Storytelling is an effective way to create a narrative around a product or brand. This allows marketers to engage customers and create an emotional connection with their product. And when customers are emotionally engaged they are more likely to buy.

Indeed, oracle found that when consumers are emotionally engaged, 86% of them always think of brands they are loyal to. Also, 82% of loyal customers always buy from their favourite brand. But the numbers drop to 56% and 38% when it comes to low emotional engagement.

Storytelling will not only make people like your brand more, but can also be remembered up to 22 times better than facts.

The good news is that most wine brands already have a fascinating backstory, but many haven’t taken the time to structure it properly. Worse still, many wine brands focus on facts rather than stories, limiting their own ability to engage existing customers and attract new ones.

Interviewing over 150 winemakers and winery representatives for Interpreting Wine podcast I’ve found that there are six wine stories that increase consumer engagement by 100% to 400%. If you’re interested in uncovering your six wine stories, keep reading.

Many potential customers will talk with friends and family about a wine before they consider buying it. If your wine story is easy to remember and engaging then it can be better retold. This can help to increase sales, as customers who have already made an emotional connection with the brand are more likely to choose your wine over someone else’s who they don’t have that connection with.

It’s also important to ensure that the story is authentic and engaging, as this will help to create a genuine connection between the customer and the brand, making your story more likely to be shared. Authenticity is particularly important for ‘trending topics’, such as sustainability or climate change. If your story around a ‘hot topic’ is perceived as inauthentic it could actually end up hurting the brand in the mind of the consumer.

Many brands are misunderstood in the mind of the consumer, who have an outdated perception of what the brand stands for. Replacing that outdated notion with the current reality takes time, effort and creativity.

The most effective way of doing that is via producing copious amounts of content that your potential customers can use to educate themselves on “while you sleep.” To do so, you will need around seven hours worth of interesting content available – blogs, videos, articles, interviews, books, etc – so people engage with your story, make an emotional connection, dramatically increasing the chance they end up buying from you.

References

Osborne, A (Last Updated: April 5, 2022) The Age of Brand Intimacy: Why Marketers Should Care https://www.spiceworks.com/marketing/customer-experience/guest-article/the-age-of-brand-intimacy-why-marketers-should-care/ (Accessed: 8 Dec 2022)

Quantified.ai (April 2, 2018) The Science of Stories: How Stories Impact Our Brains
https://www.quantified.ai/blog/the-science-of-stories-how-stories-impact-our-brains/ (Accessed: 8 Dec 2022)

Nelson, G (May 29, 2019) Zero Moment of Truth – What is it, and is it still relevant?
https://www.lambagency.com.au/blog/managing-digital/zero-moment-of-truth (Accessed: 8 Dec 2022)

Priestley, D. Oversubscribed, How to get people lining up to do business with you (Capstone, 2020)

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· What to say to increase audience engagement by 400%
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