What really engages target groups?

Who is the customer and what do they really want? Market research, quantitative surveys and customer ratings are well-known tools for making the target group transparent. However, companies such as Dove and Gatorade have implemented the principle of letting customers tell their own stories in successful campaigns. Storylistening has also helped other brands to find their story and thus meet the needs of their customers. Miriam Rupp, Managing Director of the Berlin agency for PR and brand storytelling Mashup Communications, analyzes the strategies of these practical examples and reveals how companies can find their customers' stories, learn to understand them and use them for their own benefit.Understanding through a change of perspectiveRecognizing and reflecting the needs of the audience, creating empathy between storyteller and listener - these are some of the most important cornerstones and goals of storytelling. Companies that want to tell stories must therefore first listen to the stories of their customers. The empathy map was developed as part of the design thinking approach in order to put oneself in the shoes of the target group and understand exactly where their needs lie. A complex topic is approached from different perspectives of the customer in order to find out which issues actually concern them. Targeted questions about customers' words, actions, thoughts and feelings in a previously defined context allow an assessment of their needs and provide qualitative data as a basis for analysis. These personal conversations can also be validated or enriched by quantitative surveys or observations by others. For example, employees in customer service, sales and product development can also be interviewed, as can customer "allies". For example, if it is a product aimed primarily at mothers, it can also be very insightful and an exciting source of stories to involve fathers, children, best friends or grandparents. A prime example of a story that owes its emotional punchline to the surprising change of perspective with mothers is the #worldstoughestjob campaign from the greeting card website cardstore. Its centerpiece is a YouTube video in which real applicants are presented with the almost inhuman requirements for the fictitious job advertisement "Director of Operations" via video chat. When the recruiter reveals that this is the job of "Moms", no applicant's heart remains untouched. The clip has now been viewed over 26 million times.

After understanding, the storytellingThe staged job interview with real people illustrates many aspects of storytelling. With a suspenseful arc of hook, hold and payoff, the audience is captivated by the provocative title and the mystery plot, which is only resolved at the very end - with an eye-opening realization. Without any cheesy images, people from a wide range of backgrounds are confronted with this surprising twist in an unpredictable situation, both the applicants in the video and the YouTube viewers. The message behind the video reflects the company's values and vision ("Make a meaningful connection anytime, anywhere"). The story is continued transmedially by allowing viewers to thank their mothers on Twitter with the hashtag #worldstoughestjob. There are countless creativity techniques for developing your own concrete stories and campaigns, from open brainstorming sessions, brainwriting, association chains and mind maps to the Walt Disney method, in which an idea is viewed from the perspective of a dreamer, a realist and a skeptic.Listening where people talk: Social media monitoringSocial media not only offer countless new ways and opportunities to tell stories: Facebook, Twitter & Co are a veritable treasure trove for all storylisteners. From your own computer, you can virtually go where your customers already are, where they talk about their daily experiences, ask questions and exchange ideas. A simple Google search for "forum" plus the respective niche gives a concrete insight into which problems and tips users discuss directly with each other. All of this can also be used as a hook for a story. The corporate storyteller also receives countless inspirations in the comments on topic-relevant blog or Facebook posts or via Twitter. Real-time monitoring of social media is still a fairly new challenge for many companies. But those who master this can participate in conversations and jump on the stories that are already happening. An example of a perfectly timed and original social media response to a social event comes from Oreo about the power outage at the 2013 Super Bowl. Witty and subtle enough - as users love it - the tweet "You can still dunk in the dark" alluded to the shock of US-wide black screens during the Super Bowl broadcast and experienced a now legendary online response.