That wasn't so bad after all

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Most brand stories are about exceeding customers’ expectations and delighting them.

But what if customers dread using your product/service? Or have some reservations about it? Maybe they’re forced to use it only because of an emergency? Or an impending deadline? Maybe there are high costs associated? Maybe the process is convoluted, long-drawn, and painful?

Lawyers, medical staff, tow-truck operators, CPAs, plumbers, locksmiths, and other service providers often deal with distressed customers who engage their services because of circumstances. This applies to products too; no one looks forward to gleefully using EpiPens, jumper cables, fire extinguishers, and defibrillators. First-time users especially.

As a brand owner, the reassurance you need to provide is “It’s not as bad as you think. We got you covered.”

Let’s use ComicFire to storyboard this scenario. Imagine a fictional business called ‘Hearth Help’ that provides general contractors for emergency home repairs: leaky pipes, malfunctioning heaters, short-circuiting wires, damaged roofs, et al. The story’s emotional beats are as follows:

1. A malfunctioning kitchen faucet has riddled our subject with anxiety and guilt: “How did this happen? Did I accidentally break this?”, “How long will this take to fix? I’ve got a meeting to attend at 2 PM.”, “How much is this going to cost me?”, “Will the entire kitchen plumbing line need to be replaced?”.

2. The brand’s contractor/technician enters the frame, reassures the subject, fixes the problem, saves the day.

3. Our subject’s mini-arc ends with a feeling of massive relief: “Phew! That wasn’t so bad after all. I can trust this brand!”

We’ll keep the visuals simple and bare-bones: no dialogue or speech captions. The brand mascot “Finn, the fox” follows the same arc as the subject.

And voila! Your illustrated story and branded visuals are ready to be published.

What trepidation do people have when engaging with YOUR product or service? And how do you assuage it?

#branding #storytelling #visualstorytelling #visualbranding #comicfire comicfire.com

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