Reflection (Storytelling -Module 2)   Nor Fitri

REFLECTION ON STORYTELLING TOOL

Challenge & Selection  Storytelling is a fundamental aspect of every great brand. Every great brand has a story to tell  and each story connects to the emotions and the values of the people that live that product  every day. Storytelling is the difference between solving a problem and creating a cause. Why  did I choose this tool? For me, I work as a healthcare marketer overseeing products that  serves the adult population with medical conditions. My main role includes build the visibility  of our products among the healthcare professionals to drive recommendations and build  awareness of the role of supplementary nutrition to the adult population. In the healthcare  channels, competitor’s brand presence is very strong, and we have minimal product  superiority, we are just a “me-too” product. To add on the challenge level, the loyalty level of  doctors toward competitors is strong. Competitors have been very aggressive and consistent  in their brand communications and visibility to healthcare professionals and population.

As for the population, it is rather a sensitive topic to communicate about “being sick” and one  needed some form of supplementation of nutritional support. The link between the benefits  and need is rather lacking. People usually wont proactively search for ways to prevent that,  they will only take a proactive approach when they notice changes in their health or being  advised by a healthcare professional. Another aspect that makes my role challenging is that  there is always misalignment, for instance, the head of department will instruct us to focus  only on Product Y but at the business update session, the management will want us to focus  on everything. We have been changing our key messaging and value proposition. There is no  focus and we are under-staffed with limited resources. The management has been pressuring  us to de-average, be more innovative and deliver higher sales each year with constant  decreasing allocated marketing budget. This course and exercise might help me discover new  ways to improve our communications to build drive our business.

Application  This tool might be helpful in helping me build a better brand plan for second half of the year.  As mentioned in the lecture itself, there is a few things that I will need to take note to create a  good story. Firstly, I need to know my audience well, for this, I might need to initiate a  brainstorming session to gather the necessary information to map out what my audience  wants and needs. It can also help to determine the preferred mode of communication.

Secondly, I will need to have a clear sequence of events that help me move the story from the  beginning to an end. Based on the insights, I might be able to draft out the story for my  product, it could be raising the awareness of poor nutrition first followed by the outcome and  how they can prevent or manage it. It’s like a sequence of events and thoughts. Lastly, I will  include some moments of reflections to evaluate if there are still questions unanswered that  could potentially build suspense and intrigue. It is pivotal for me to create a compelling story  that tells the benefits and needs of my product. I won’t be able to evaluate if it is effective now  but as we kickstart this, we will be able to measure the impact it has on the business.

Insight   As I have not implemented this tool into work. But I would anticipate that this will be a good  exercise. Currently, we do not gather insights of our audience and we just communicate the  way we feel it’s right; we been experimenting the best way. And, to be very honest, it is tiring  as the idea that works for now might not work the next round. We been tweaking things as we  go. It is like “test-and-learn” approach. I would anticipate that this will make us more focused,  wise spending and the outcome will be desired.

Approach   After this exercise, I might want to do another version with visualization tool just to find out  which tool works better as there is no one size fits all. Visualization can make the idea more  concrete and visible, clear and understandable. I could even incorporate both storytelling and  visualization together in my communication materials to the population as the content must be  easy to understand, easy to follow through yet impactful.

