The Power of Customer-Centric Storytelling
Research shows that businesses that focus on customer-centricity are 60% more profitable.
Genuinely customer-centric organizations see customers as the lens through which all business functions operate. That includes product, sales, services, and – importantly – marketing and communications.
This sounds like an easy proposition. It is not.
So, what is customer-centric storytelling and why does it work?
Customer-centric storytelling puts the customer first and keeps them at the center of all storytelling efforts. According to Gartner, customer-centricity in marketing and communications shifts the focus away from “pushing products and services.” Instead, the focus is on how to deliver “value and exceptional experiences by understanding and meeting customers’ unique needs.”
This establishes trust, which is in short supply. In fact, since the pandemic, three-quarters of executives say that they have had a harder time building and maintaining trust with customers.
Speaking your customers’ language shows you understand their needs, that you know how to meet those needs, and can empower them to do things better. From your core narrative to your social media calendar, the customer must be at the heart of all storytelling.
How to get started with customer-centric storytelling
What are some tangible ways for companies to embrace more customer-centric storytelling?
1. Eliminate siloes and bring all parties to the table
You can’t solve for what you don’t know. You can’t message around a problem you don’t know exists. You can’t meet a customer’s need you didn’t know they had.
Customer-centric storytelling isn’t just a marketing and communications endeavor. It requires buy-in and champions from across your organizations’ functions. They must have a seat at the table to deliver a holistic view of your customers, their needs, and the challenges that impact their day.
Then – and only then – can you ensure true customer-centricity.
In a world of competing priorities, marketing leaders must be deliberate in these efforts. Whether setting up check-ins, organizing workshops, or facilitating other forms of cross-functional intelligence sharing, marketing leaders need to be proactive in bringing teams together.
2. Make the customer the hero of your storytelling
Customer-centricity is an effective way to connect the dots between customer needs and your brand’s solution. When customers evaluate prospective partners, they are often looking for help to overcome a challenge. They have a problem that they think can be solved more effectively with the help of an external resource.
This means that your customer is embarking on a journey to achieve something. They are the hero of this story. What are they looking to do, what challenges will they encounter, and what do you uniquely deliver to help them overcome obstacles and achieve their goals? Understanding what YOU can do to help your customer succeed goes a long way.
Making your customer the hero is critical to show you understand their needs more intimately. They say winning takes place in the margins; in increasingly crowded spaces where many similar companies are vying for customers, understanding the customer and prioritizing their needs can be the difference between winning and losing deals. Don’t take it lightly.
3. Get to the core of why you exist as a brand
Too often, brands focus on the what and the how. Both are important in communicating your value proposition to current and prospective customers. However, starting there can lead to misguided storytelling that fails to capture the essence of the company.
To get to the core, you must start with why, an idea popularized by Simon Sinek. Why does your company or organization exist? What is the reason you are here in the first place? Who are you at your core? Answering these questions allows you to tap into functional and emotional elements of storytelling, which are critical in talking to both the head and the heart.
For example, imagine a software company has just created an innovative solution for remote workplaces (the what). They do it through unique software architecture and always-on cloud delivery (the how). Sounds amazing, but why? Why do you do what you do? Why would a customer want to partner with you and deploy your solutions? What do they get out of it?
The answer might be: to feel assured that a distributed, remote workforce is as productive as possible.
Where do we go from here?
These foundational activities set a strong, customer-centric storytelling platform.
It empowers marketers and communicators to enact positive change, promote consistent narratives, and play their part in delivering business results.
At RPG, one of our core behaviors is curiosity. By asking the right questions, with the right folks at the table, we help our clients build communications strategy with their customers right where they belong. In the center of the story.