3 key tips and tricks to effective storytelling, according to Endowus' CMO

A solid relationship, as most marketers would know, starts with a powerful communication strategy. More often than not, storytelling acts as that potent tool.

Storytelling gives marketers and brands a platform to showcase how their brand is making a positive impact, the challenges it faces, and the vision it holds. More than that, storytelling, done right and honestly, can help build trust, loyalty and advocacy among stakeholders, according to Jason Huan, chief marketing officer at Endowus who was speaking at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s Digital Marketing Asia 2023 conference this week. 

Below are Huan's top tips and techniques for effective storytelling in order to capture the attention of your consumers.

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1. Understand your target audience

The first rule of storytelling is knowing who exactly you are telling the story to. Knowing your audience allows marketers to put out stories that are aligned with the customers, according to Huan.

“A lot of what we try to convey with stories, sustainability, sustainable storytelling, basically anything you want to convey about your brand, needs to really be aligned with the audience that you are attracting,” said Huan.

Being aligned with the target audience captures their attention and trust, making them more receptive to your brand story.

“As a finance brand, I'm not going to tell someone who is really engaged in a health brand or a health tech brand, that I know you better, I know you best. Addressing and really understanding your audience as recipients to this content is really important to earn attention, trust and action,” said Huan.

Most importantly, marketers should keep an open mind and rigorously review their customers on a regular basis. This is especially since the audience brands may want to target may be outside a marketer’s radar, he said. 

“The people that you have intended to acquire may not be the ones that are in your base,” added Huan. “Consistently review them.”

2. Establishing a brand story and value preposition

On top of knowing who you’re telling the story to, marketers need to establish a brand story. For effective storytelling, markets have to fill their brands with meaning. This in turn, builds trust in the audience too, according to Huan. 

One way of doing so is to have a value preposition that reflects the brand. This is especially useful in cases where brands intend to expand on their corporate social responsibility (CSR).

“As a brand, if I'm talking about another cause that's entirely outside of mine, people will be thinking, ‘Hey, why are you trying to claim credit for this?’ or ‘Why are you thinking about this vertical that really doesn't resonate with what you do as a brand?’,” explained Huan.

“You have to really tie your brand value proposition into your brand mission to really expand on the sustainability and goal of what you're trying to sell.”

3. Consistent and cohesive communications

To be effective in storytelling, consistency in messaging, according to Huan, is key. Consistency aids in drumming up the brand's values, as well as for brand recollection.

“You can’t come up with a campaign in March and drop off in April, and then expect people to remember that you actually tried to convince them that you made an effort in expanding your CSR initiative,” he said.

Huan added that it is important that your brand is communicating the same story across all channels too – from earned, owned to paid channels.

Huan then cited an example of a recent partnership Endowus did with singer Benjamin Kheng in November last year. Under the partnership, Endowus and Kheng released a series of videos demystifying investment concepts by likening them to everyday life experiences.

Kheng was also featured in Endowus’ campaign series ‘On The Money’ where he joined other content creators and key opinion leaders to share their experiences as an Endowus client. The campaign, according to Huan, has seen great success in effectively telling the brand’s story.

“What we see in our successes today are our client stories. It has been the fourth edition already and it has always been the top performing campaign for us,” shared Huan.

“I think it’s the trust and authenticity that we tried to build with our clients and our client advocates that come from them being users of the platform,” he continued. “Kheng came in really honestly and he delivered on a lot of areas where he felt engaged to the business.”

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