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The Way We Do Things Matters
filed in Storytelling, Strategy
My boys are lucky enough to have eaten pasta in Rome, croissants in Paris and hamburgers in New York. Yet, when the conversation turns to food memories, the one they treasure most is eating potatoes next to the Aga in a friend’s kitchen in Scotland.
They remember the story of the potatoes freshly dug from the garden, slow baked in the oven, served with fresh local butter and blue cloth napkins. In truth, the potatoes didn’t taste all that different from the ones we bought at the local market, but the story and experience made Barbara’s potatoes taste better.
All the resources in the world invested in features and benefits don’t matter a jot unless we can change how the customer feels about the story they are being asked to believe.
The way we do things—the intention behind how we make our products, design our customer experiences and craft our responses matters more than we realise.
Image by Susy Morris.
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How To Reach Your Customers
Here’s how our customer’s time was spent across the various media platforms in 2015.
Print 4%
Radio 13%
TV 36%
Internet 22%
Mobile 25%
Here’s where we spent our dollars trying to reach them.
Print 16%
Radio 10%
TV 39%
Internet 23%
Mobile 12%
While we’re spending money in places where fewer of our customers are engaging (print and TV), we’re missing opportunities to meet them where they are (mobile). According to Meeker’s Annual Internet Trends Report, this represents a $22 billion opportunity in the US alone.
The best way to reach your customers is to meet them where they are.
It might not be where you assumed they’d be.
Image by Pieter van Marion.
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Why People Choose This And Not That
filed in Marketing, Storytelling
A lifetime ago, before adblockers and Netflix we sat through TV ads that suggested (often questionable) tangible benefits. Washing-up liquids gave us hands as soft as our face, and chocolate makers created treats we could eat between meals without ruining our appetite. These ads sold us a story about how we could be better versions of ourselves.
While the media morphed and moved on—as living, breathing, thinking and most importantly feeling, human beings our motivations haven’t changed. We might be more aware of how marketing manipulates, but what we want deep down is still the same. Any buying decision we make, from cars to food, and yes, even toilet paper is made because of our internal narrative.
“I drive a Prius because……”
“I never give my kids frozen food because…..”
“I buy this toilet paper because…..”
Of course, there are the rational explanations about savings, or harmful additives and greenhouse gases, but the most powerful reasons are intangible and not articulated.
“Because I’m a good mother, a responsible citizen or a caring person.”
These internal narratives are not openly shared, which makes it all the more important for marketers to understand them. We switched from cabs to Uber because we hate uncertainty and from Coke to bottled water, to reusable cups because doing that reinforced the story we wanted to believe about ourselves.
Every successful brand fills in the blanks of the customer’s internal narrative. Can you?
Our customers shop here/use us because…..
Image by CK
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Quiet Success
Success for my parents, was having a fair day’s work to do, for a fair day’s pay. Success was having money left in your pay packet at the end of the week after the bills were paid. Success was having the wherewithal to take care of your family and contribute to your community—often in ways that were not measured in pounds, shillings and pence.
Success was doing work you were proud to have done.
Now success is measured in every conceivable data point and by comparison. We try to keep pace and outdo, forgetting that how we measure success is a choice.
Success doesn’t have to manifest in the form of million dollar launches, grander titles, the most followers, or in the business class lounge. Loudest doesn’t always win.
In fact, some of the most successful people you know whisper.
Image by Joanna Keler.
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What’s Your Big Idea?
filed in Storytelling, Strategy
Every great brand leads with one big idea. The big idea is what the brand stands for—it’s core belief. Articulating the big idea is harder than you think, living it every day is even harder than that.
The brands that do have a much easier time differentiating themselves from the competition. Here are a few examples.
Starbucks—The local cafe should be a ‘third place’ between home and work.
Marie Kondo—Tidying up has the power to transform your life.
Warby Parker—Prescription eyewear should be stylish and affordable (under $100).
Go-To—Skin care should be free of confusion, cruelty and faux-science.
Lune—A great croissant is created with attention to detail at every stage in the making process.
Patagonia—Business must inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis and do no harm.
School of Life—Emotional Intelligence is a life skill that everyone needs help to develop.
Banksy—Art belongs to the people.
What’s your big idea?
Image by carnagenyc
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Where Do You Want Your Story To Land?
filed in Storytelling, Strategy
This is the story of two independent bookstores located on the same street, separated by a walkway and three cafes. The bigger store has a more spacious feel. They display most of their books face out in clearly labeled categories. New releases are showcased in easily accessible, neat piles on tables. The whole place has a curated, orderly feel. The second store is smaller and more disheveled. You get a sense that the books could be used even though they are new. Only one or two copies of a title are stocked. The books are cataloged haphazardly and displayed spine facing out. The experience of finding the right book is akin to going on a treasure hunt. It’s obvious that each store is serving customers with different worldviews
The bigger store gets more foot traffic. More people are inclined to drop in during the last ten minutes of their lunch break to browse and while away some time. It’s easy to assume that the bigger store is more successful because it looks like they have more customers. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they sell more books.
Two important takeaways. Different customers respond to different stories. If you want your story to resonate you need to be really clear upon which ears and in whose hearts your story will land. And it’s possible for a business to be sustained and thrive with a small number of loyal customers who love it. Unicorn status is overrated.
Image by Elisa Banfi.
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The Things You’re Not Measuring
The more data we have the more we think we need. We measure everything from email open rates to foot traffic. We obsess over numbers of followers and rates of growth. And yet we often forget to take stock of the things we’re proud to have done and the ways we’ve made a difference.
Here’s your chance. Make a list of the things you’re proud you did over the past twelve months.
What’s the most important thing that needs to be on that list, but isn’t?
The clues you’re choosing to ignore in favour of what it seems important to know, are more powerful than you realise.
Image by Khánh Hmoong.
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Are Your Business Goals And Actions Aligned?
filed in Marketing, Storytelling
He pushed the door. It was only when it didn’t give that he noticed the handwritten “back in ten minutes” sign. John was already twenty minutes into his lunch break. He just didn’t have time to hang around to buy the new picture book he’d promised he would read to his daughter tonight.
He swore quietly under his breath as he walked away empty handed.
Jan the bookstore owner is four doors away collecting her sushi order. She doesn’t see the harm in popping out for a quick bite to eat. It’s only ten minutes out of a very long day. If she misses out on a sale or two, so be it. A girl’s got to eat! People will understand. They’ll either wait or come back.
Except they don’t. They cross the street to try their luck at the department store or ‘buy with one click’ on Amazon. “Back in ten minutes” sends a signal to customers about how they are valued. Those ten minutes don’t just cost Jan a single sale, they add up to much more when she stops to consider the lifetime value of a loyal customer or the cost of acquiring a new one.
Every move you make is part of your brand’s story. How you act is who your customers believe you are and those beliefs impact your outcomes. What do you want them to believe?
Are your business goals and actions aligned?
Image by Tom Fahy.
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Your One And Only Shot
filed in Storytelling, Strategy
Dave volunteered to fill in for another gym instructor at the last minute. He arrived late for class and was greeted by a full house of enthusiastic morning gym goers, weights at their feet, water bottles at the ready. He hit his first obstacle within minutes. The gym didn’t supply the workout music and there was no CD player. Dave only ever used CDs and had no backup music.
He chased around the gym for ten minutes looking for alternative options, until one of the attendees handed him her iPhone loaded with a variation of the workout music on Spotify. Fifteen minutes in, his confidence shattered and rhythm broken Dave was undone. The unfamiliar variations of the tracks threw him. Everything began to unravel. In his attempt not to look stupid Dave had stopped thinking about the audience long ago and was now focused entirely on himself. He’d not only lost it, he’d lost them. It was the worst class he’d ever taught. The complaints from the attendees to the management flooded in.
You can probably empathise with Dave. When we are preoccupied with our emergencies, expenses, staffing issues, delivery delays and on and on, we can lose sight of the end goal. There is no bigger emergency than having no customers. Without customers there is no story to tell. Above all else we need to keep the customer top of mind. Just showing up isn’t enough. You need to tell your story like it’s your one and only shot to do it, each and every time. Act as if you won’t get a chance to tell it tomorrow.
Image by Daniel Diaz Vera.
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A Question Of Attention
Have you noticed that more email marketers are trying to attract your attention at the weekend? Many weekly digests now hit inboxes outside office hours in the hope of getting traction when people are less busy.
As marketers we’re using every trick in the book to capture attention in order to further engagement, and so are our competitors. Email marketing services can help us to optimise email open rates by sending them at the optimum time. And we can read 101 posts to discover 10 ways to write headlines that get our emails opened.
But what if instead of wondering when and how to get more attention, we sought to understand what would compel the person on the receiving end to look forward to hearing from us? When we shift our focus to answering that question, we suddenly stop thinking about how to extract value and concentrate on how to create it instead.
Image by David Ramos.