Every idea, innovation, product and service has two elements.

The cookie…. the commodity, the utility, the tangible, the facts, the logical benefit. The cookie is the thing you put in the shop window which has a fixed inherent value.

Then there’s the fortune, the intangible part of the product or service which is where the real value lies. The fortune is the abstract, the thing that changes how people feel. The real reason they buy the product in the first place. It’s your story and purpose, your vision and values manifested. The fortune gives the product an acquired value or a different perceived value.

People don’t buy fortune cookies because they taste better than every other cookie on the shelf. They buy them for the delight they deliver at the end of a meal.

Marketers spend most of their time selling the cookie, when what they should be doing is finding a better way to tell the story of the fortune.

Bake a good cookie but spend your time working out to tell a great story about the fortune.

Image by Rachael.