Are your marketing campaigns telling your brand’s story? Whether you prefer a language of love or look for pragmatism in your customer outreach, tactile marketing is a perfect opportunity to incorporate all five senses to share your mission, value set, or background.
What’s Your Brand’s Story?
Before launching your marketing endeavors, make sure you know your brand story. A brand story “recounts the series of events that sparked your company’s inception and expresses how that narrative still drives your mission today,” according to Hubspot. Check out these brand story examples. We kind of love the one from SoulCycle in particular.
Consider asking yourself the following questions to help get the wheels rolling.
- How would you define your brand’s personality?
- How do you want people to perceive your brand?
- How do you describe your brand?
- What images help to complement your story?
- How does your product or offering speak to your personas?
- Most importantly, does it reflect your culture, values, and mission?
Remember that a story is a narrative. The best stories immediately hook readers and provide reasons for them to return. You want to do the same thing with your brand story. Explain how you got where you are and what drives you. Be compelling and create a personal connection.
Example: You are a sporting goods company trying to encourage participation in a fitness-focused subscription box. Preparing for exercise is key to succeeding in weight loss or strengthening endeavors. You want people to participate in a subscription service that will provide tools for success. Sometimes it’s easier to get started if an expert curates the appropriate wardrobe, meals, and exercises. You want to inspire good physical and mental health, and you know that a monthly subscription could be a crucial step forward in your customer’s journey.
How Will You Tell It?
Once you have your brand’s story outlined, you need to determine how you will tell it with a marketing campaign. Tactile marketing is a spectacular way to tell your story because printing, promotional products, and packaging are full of sensory experiences. A tactile marketing campaign can take many forms, but let’s assume you’re going all out and doing a 3D Direct Mail (3DDM) piece.
Tactile marketing campaigns typically consist of
- Promotional Product(s)
- A printed piece of communication
- Packing material
- Packaging
It seems relatively straightforward, right? But you must also consider your design elements and language and evaluate how those choices will reflect your brand’s story.
What is Your Message?
What do you want to communicate with your theme? Think about purpose and goals and identify a theme for your package to help you tell your story.
Identify what you want your message to be and wrap your theme around that idea to communicate your concept. Brainstorm words and phrases that fit what you are trying to express. Consider how it works with your brand’s mission and goals.
Example: As a fitness-focused subscription box, you want your theme to revolve around personal empowerment and the transformative capabilities of an individual’s journey to strength and health. You select “Your Path to Power” as your theme.
How Does Your Design Reflect Your Story?
Next, it’s time to choose your design. Think about what images and colors reflect your theme. What images show off your brand’s personality while also showcasing what you are trying to say? Does it make sense to stick to your brand colors, or can you step outside your brand guide to highlight your chosen theme?
Example: You identify black and red as your primary colors and choose graphics incorporating hiking trail imagery. This imagery communicates the idea of an ongoing journey, and the bold color choice conveys empowerment.
What Will You Give Your Prospects?
Once you have your overall theme and design direction, you must decide what products you’re putting inside the kit. Tell your brand story by selecting from thousands of products. Start by identifying products within your budget that align with your theme and reflect what you’re trying to accomplish.
Example: Going along with the hiking trail theme, you select a custom water bottle with encouraging quips printed on the outside to help promote hydration. Additionally, you decide to pair it with a customized trail mix to provide an energetic boost. You opt to include a postcard that features a homemade recipe for the trail mix and a fitness tip with the promise of more to come for any subscribers.
How Will It Arrive?
Once you have picked out your products, it is time to decide on the type of packaging or your kit. Your packaging should be an extension of your theme. Here are some things to consider.
- What size package do you need?
- Will it protect what’s inside?
- Do you want to include any unique materials?
- Will you add any special foils or colors?
- Does it need to be a particular shape?
Example: Based on your theme, you choose a rectangular compostable box to fit the large water bottle. You choose a bold font and headline to convey power. You select a red box with black lettering, but add a special silver foil that overlaps your hiking trail image to signify progress along a path. You also choose red crinkle paper to fill your box and protect your items.
Who Is On Your List?
What do you want your recipient to do, and how can you make it obvious? As with all marketing campaigns, it is essential to include a call-to-action (CTA). Find a way to tie your CTA into your campaign. Creating a landing page branded with your story and theme can be a great place to gather information.
Example: Your goal is to inspire a love of fitness and health by enticing subscriptions to your fitness box. You include a QR code on the recipe card pointing directly to your subscription sign-up page. You tell your story on your website by promoting personal power and extending your branding to the sign-up page. Plus, you provide information and resources to entice prospects to keep engaging with you. And now you’ve come full circle.
Your brand’s story is so much more than a single campaign—it’s what drives you, powers your business, and fills you with pride. Show your prospects what matters to you and enlist them to your cause, and you’ll find a base of loyal customers.
Want help putting together a super sweet campaign that tells your brand story? Reach out, today!