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Articles filed in: Storytelling
You Don’t Need A Marketing Plan
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
Every business has a plan.
Even if it’s written on the back of a Post-it note.
The plan talks about the idea. Who it’s for. How to bring it to market, at what cost and how to get the word out. That final piece of the puzzle is your marketing plan, and yes it’s usually tacked on at the end….when you’re done.
Marketing is seen as an activity. Something that lives on a to-do list. A marketing plan is a bunch of actions and tactics designed to get attention for products and services.
Attention guaranteed a decent level of conversion in the days of linear media and the TV Industrial Complex, but in a Googlized world attention doesn’t automatically scale.
What matters now is being believed not just noticed and a marketing plan that comes into play when you’re done building whatever you’re building isn’t going to get you there.
What every business needs now is story strategy.
You don’t need a plan to broadcast, you need a way to change how people feel in the presence of your brand. Don’t start by asking how can we get noticed. Build something worth noticing. There’s a subtle difference.
Image by Adam Fagen.
What’s The Story They’ll Tell About You Tomorrow?
filed in Marketing, Storytelling
Don’t let anyone kid you. Telling your story, or the story of your business is hard and most people struggle with it on some level (how to write an about page is one of the most visited posts on my blog).
But there’s a trick to tapping into the heart of your story.
Start where the story ends.
Write down the words you want people to share about you tomorrow.
What did they love about your product?
What made them care about your service?
How did you blow them away?
What difference did you make?
And now that you’ve figured out what you want people to say, go and do all the things that will make them say it. You are not the only one who is telling your story.
Image by Jason Short.
Why More Is The Wrong Place To Start
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
The end goal of all marketing is more.
More customers or subscribers. More sales and increased profits.
This is the reason business strategy questions and answers often begin, (and end) with the ‘how to’ of getting more.
But more is the wrong place to start for two reasons.
When you begin by asking, “How can we sell more?”
You’re bypassing the question that comes before it, which is—”Why will people want more?”
And, what makes a good business a great brand isn’t just more.
It’s more of the right customers who believe in the story.
Sure aim for more. But remember it’s meaning that scales.
Image by Katia Strieck.
What Kills Big Companies?
filed in Storytelling, Strategy
For over a century Kodak knew that what was important to its customers was “Kodak moments” not their innovation and patents, (well their marketers did anyway). And yet they failed to translate that knowing into staying relevant to their customers.
“Sales + Customers = Nothing Broken is the formula for corporate cyanide.
Most big companies that die kill themselves drinking it.”
—Kevin Ashton
Most little companies too.
They falter not because they don’t do what they do well, but because they don’t understand why that matters to their customers. And by knowing that one thing they discover what might matter more, or how they could do things better.
So here’s the question only you can answer.
Our customers come to us because……
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
And on and on.
It’s your job to keep giving them a reason to come back.
Image by Geir Halvorsen.
Why Your Brand Doesn’t Need A Unique Selling Proposition
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
In the 90s Pampers’ ‘unique selling proposition’ (USP) claimed it was driest nappy on the market. Procter & Gamble prided itself on this benefit, investing heavily in research and development to maintain its USP. In the end that singular focus blinkered the company’s understanding about what mothers really wanted. And while they believed that Pampers was the driest nappy, that wasn’t enough to stop mums buying more of the newer Huggies brand which appealed to their hearts not just their heads.
The marketing concept ‘unique selling proposition’ was introduced in the 1940’s by the pioneer of television advertising Rosser Reeves. Reeves invented the term USP to explain how successful advertising, (not necessarily great products and services) could convince the masses to switch brands. The golden rule was that adverts must include a USP that said “Buy this product, and you will get this specific benefit.” More than seventy years later we’re trying to make something that applied to an analog world fit into our digital landscape.
Marketing departments try to pass off cheaper, faster, stronger and longer lasting as unique benefits of a product or service. But in a world where most things are good enough it’s getting harder and harder to turn being different into an advantage. Unique by definition means one-of-a-kind, unlike anything else. That was an easy claim to make half a century ago when there were three kinds of washing powder— not so easy today.
People don’t want to be sold on the reasons why you think your brand is better or best.
They don’t want different.
They want difference.
Starbucks, Google, Instagram, Amazon, Innocent Juices, Oprah, Spanx and on and on, didn’t succeed just because they were different and could tell us how.
What makes a brand unique is the difference it makes in people’s lives.
So organize for difference not different it’s much harder to replicate.
Image by Alan Foster.
What Does Disney Do?
filed in Storytelling, Strategy
Only one thing.
They set out to make people happy.
The Mickey Mouse balloon sales are a pleasant side effect of that.
A souvenir of that time when the visitor felt the way she wanted to feel.
In business we often set out to sell the cause, forgetting that what’s really valuable is the effect.
Nobody needs one more balloon, but people will never tire of experiencing a little more joy.
What are you setting out to do? Go ahead, write it down…I’ll wait for you.
Image by Jonathan.
5 Ways To Tell A Better Brand Story Today
filed in Marketing, Storytelling
It turns out telling your brand story is more about doing than telling. Here are five things you can do today to begin telling a better brand story.
1. Review and rewrite your about page.
A great about page isn’t all about you. It should communicate how you can help or delight the reader. That’s what they are really there to find out.
2. Start telling people why you do what you do, not just what you do.
People buy products but they become loyal to brands that they can care about.
3. Make a list of reasons why you are least like the competition and share that story.
Great brands are often differentiated by what they don’t do, meaning they have room to do what they do well.
4. Give your customers and clients the opportunity to tell some of the story for you.
Ask for testimonials and feedback which they are happy for you to publish on your website. Link to and repost comments, reviews and images from social media channels. Don’t forget to thank people for loving what you do.
5. Do what you say you’re going to do.
Return emails. Meet deadlines. Keep your promises. Nobody does that anymore. I’m always amazed by how blown away people are by just this one thing.
Don’t be defined by the story you didn’t tell.
Image by Yelp.
If You Don’t Like The Story Tell A Different One
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
The manager at Muffin Break is frustrated. Yet again she’s discovered a customer from the jam-packed sushi bar opposite sitting at one of her tables eating lunch. Of course she wastes no time asking the sushi-eater to leave.
I wonder what would happen if instead of angrily telling people to move on, she offered to get them a coffee instead. Same situation different story.
We really do have the power to change the conversation.
Image by David Gallagher.
10 Ways To Make People Fall In Love With Your Brand Without Having Donald Draper On The Payroll
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
In the 60s there was no distinction between advertising and marketing. Everything has changed.
1. Create something that’s not for everyone.
If you’re speaking to everyone you’re getting through to no one.
Sanuk, shoes that are not shoes. Dollar Shave Club, shave tech for the enlightened.
2. Make a better product.
Create things that look good, taste great and work well.
Josh uses just two ingredients in his handmade stoneground chocolate. The Sydney Opera House brings in a billion dollars a year to the Australian economy.
3. Give people a story to tell.
Vanessa and Mat install beehives on the rooftops businesses in Melbourne. The restaurants then get to use or sell their very own honey.
4. Cherish and reward the customers you’ve got. Love begets loyalty.
Jamie Oliver created a free pizza giveaway on Instagram by writing the details on a plate and posting the photo. The side effect was a positive brand building vibe amongst the people who couldn’t take advantage of the offer that day. No billboard required.
5. Change how people feel.
charity:water built transparency and trust into their non-profit business model with the 100% model and GPS showing donors where their money was making a difference. Apple made black earbuds passe.
6. Create valuable content people want to share and come back for.
Boots ‘n All gives indie travellers great information. The Iconic online store didn’t just advertise in magazines they launched their own. You don’t need to have that kind of budget though blogs and manifestos work well too.
7. Be smarter and targeted with your advertising spend.
Sponsor a community event. Run a competition that benefits customers. Perform random acts of kindness. One of our local cafes which backs onto the beach sponsored a surfing competition last weekend.
8. Frame your scarcity.
Limited editions. Small group offerings. Something that makes you least like the competition.
If I’m wearing a pair of Christian Loboutin red soled shoes the world knows.
9. Deliver value beyond the functionality of your products and services.
Snakes and Lattes doesn’t just sell coffee and cake. This board game cafe helps customers to connect. Alessi teapots and Smeg fridges are style statements not just functional products.
10. Give your customers a better experience.
If you give people a reason to come back they will.
You don’t need a billboard to reach out to people.
Image by Robert Wade.
Using What You Don’t Do To Tell The Story Of What You Do Well
filed in Storytelling, Strategy
So a customer walks into an artisan bakery and says…
“Hey your bread looks great and smells divine, but do you know how hard it is to make a sandwich for my kid’s lunch using those unevenly shaped unsliced loaves? Why don’t you make them in square loaf pans like everyone else?”
But since you bake free formed loaves (no pan required), that take up to three days to make from start to finish you understand the virtues of the unsliced loaf. And you make a stand. You choose to tell the story to the people who want to hear it. You decide to make the best loaves, not the squarest loaves.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a butcher, baker or candlestick maker, what you won’t compromise on and what you don’t do could just be your most priceless asset.
It’s your story and only you can decide how to tell it.
Image by Andrea Kirkby.