#36 Discovering the Unexpected with Melanie Murphy
On this week’s episode of Getting Goosebumps: The Power of Storytelling, we chat to Melanie Murphy, Director of Marketing Communications and Membership at Royal Academy of Dance.
Melanie is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and is also a mentor with the Arts Marketing Association. Royal Academy of Dance is one of the world’s most influential dance education and professional membership organisations.
RAD.org.uk have created the hashtag #MyDance to encourage their audience to begin sharing their own, personal stories of their experiences with this long-standing, successful company.
Authenticity and brand storytelling
We talk about brand authenticity and how we can try and maintain it. As brands, we often have the urge to tweak words and change what people have shared in their own words.
However, Melanie suggests trusting the original words and using them as they were first written or said. The key is to trust that the original words of a story will allow the sentimental of the story to shine through.
Empathy and voice of the customer
Melanie touches on the power of nostalgia for storytelling. It’s the personal, emotional triggers that flood back stories for people.
People will associate your brand with many different stories from different periods of time; it’s essential to tap into those stories and fuse them together to represent your audience.
Discovering the unexpected
Digging deeper can help brands discover the unexpected. Melanie explains why sometimes, it's the internal stories from staff that can really surprise you.
For Melanie, storytelling has allowed her to gain a better understanding of why people have chosen to work with RAD.
Check out the next episode of Getting Goosebumps, "Asking the Right Questions" with selling author Andy Bounds.