport. They sell golf apparel, sweatshirts, shirts, socks, and partner with the Jordan Brand to create shoes for golf.
Recently Eastside Golf came out with their new "Red Clay Collection," making great-looking sweatshirts, socks, and shoes. They could talk about how these shoes help you golf better, how these shirts look cool, or they could do some fun, fast edits, which they probably will do.
However, what they did that is building a higher retention rate was tell the story behind the shoes. You see, these shoes connect to the founder's childhood, how he had to walk through the Red Clay of Atlanta to go and play golf as a child. Already telling this story, they will build a deeper connection with their audience than if they talk about how nice these shoes are.
This is exactly why authentic stories are doing better; you are telling a story that's building a connection between you and your customer (or your audience), and they will have a deeper relationship with you, as a brand, just because of that story.
If you tell your audience about your product, they may like it, and they may even go and buy it, but if you tell a story, you will build a relationship that will develop a long-term customer. Investing time in these authentic stories leads to higher engagement and long-term project success.
The other advantage of telling these authentic stories is that it works on any platform. You can tell it in a podcast or show it on Instagram or TikTok. You can put it in video form. Facebook's going to like it. An authentic story is going to work. So that one great story will convert into all of your marketing needs.
Not only do you have a great story, not only have you built up a deeper connection with your audience, but you're also going to have created all of the marketing content that you will need. That's it. You're done. And using real stories will help your customers, and your audience build a more profound and long-term relationship with you and your brand.
So as you move forward in your marketing this year, keep in mind how you can integrate real stories into your strategy. Your audience will thank you, and your brand will build a deeper connection with those audience members.
BY JOSHUA STANLEY
FOUNDER & CEO OF LIFESTYLED MEDIA
