Why storytelling is so important in the age of the mindful consumer
People haven't stopped buying things they don't really need, or even really want. And the idea of a mindful consumer isn't new. But an increasing number of them are buying brands that align with their core beliefs. And that gives businesses and nonprofits a chance to lead with their narrative and not just with their product or services.
Jungmaven in Vancouver doesn't just sell hemp clothing. It sells an environmental statement: Hemp is more ethical to worker and earth, alike.
The founders of the project management software Basecamp in Chicago don't promote their product for what it is, but rather what it isn't. Basecamp won't expand too much, too quickly to accommodate larger corporate users. It's simple and minimal and they're proud of it!
You can find that minimalist attitude in the writings of Ryan Holiday, the marketing expert, who quotes Fight Club in his book The Daily Stoic.
"You are not your job, you're not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet."
If you subscribe to minimalism, a philosophy of mindfulness that really took off in the last 10 years, you'll find the quote in the books of Joshua Fields Millburn, too. The idea is not that you shouldn't buy things — just that you should be more deliberate when you do it.
Seth Godin, another marketing expert, toes the same philosophical waters in his book All Marketers Are Liars. "When a person really needs something (food, water, shelter) he cares a great deal about the essence of the purchase."
In other words, make customers really care about your product or service and you're more than half way to convincing them that your brand is the one they should choose.
Nonprofits face the same challenge, but perhaps in a more obvious way. You typically don't donate to a nonprofit because you need its services. You donate because you believe in the cause, or at least you like the way that belief makes you look in front of others.
Nevertheless, these groups know that they are after dollars already spread thin. So the most successful groups lead with stories that really underscore the mission statement.
Conservation International invites possible donors to "change the world." Convoy of Hope needs help "delivering" humanitarianism. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation "empower(s) the poorest. especially women and girls."
The details of how are critical but almost always secondary.
We're dealing with mindful consumers, many who view their purchases for what they are: A transaction with deep political and economic implications. On a slightly more prosaic level, consumers, especially of services, have always and will always default to businesses that "get them."
That means a lot of different things to an amazing variety of people. But understand and lead with your own story, and people will look for where your narrative jibes with theirs.
A small law firm in North Carolina, for example, does this by underscoring its fixed and value-adjusted pricing. While there are plenty of clients who immediately understand what that means, more will be drawn to the narrative built around it. On its website, this firm leads with its story, particularly that it "rejected the traditional law firm model and started from scratch to revolutionize the way legal services are provided." What they're saying is, if you're the type of person to challenge the status quo, we're the firm for you.
This model isn't trailblazing. Plenty of firms do it. They realize that people aren't just buying something they want or even need, they're giving themselves an opportunity to make a decision.
How we spend our money is often a statement we make. Businesses and nonprofits should lead with theirs.