Posts Tagged ‘marketing’
The Three-Act Structure For Brand Stories
Every movie you’ve ever watched follows a three-act structure. The screenwriter sets the scene, introducing us to the hero and the main characters. We get a glimpse of his world, relationships and challenges. In the second act, we see the hero attempt to solve his problems or overcome obstacles. In Toy Story, we’re introduced to…
Read MoreWhy Do They Come?
There was a twenty-minute wait for croissants at Lune long before the New York Times announced that the best croissants in the world might just be made in Melbourne. Now you can wait for thirty, but people still get up early and hang in there just to try one. Why would they take a tram…
Read MoreCommon Ground
One blustery Saturday morning last month our entire neighbourhood woke to a marketing blitz. Every single home in every street had been targeted. The instructions to the leaflet dropper had been clear. Don’t post the flyer in the letterbox (where people won’t be looking for mail at the weekend). Place each one on the doorstep…
Read More10 Questions To Ask Before You Do Any Marketing
It’s fun to think about getting our products and services in the hands of the people we want to serve. In our rush to increase brand awareness we often overestimate the importance and impact of short-term, tactical marketing decisions. It’s possible to put things in perspective by answering some questions about your objectives before you…
Read MoreThe Real Role Of Storytelling In Marketing
When we think about using storytelling as a marketing tactic we often get confused about the purpose of the story. Most marketing tries to tell the story of the product. We invite prospective customers to pay attention to our widget by describing what it does or why it’s better and think we’re telling a story.…
Read MoreThe Thing That’s Worth Measuring
Josh is a sales assistant at a sports store in the city. He proactively solves customer’s problems while they browse, taking the time to answer questions about the equipment they’re considering buying. If one of those interactions results in a sale Josh adds a new barcode containing his employee ID to the product. This is…
Read MoreLessons From The Best In B2B Brand Storytelling
It’s easy to think of great examples of B2C (business-to-consumer) brand storytelling. The list of B2C companies that leverage storytelling to engage with their customers’ grows daily. The perception in many B2B (business-to-business) companies is that it’s easier to engage with customers through story when you’re selling running shoes with a dose of ‘Just Do…
Read MoreWhy Are Your Customers Here?
The city centre bookstore manager complains to her colleague on the phone about people wandering in on their lunch break to browse because they have nothing else to do. “They’re not coming in for anything in particular.” she sighs. She’s right, for two hours every day hundreds of office workers with nothing else to do…
Read MoreTalk When Your Customers Are Listening
The Content Marketing Institute recently reported that Fortune 500 brands were missing an opportunity to increase engagement with Instagram followers because of the timing of their posts. It stands to reason that we have a better chance of being heard by our customers at times when they are listening—not when it’s most convenient for us…
Read MoreTrue Advantages
If I asked you to list the advantages any global brand has over its competitors you’d likely think of things like access to capital, distribution networks, and other resources that the average business doesn’t have. But these brands are the outliers. When it comes down to it, most businesses have access to similar resources, raw…
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