For the producer of these kinds of goods, the challenge is to address both of these distinct audiences, and to make them see your products as a part of the consumers’ essential shopping trip.
The FMCG sector is an incredibly diverse sector that covers a wide range of different products. What they have in common is a business model that’s based on sales of high-volume, low-cost units. The sector covers all manner of goods that are consumed as a part of consumers’ regular lifestyles – things we buy and use all the time, like shampoo, soda, toothpaste, packaged foodstuffs and food products.
What makes the consumer buy FMCG?
What unifies all these products is the fact that the consumer buys them as a part of their lifestyle – they fit in with the regular events and daily rhythm of their lives. If you can get the consumer to start buying - and get into the habit of continuing to buy your products - you’ve a great chance of continued success.
There’s considerable inertia to consumer demand once it is established, but the trick is achieving this recognition in the first place.
This is even harder when you need to convince the stores to stock these products beforehand. Without your products on the shelves, consumers are unlikely to become accustomed to buying them, after all.
Established brands in the FMCG sector have the upper-hand for this reason, however this dominance is far from complete or permanent. As D2C supply models become more common and information is shared with new disruptive technologies, there is room for new brands and products to find and win over new markets.
How to stimulate demand for FMCGs with digital storytelling
Demand in the FMCG sector is ultimately customer-led. Changing consumer habits is not an easy task, and it has a low return for the amount of effort required. What is more effective is for brands to identify ways that their products can fit in with existing consumer lifestyles.
This is where storytelling comes in. Using storytelling, brands can leverage insights about their potential customers and make the connection between their product and an event in the customer’s life. How? Imagine you’re selling potato chips – chances are it’s either an established brand, or a newcomer with something unique to offer.
A new high-volume product is usually already based on data that supports a known consumer need; this will be determined before the product is even designed. In either case, your digital storytelling can show exactly how the potato chips fit with this ‘new’ need, or demonstrate how a well-established brand is a part of everyday life.
Continuing with our ‘potato chips’ example, because this is a food that is easy to share it has great applicability to social occasions. Your digital story can show how this product is a vital part of a special occasion – sporting events and national holidays are fantastic opportunities to leverage this kind of appeal.
Or you could show how a parent can avoid being the embarrassment of their teenager, because they can easily hang-out and feed their friends when these potato chips are in the kitchen store-cupboard. These are just simple examples of course, but there is no better way to illustrate this than with a digital story.
Leverage your digital storytelling - to convince the Buyers
For a FMCG company it can be harder to increase sales than companies that produce lower volumes. In fact, it can be hard to safeguard your current sales levels when the consumer is always looking to reduce spending or try new products. The choice is to either increase the volume of existing products, or to create new products that keep them interested or reach new customer segments.
A huge benefit of high-volume sales is the large number of data-points that can be accrued surrounding your product sales. These data can be cross-referenced with buying contexts, to make the connection between your products and the events that are driving more sales.
The more data points available, the more you can make connections with the demographics and background of the biggest consumers of your goods, and the situations in which they buy more. Data and customer insights are incredibly important to successful sales using either approach.
To increase volume sales, a FMCG producer needs to get the stores to commit to buying more – and this needs evidence. If you can demonstrate that your product can achieve more sales when linked with events (such as sports competitions), then you’ve taken the first step. To actually drive this home, something more is needed.
Once again, your storytelling expertise is invaluable here, because you can use this to actually show how consumers change their buying habits in a real-life context. You can invite your buyers into your digital immersive room, and give them an immersive experience that lets them see these connections in an interactive way. Immersive experiences can achieve this better than any slideshow or presentation ever could.
Numbers and charts are useful, but they do not adequately demonstrate the human story and emotional contexts that actually drive buying decisions.
When you show these with a well-crafted digital story, it is clear. You can actually show Buyers the emotional reasons why consumers buy more of your products at certain times, and use your data to determine a rate of increase at these times.
You don’t need a full digital immersive room to use digital storytelling - it can be shown with practically any screen, as long as your digital storytelling software is capable of this.
Staying at eye-level
When you can convince retailers of the value of your products, the more likely they are to stay at the eye-level of the consumer.
This helps to build and maintain the inertia of your product sales – and for high-volume products this is essential. Once your products are at home on the shelf, the retailer is unlikely to move them or reduce shelf-space unless there’s a good reason for it.
Using digital storytelling is the most effective way to show Buyers and consumers why they need to buy more and when. If you can clearly communicate the emotional values behind buying decisions, you’re more likely to maintain and expand your territory in the eternal shelf-space turf-war.
Great digital storytelling and immersive experiences starts with the right software
Without good digital storytelling software, it can be hard to create customized digital stories that properly address each distinct audience. The Hyro digital storytelling software is the most capable storytelling platform available; it can be used to easily adapt experiences for each audience - and you can even adapt an immersive experience in real time, using the simple user interface.
This kind of adaptability means being able to make distinct arguments and examples that are really relatable and applicable to your audience. You can do this easily, and quickly.
Practically any digital asset can be used with the Hyro storytelling software. ‘Hard’ assets like graphs and statistics can be effortlessly combined with more emotive ‘soft’ content like testimonials and videos that give real-life context. With the right digital storytelling software, businesses that operate in sectors like FMCG can reach each kind of customer with a message that is on-target and delivered with style.
Digital Storytelling FAQs
What are the 7 elements of digital storytelling?
1. Point of View - This defines the perspective for the viewer. Who’s telling the story?
2. A Question - This can be a challenge or some other question that gets solved at the end.
3. Emotion - Showing the emotional effects of events in the story gets the audience involved.
4. Your Unique Voice - Using your distinct voice will make it authentic and interesting.
5. A Great Soundtrack - The right music can help drive home emotional messages.
6. ‘Goldilocks level’ content - Don’t overwhelm the audience with irrelevant content. Keep it tight.
7. Pace - There’s no hard rule, but every story has a pace, and this needs to fit the story.
What is the difference between storytelling and digital storytelling?
Storytelling is any kind of story, including the traditional spoken type where the audience passively listens to a story. With digital storytelling, stories are told with digital technologies that can enable interactivity and immersive experiences. These usually include video or 3D content, in addition to music and emotive messaging.
How do you do digital storytelling?
Digital storytelling requires two things: a solid creative process, and a flexible storytelling software solution. There are many different ways to use digital storytelling, and this will affect the creative process and the finished product.
How effective is digital storytelling?
Digital storytelling has been demonstrated to help form stronger memories and powerful emotional connections. As a sales tool, it has been shown to shorten sales-cycles and increase deal sizes by helping to eliminate doubt and form personal connections with immersive experiences.
What is the best software for digital storytelling?
Your digital storytelling software needs to be agile enough to handle multiple versions for different audiences and A/B testing. The Hyro digital storytelling software is the best option because it produces professional results while being easy to operate.
