Tell Me a Story The Marketing Secret as Old as Mankind
It’s not too hard to imagine that somewhere out there, a marketing manager is crying out in frustration because their marketing messages are being utterly ignored.You’ve likely been there yourself. No, this isn’t a worldwide conspiracy among consumers to make your job harder — it’s the result of consumers seeing 5.3 trillion ads per year just on the web alone.And that was in 2012, so the number has likely skyrocketed since then. If you want your marketing to break through the clutter, you need to give the people what they want: stories. Americans consume more than 100,000 digital words every day, and 92% of these consumers want to internalize those words in the form of a story. In the information age, branding is less about the flashy logo and more about forming true relationships between customers and companies. John Naisbitt, author of world- renowned book “Megatrends,” says,“The more high tech we create, the more high touch we will want.” A great brand can help you stand out and give your business a unique way to differentiate itself in a crowded marketplace. To really succeed, you have to be able to captivate your audience with a story. By doing so, you give your products and services context, as well as an identity that exists beyond the basic problem-solving your business offers. Best of all, you connect with your target audience on an emotional level, making your message more meaningful, more memorable, and easier to pass along.As a matter of fact, science shows us that more parts of the human brain are used
the reader. For example, aWeightWatchers testimonial may feature someone with an amazing story of overcoming adversity and achieving their lifelong goal weight, which addresses the “what’s in it for me” factor. Readers may think that if someone else can do it, then so can they. In a 2015 interactive marketing campaign,WeightWatchers posted hundreds of scales on a wall with the words “weigh me.” On each scale was written an intangible thing, such as “laughter,” “feeling free,” or “playing with my kids.” It told observers the story of the things they could weigh in their lives if they weren’t so busy being preoccupied with a scale. The same story could be diluted by talking about someone’s career, their rivalry with their older siblings, or their love-hate relationship with dark chocolate, but that would just muddle the actual message.Too many specifics take away the impact, and too few have the same effect. Make sure the story you craft is compelling and relevant to your brand, and know who you’re selling to. Most importantly, keep in mind that the story is never about you or your company. Even if you’re talking about your business, the story should be about the value you can deliver to your customers or the common ground you share with them.Your company is just a supporting character.You created your product or service for a purpose, and you know the scenarios in which it is most important.Why not share that knowledge with your demographic? You can harness these tips through a variety of media, so don’t be afraid to tell your story through blog posts, case studies, your website’s home page, frequently asked questions, newsletter articles, videos, podcasts, and more. Infusing your marketing with human storytelling is a remarkably effective way to engage and connect with your audience.You can take advantage of it right now by revisiting your brand message and marketing collateral to see where storytelling makes your business stand out to your customers. Once you start engaging with your prospects and clients in a way that brings the narrative to them, you’ll find your own story has a very happy ending.
when digesting a brand story as opposed to the very basic parts that are engaged when we’re slurping down data. Entrepreneurship author Jim Blasingame, who penned “Three Minutes to Success,” says that the power of small-business storytelling lies in the three C’s:
Connect: Use stories to connect with prospects and convert them into customers.
Convey: Use stories to convey your expertise, relevance, humanity, and values.
Create: Use stories to create customer memories that compel them to come back.
So, what does a great brand story look like? It should be factual but not biographical.The story should always convey what’s in it for
2 www.StLSCORE.org
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