Storytelling Techniques: 5 Things that Inspire Aspiration

PR became a thing when a battle-weary world transitioned into peace after World War I. The new economy required munitions factories to stay humming so they were retooled to make consumer goods.

That meant people had to be persuaded to buy:
Early on, Edward Bernays, Sigmond Freud’s nephew, determined that he could put his uncle’s new-fangled psychology to work selling stuff.

He identified that there was an entire pool of potential smokers that no one was effectively marketing to: women.

So Bernays targeted women yearning for more in their lives, staging a photo op that effectively equated smoking with the suffragette movement.

The campaign made headlines everywhere:
Cigarettes became “Torches of Freedeom” and were effectively equated with women’s right to vote.

He didn’t try and sell a product. He sold an aspiration. An identity.

And that’s how women got equal access to lung cancer.

Aspirations are powerful:
Aspirations rally people around ideals and inspire contribution, even sacrifice, from those they speak to.

And no, I’m not talking about Aspirational Marketing, the high low theory where you entice people into buying something at a premium price by dangling something way more expensive making the other price look like a bargain.

I’m talking about the kind of aspiration that inspires someone to surprise themselves in the realization that there are others who share their vision of the world.

How do you do it?
Big topic but here are a few things that work well:

1. Tap into an emerging social shift:
Bernays did it with women and cigarettes. Honey Maid did it more recently by celebrating non-traditional families (single parent, same sex parents, etc.) as wholesome. There is nothing more powerful than the surge of a culture deepening its ability to accept others and love more deeply.

Brands that can help us envision a more just world inspire loyalty.

2. Engage your audience in a positive vision:
Our brains are quite tricky. We are easily put off by too much or even negative information. The brain absorbs bursts of information best, no more than 30 seconds at a time and for every negative sentiment, ensure you have at least 3 positive mentions.

3. Crowdsource ideas:
People value what they co-create. With so much out of our control, we relish in the opportunity to help shape our destiny. Let us be part of the visioning of the future and, if you do it right and our values are aligned, we will engage others our shared experience of your brand without you even asking us to.

4. Align with values not things
Tell stories that show your values in action. Better yet, empower others to tell the stories of your shared values. Values define who we are. Things don’t. Neither do logos. Live your values, define them proudly, clearly and collaboratively with those who share them. Those values will be your rallying call to those seeking community with those who are like minded; they will also help you navigate tough decisions.

5. Make sure that the audience is the hero of the narrative
Your brand will never be the hero of your audience’s life. They are now and ever will be their own hero. Selfish bastards. Your brand’s job is to find ways of enabling them to find the strength, the courage, the best of who they are to achieve what they must.

Those are just a few. What have you found that works well?