Tag Archives: Storytelling

I don’t know too many people who really like pictures of themselves.  “Oh, I look too fat, too old, too…whatever!” Personally, I hate hearing my own voice on radio or in recordings.  I think I sound goofy and inarticulate.  And anyone who’s ever seen themselves on television (not including actors, of course) gets it from all sides.  We simply don’t like seeing ourselves as we suspect other people really see us.

Oddly enough, we’re the same way when it comes to our businesses.  We’d just as soon not think about what we really “look like” to outsiders.  The truth might be just too upsetting.  But the truth always wins out.  So what is the truth we must all face as professionals?  What’s the best mirror we can hold up to see ourselves most clearly?

A couple of years ago, our agency was asked by an industry association to provide consulting services to their members.  We found that we could do that most effectively by sending anyone who sought our consultation a 12-point questionnaire about their business.  It was surprising how challenging it was for many to answer the most necessary questions about their own business’ strengths and weaknesses.  We quickly realized that this was that mirror!  This questionnaire, if taken seriously, forces company marketing officers to look inward honestly and be willing not to like the answers.

I herewith offer these same questions to you to ponder with respect to your own enterprise.  But to do it properly, you cannot be superficial in your answers.  You have to dig as deep as you can.  And if you can only come up with the “obvious answer” or draw a complete blank, take that as a sign that there’s work to be done.

Ready?  No cheating…

1. What business do you see yourself in?  (It sounds obvious, but think about Domino’s Pizza.  They don’t say they’re in the pizza business; they’re in the business of feeding hungry people fast.  Or Nike, who isn’t in the athletic clothing business; they’re in the business of encouraging athleticism in everyone.  That paradigm shift is critical.  So what business are you really in?)
2. What or who is your major source of business? Do you want to change this?
3. What type of customer are you looking to attract?  Is that different from who you’re attracting now?
4. What are your current marketing/business goals? (i.e. increase sales/customers; attract business partners; grow visibility in a different business segment)
5. How realistic are those goals? Why?
6. What is going to stop you from getting there? (i.e. competitors, financial condition of firm; change in industry; etc)
7. Who is your major competition?
8. What differentiates your business from the competition?  (I mean, what really differentiates you?  What is it that ONLY you can say. Not something that with a switch of a logo or name your competitors. Once you strip away everything that you and your competitors all do, what is it that makes you different…and relevant.”)
9. List all the ways non-customers can find out about you right now?  Is that sufficient for your growth plans?
10. Where do you feel you fall short in your marketing efforts?  Message?  Creative?  Media expenditures?  Media selection?
11. What has worked best for you?  What has worked least?
12. What do you want people to remember or say about your company after “you’re no longer in the room”? (1 or 2 things)

On your first read-through of these questions, I’ll bet you say, “Oh, I can answer all that, no problem!”  OK, tough guy, then give it a go.  Build up the sweat and answer these 12 questions to the very best of your abilities.  However you answer it, whatever holes are left unfilled, whatever questions it brings up as you sit there stumped, you’ll have developed the most important document you need to move your company forward.  Because getting to your destination of choice depends fundamentally on knowing where to start and taking your first step.

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Rolf Gutknecht is vice president, director of account services for LA ads. To discuss your thoughts with Rolf on this blog or any marketing matters, email via this link, or visit www.LAadsMarketing.com.  You can also connect with Rolf on LinkedIn.

When it comes to sharing on social media, there’s you and your network of friends and contacts. These are all the people that you’re connected with on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.  And like you, these people have their network, in other words, your network’s network. The big secret of social media, not just for your personal brand but for your company is that it’s not about your network per se. It’s not even so much about reaching those in your network. It’s about reaching your network’s network.

So every message you put out there should be something that your network wants to forward. If your network doesn’t want to forward it along to their networks, then your brilliant post or exciting news dies with them. It’s like telling a room full of people you know something wonderful that you would hope they would tell others…but the word never gets out. On the other hand, if you put out content that’s surprising, that teaches, that adds to the conversation, that provokes thought, that taps into a bigger discussion, then people will forward it. In a sense, they reward you for being oh so clever and smart.

For example, I’m of that age where I’m taking more of an interest in insurance-related matters, so I’ve found myself going to New York Life’s Facebook page.  There they ask questions, have polls, allow you to fill in the blank on things that directly have to do with insurance; but many other times the content is peripheral – what do you want your legacy to be? How old is the oldest person you know and what makes them special? It’s stuff people comment on a lot. As you may know, what happens then on Facebook is that those comments show up on people’s individual pages as commenting about something on New York Life’s page. So it becomes viral… which is the art of reaching your network’s network.

So what kind of messages are likely to be forwarded, or maybe more importantly, what kind of messages are boring and least likely to be forwarded? Well one kind is the “cat” status update kind you find on Facebook. You know…”I just fed my cat.” “My cat is playing with her new toy.” Cat, dog, people, whatever. We all know this stuff hardly ever gets forwarded. But you know what, brands do the equivalent of “I just fed kitty” updates all the time. How many times have you read “we just got a new product,” or “we’re moving, ” or “our company just hired 10 more people,” “we just painted our building,” etc. Yaaaawn. While it’s not at all wrong to give out that info, just know you’re saying something about yourself that’s not adding value and thus this update goes no further than your immediate circle of connections, if they’re paying attention at all.  Oh, and then there’s the type of messaging that you find on LinkedIn and Twitter a lot…the over-populating of meaningless updates and posts without cessation. One post or tweet after another to the point you get tired seeing this person’s face show up on your screen ever again! If the idea of social media marketing is to form relationships with people, then why would you want to undo what you’ve accomplished by over-marketing your company to the point where people say, “I’ve had enough. Buh-bye!”  

So what kind of messages generate traffic for business and does get forwarded to your network’s network?  It turns out you already saw this in high school when a message of great personal value went out there and was forwarded. I’ll call this “My parents are out of town…bring your own beer” message. This type of update breaks through the rest of the “ho-hum” messages because it does two things: it produces a high emotional response and people like sharing practically useful content to help out their friends, as well as business customers or prospects.

Now I’m not a psychologist but I’ve found through personal experience that the likelihood of sharing content seems to hinge on things that produce an emotional response by means of wonder, joy, anxiety, fear and surprise. I’m sure there are many other motivators but let’s just talk about these for a moment.

• Wonder – It’s something amazing that people can’t resist commenting on. This can be in the form of a story, a real-life event, or a long list of links to resources.
• Joy – What makes people happy? There’s loads of things. It can be something funny, inspiring, or anything that’s enlightening. It’s telling a story that people can connect with.
• Anxiety – People just don’t like anxiety, right? But what causes it? If you’re writing content that talks about potentially losing out on something.  As well, people hate losing things they have.
• Fear – Certainly one of life’s biggest motivators. What’s an example of fear? The fear of loss (missing out on something) or worrying that they’re making mistakes they’re unaware of.
• Surprise – What surprises people? Anything that goes against their expectations. Things that astonish them as well as things that might shock them, from challenging assumptions or long-held ideas to great new ways to do things.

As we know, the idea of social media is to create and strengthen relationships with people.  We do that by sharing information that they’d like to get, read and pass along to others. That doesn’t happen if what you have to say isn’t interesting and you won’t be interesting until you say and do things imaginatively, originally, freshly.

“The truth isn’t the truth until people believe you, and they can’t believe you if they don’t know what you’re saying, and they can’t know what you’re saying if they don’t listen to you, and they won’t listen to you if you’re not interesting, and you won’t be interesting until you say and do things imaginatively, originally, freshly.”  – Bill Bernbach

Over the past couple of weeks, in both my personal and business life, it just seems like everywhere I turn, I’m seeing the most uninspired, blah, boring, and unenthused advertising and marketing messaging. From credit unions to food products to retail delivered through TV, direct mail, outdoor, one-sheets/brochures, whatever. You know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s as though A LOT of people got the same memo: create only lifeless, sigh-inducing marketing that doesn’t say anything.  As a result, I recall something that the comedian Billy Connelly once said about people who create this kind of stuff. He called them “Beigests” – as in the color beige.

For the purposes of painting a picture of who a “Beigest” is, let’s describe them as constantly striving to turn everything around him or her lukewarm and mediocre. The kind of person who’ll suck the life out of all meaningful messaging, attempt to censor or dilute anything that they don’t get (forget that their audience does get it), water down any sort of strong rationale with weasel words & steer it towards the middle, and constantly strive for “consensus” as they make the world “user friendly” (i.e., rather than make an executive decision, they ask everyone for their opinion.  I sometimes wonder if people making the advertising or marketing decisions are genetically incapable of recognizing messaging that stands out, that they simply default to that never vibrant but never offensive color beige.

Let me ask: who loves the color beige?  Not many people will respond saying that beige is one of their favorites.  But it’s a color, right?  So why aren’t more people expressing their love for it…like they do for reds, blues, purples, or whatever your favorite color is.  Because beige is insanely boring!  It totally lacks enthusiasm which makes the marketing messaging as dull as an accountant’s office.

Our lives are way too busy for us to be attracted to “beige” things.  Yet, too many marketers don’t project that same line of thinking toward attracting customers. Decisions are made daily to keep producing and running the same run-of-the-mill, uninspiring stuff…week after week, month after month, year after year.

Keep in mind that when you as a consumer see anything from a company, either your opinion of that company is enhanced or it’s not. There’s no middle ground. You either like them a bit more or you go in the other direction.  So, if that’s the case, why do too many marketers turn that compelling, money-making value proposition into a beige “me-too” that each and every one of your competitors could say. Why do you think for one second that someone is going to acknowledge your message? And not only acknowledge it, but take the time to respond, and make a purchase.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been bored into buying something. And I’m even going to say that 99% of your customers are with me on this. The marketing you do for your company is an extension of you. You’re the person who’s responsible for communicating the passion of your company. When you talk about your business with others, hopefully your eyes twinkle, your heart begins to race, your voice becomes more dynamic and people are instantly attracted to you. When that show of enthusiasm and excitement happens, no one would confuse you with being boring, right? Of course not.  So look at your marketing stuff and see if it reflects that same level of specialness.  Or you could always ask friends, colleagues, suppliers or anyone who will be candid with you, “Does this marketing make you want to pick up the phone and call us or know more about us?”  If the answer is not an enthusiastic “yes,” then it’s time to start over. Because spending money that can’t produce results never makes CEOs happy. They’re eventually going to see what you produced for the market.

Save your company from being seen as beige.  Be a welcomed splash of red. And listen, not only is it possible for you to create a business that is as fascinating as you are, it is necessary. Life’s too short to settle for “blah.”

Imagine if you had some magical warning sound that alerted you before you made a misjudgment or a social faux pas.  You know, like you’re about to bet on a bad hand and, HONK!, so you pull back your bet just in time.  Or you’re about to give a future employer one of those cool “street” handshakes and, HONK!”, you think better of it. There’s a clever commercial for the Nissan Altima that plays out this funny notion as it promotes a cool new feature on the car: a warning honk that alerts you before you over-inflate your tires.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9xFgyv8BJI]

Now admittedly, we’ve all managed this long without the benefit of an automatic over-inflation warning, but still, it’s pretty cool. And it dramatizes a point that as a marketer you should be asking yourself:  What’s the cool feature you have to sell?  What do you produce, offer or do that excites your audience and makes them think “Wow!”

This is a pretty ho-hum world we live in and we’ve all seen ads, commercials, websites and Facebook pages up the wazoo.  So the challenge of breaking through today means finding the one or two out-of-the-ordinary things people don’t expect or don’t know about you that fascinates them. We all know that to be the all important  “Wow Factor.”

In your specific industry, you already know what the baseline of expectations is (quality product, made from quality materials/ingredients, great customer service, affordable prices).  That’s just the opening ante that anyone in your business must provide.  But where is the Wow that you alone can talk about?  That one thing, or series of things, that is not merely unique but deserves an exclamation point in the eyes of your customer.

In books such as Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service, or Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, the authors write about the need to be remarkable or else become invisible.  In your marketing, the same rule applies, that you must find the Wow Factor and express it in a fresh and unexpected manner so that it excites the audience and sets you in a league all your own. That way, it grabs people’s attention and has them focusing on the message and not thinking about the other stuff that might come into their minds. They’re engaged…captivated.

In doing so, you start connecting with your audience on a more intimate level, and that better allows you to persuade them, get them to trust you, get them to believe you,  and get them to want to buy from you. So when your competitor tries to pull them away, they’ll stay loyal to you.

Back to the example of the Nissan Altima, the commercial demonstrates that promoting one small but really interesting feature is better than loads of features or bland generalities.  That nugget of marketing gold for you might exist in one “small” aspect of your operation  but demonstrates everything holographically about the way you do business.  Whether it’s some unique characteristic about the what makes up the product (i.e., it doesn’t rust…even when submerged in salt water) or a particular service that you alone are offering (i.e., you’ll return every inquiry within 2 hours), it just needs to be a Wow.  Anything short of Wow, whatever it is, will be background noise and nothing more.  And if it’s a Wow, no matter how small it is, your marketing can make it big.

It’s time to do some corporate detective work and discover – or develop – your own Wow Factor.

And hey, did I mention the marketing director’s daughter who (HONK!!!!) … oh, never mind.

The most dangerous place to be in your marketing is in the middle of the road.

We had a client call last week telling us that she had received a letter from someone stating how much they were put off by an ad we were running.  She was wondering if we should hold off running that ad and instead run another one we had produced. My response was “Heck no. I’m thrilled that someone felt that way. I hope we get a few more letters.”  Why would I say that, right?

You see, your company, like 99.9% (there’s always that oddball out there) wants to be loved. You want adoring customers, enthusiastic vendors, committed partners, etc.  Yet in reality, few companies are really appreciated. In fact, most companies and marketing messages are tolerated at best, and at worst, ignored. And do you know why? It’s because most company messaging is too forgettable and too dull to spark any type of reaction.

If you want your company to have passionate customers, dedicated partners, etc., you must first inspire strong responses. Only then can you convince people to love your company and become raving fans of your brand. But here’s the kicker: as you attract fans, you’re also bound to get the critics, or “Haters.” As we learned in physics: Every action creates an equal and opposite reaction. These Haters are the ones that write nasty letters or post negative comments on sites like Yelp or Angie’s list.  That said, here’s something which might also cause you to recoil a bit.  Experience has taught me that it’s OK to have some not like your brand (not a lot, of course). Yup, you heard me right.  In fact, having a few critics is essential. The undeniable reality is that if you’re not eliciting a negative response from someone somewhere, then you’re probably not that fascinating to anyone. No one remembers lukewarm!

Fresh, imaginative, and original ideas come across as unfamiliar, even uncomfortable, which means that not everyone will like it. But unfortunately, most companies spend too much time worrying over damage control for the Haters that they never get up the nerve to be exceptional in the first place. In short, Haters are the price one pays for being special. Apple has Haters.  Starbucks has Haters. Accept their presence but do not let them stop you from moving forward.

On the other hand you have the advocates, evangelists, loyalist…the Lovers. They don’t just buy your product or service, they also accept price increases and forgive occasional “issues.”  When your product is sold out in one store, they’ll drive to another store to find it. When the competition tries to appeal to them with an incentive, they stay loyal.  Lovers also do your marketing work for you — for free. They write nice things in online reviews, and even occasionally re-post your content online. In every aspect of your company, Lovers will reward you with new business and higher sales.  They’re not just buying your products for price or utility.

So you now have the Lovers on the left and the Haters on the right and between them you have a set of customers who give you little loyalty or value.  Let’s call this group the “Lukewarmers”.  Maybe a good way of describing this group is like that friend of yours that would come over to watch a game but as soon as the beer ran out…so would he. Kind of like a friend…but not really.  In the same way, these indifferent customers make a purchase here and there but don’t add much of anything else.

The Lukewarmers also have a really bad habit of not caring.  They won’t buy your product unless it’s the cheapest or most convenient option which means they’re only buying you until a cheaper or more convenient alternative comes around. So in addition to not being loyal, they’re also expensive to maintain because you’re spending money to get them as customers and they never really pay out over multiple purchases.

In today’s marketplace, this middle ground is death!!  Not caring is not buying. Not caring is inaction. The Lukewarmers leave for just the smallest of reasons. So how do you get people to quit being Lukewarmers and start actively choosing you and your brand?

Simply put, if your company wants to influence purchase decisions, you need to provoke strong and immediate emotional reactions so that people bond with your brand or company. The goal isn’t to create, or even stay away from controversy, but to avoid creating legions of people who simply don’t care.

The world is not changed by people who sort of care or don’t care at all.  Stop focusing on the Lukewarmer. And don’t let the Haters keep you from your goals. Start accumulating the Lovers. And it all starts by having your marketing and advertising being original and captivating.  There’s no middle ground here.

As businesspeople, we want to be acknowledged for the work we do, for the value we provide. Can you image doing your work year after year and rarely being told “Great Job!  We need a lot more people like you!”? We all want to be recognized for how we go about our business but also that we have worth as individuals. It’s just a part of how we’re hard-wired as human beings.

Well, the same thing holds true in having your company being praised by clients and customers. We all know how good it feels to be called out as a team or as a member of the team for making someone feel good about their association with your organization or department. Aside from personally feeling good about it, and depending on who is giving the “atta boy/girl”, people start walking around with a bounce in their step and overall team morale starts to increase. I know because last week our own firm received a couple of unanticipated and very flattering “great job” kudos from some clients that made us feel pretty darn good. Which got me to thinking, how might we want to let others know that our clients think we’re the “cat’s meow?”  Because, probably like you, while we know it would be a good thing to do, we’re either sometimes to modest or we just don’t put the time into thinking how we could showcase these wonderful endorsements for the betterment of the firm.

In today’s world, the majority of prospective customers, both B2B and B2C, spend time researching online or through social media before they buy. They depend more than ever on word-of-mouth references from people who have used those brands or products – whether those references are in the form of anonymous reviews or client testimonials.  (Think Angie’s List, Buzzillions or Yelp.) In fact, according to a the marketing group, ODM, about 90% of consumers trust the word of people they know and 70% of consumers trust the word of people they don’t know. Just look at how we shop online. We find what we’re looking for and one of the first things we do is check the customer rating number on the product. The second thing we typically do is read the actual customer reviews to see why someone gave that product 1 star and why others gave the same product 5. The point is, it wouldn’t hurt, regardless how large or small your organization, to make sure that people come across testimonials about your business to help establish trust and prove your credibility.

Ok, so if you’re running low on client testimonials, how do you get more? Well, here are a few thought starters:

1. Search through some emails in which the client praised your organization for something you did and then ask them if you can use it.
2. Look around on some social media outlets. Use a social search tool such as Social Mention to find positive mentions of your brand.
3. Use LinkedIn. Connect with clients and once you have a strong relationship, send them a request for a recommendation. Once you get it, then ask them if you could use it in your marketing materials. But remember, reciprocation is good business.
4. Send out a customer survey and with some questions and leave room for personal feedback. (I had a client who did this and it fetched some great testimonial comments.)

Now, what to do with the client testimonials that you receive? Again, just some thoughts to get your marketing juices flowing:

1. Post them on your website but instead of just inserting them on a testimonial page (and there’s nothing wrong with doing that), how about if you were to have a testimonial on your main page by creating a sidebar that rotates. No reason to bury good news…right?
2. Insert them into social media posts. Use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to get out the word.
3. Use them as part of e-newsletters or blogs that you send out. You can write up a case study (be careful of the length) while including the client testimonial as part of the story.
4. Include them as part of presentation decks, sales support materials, B2B and B2C ads, online/digital videos, landing pages, and on and on.

If you have done your job well and earned satisfied customers, don’t let it end there.  Let them speak up for you. Their words are worth their weight in gold. I know it. You know it. And your competitors know it. Oh, and before I forget “You’re doing a great job. We could use a lot more people like you.”

I saw a video over the holidays and it got the better of me so much so that I have to say something because these types of videos just need to stop being created by “marketers.”

I’m talking about poorly conceived and produced online videos that we find on countless company websites and social media channels which are completely ineffectual.  You know the kind of video I’m talking about: it starts off looking like it was homemade and it never gets better; the on-camera ‘talent’ has none; it doesn’t know when to end; there’s an information overload going on which leads to boredom; no clear understanding of who the audience is; and most importantly, the “WOW factor” is completely hidden or missing.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what some companies have haphazardly slapped together in the name of “meaningful content video.”

As we all know, online video content has just exploded over the past couple of years and it’s going to keep getting bigger in the foreseeable future. For example, did you know….

1. Each day, over 100 MILLION American watch online videos, an increase of 43% since 2010.
2. About 46% of people say they’d be more likely to seek out information about a product or service after seeing it in an online video.
3. 70% of B2B marketers use some form of online video with their overall strategies.

Yet we still have too many companies that create and post videos which are visual train-wrecks that unfortunately their customers and prospective customers will see.  With that in mind, and so that the next video you develop has a chance to be all that it can be, let’s talk about what good videos have in common:

• Good videos contain real content
  • Good content should be engaging, relevant, and appropriate for the audience. Good content takes a stand. It has a voice, a point of view. It may be informative, useful, or funny but it always leaves you wanting more. Is the storytelling or narrative coherent and does it hold your attention? Does the content stay with you long after viewing it? Is the video like that of a woman’s skirt – short enough to be interesting but long enough to cover the subject?

• Good videos are truly interesting from the viewer’s perspective
  • Internet viewing has created a world of people with ADHD.  Viewers will click the second they lose interest, so you have to hold their attention on every frame. Your scripting has to be based entirely on the viewer’s wanting to know “what’s in it for me?”  I’ve written about outside-in thinking.  Here’s where it really comes into play.

• Good videos know who their audience is
  • Determine who you’re speaking to with the video. Are these new website visitors? Are they returning customers? What’s their mindset? How much do they know about your product or service already?  What do you want them to do next? What are their demographics?

• Good videos have a purpose and know where they’ll “live”
  • Prior to the video having been developed, company/agency folks have decided how they want to share the video given their communication plan and goals. Synergies between different online social media channels (Facebook, YouTube) and other uses (emails, blog posts, landing pages, registration pages and corporate websites) have been determined…as have offline uses. Shooting and editing a video only to then decide what to do with it then creates unnecessary messaging and expense issues.

• Good videos are leveraged
  • Good videos have relevant keywords incorporated into their descriptions and postings to insure they come up when searched.  Website or landing page URLs have been imbedded in the video for users to click (remember you WANT them to do something, right?).  The video is promoted through various means ranging from PR releases to e-newsletters, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

• Good videos have high production values and a consistent look/tone/feel
  • Cheap-looking productions imply cheaply products from the company.  There is a level of production value that really good videos simply don’t dip below.  The audio and camera work for good videos is such that one can easily understand what’s being said and view the video without feeling the need to click away due to poor audio or shaky camera work. On-camera talent is professional. Users can easily spot a poorly done video, and if your video is not well produced, it suggests that you do not value your product/service.  Also, a consistency of look and branding in your video to the rest of your marketing efforts is a must.

So whether you’re creating a testimonial, promotional, “how-to” or other type of video, the idea is to make sure that people find it interesting, worth spending the time to watch and that it leads to the desired next step. Repeated viewings of your video generally indicates a positive overall experience. Repeatedly having your video, or future videos, being ignored means, well, you know what that means.

In my day-to-day work, I speak and meet with a number of companies that are really good at what they do.  In fact, some are just outstanding at their specialty or niche. The problem is that too few people know about them. You practically need to trip over them to know that they exist.

Almost invariably, the VPs of Sales & Marketing for these companies voice their frustrations over the fact that while the company is good at doing what they do, they’ve not grown sales, nor increased their customer bases or product volumes, nor enhanced their brand visibility as their executive management team would have liked. In many ways, their companies end up becoming their respective industries’ dreaded “best kept secrets.” If this sounds painfully familiar, let me offer up a reason why this has happened and how to avoid this trap.

First, one needs to remember that there are two different sides to your business.  One is what I call “inside reality” and the other is “outside perception.” The “inside reality” are all the things your business does that makes it valuable to customers and gives you a competitive advantage in the marketplace. It’s all your skills, people, expertise, service, commitment to excellence, passion, and the way you conduct your business.

I’m sure that if you asked your customers why they bought from you, they could tell you something quantifiable, specific, and instantly obvious. They might point to specific benefits for doing business with you and say,  “That’s why I do business with you, that’s why I refer my friends to come here, that’s why I’m a loyal customer, that’s why I don’t mind paying a bit more for your products, that’s why I keep coming back.”

The problem then isn’t your “inside reality” but the “outside perception,” which is how prospects PERCEIVE your company, if they perceive it at all. Very commonly, there’s a fundamental disconnect between your inside reality and outside perception.

See, regardless of how good you are, or how good your “inside reality” is, your prospect isn’t going to be able to figure it out based on marketing that doesn’t address their outside perception.  Take, for example, a bank that offers personal service.  Their inside reality is they greet every customer by name, open the doors as each customer enters and leaves, and offer individual financial advice based on the customers’ specific banking needs.  We’ll also assume their current customers are genuinely impressed.  But the outside perception of non-customer prospects is that all banks are pretty much the same and all talk about personal service while most don’t deliver on the promise – and it’s not really that important to them anyway.  Once a bank starts from that outside perception as the basis of their marketing, the solutions become entirely different.  And so do the results.  But the bank that continues to market based on such inside realities, especially in a non-creative or expected manner, will remain invisible to prospects because they’ve seen it all before.

You have to start by seeing your marketing through the eyes of a jaded, disinterested prospect who thinks they know all there is to know about you, or at least about the business you’re in.

So while “best kept secrets” might be seen as good for restaurants, traffic shortcuts and travel destinations, they’re NOT great for business.  Don’t get lost in the noise.  Whether it’s online, offline or thru social media channels, wave your ‘marketing arms’ and let people know you’re there.  Because being in business and not promoting your value as you should is like winking at a cute girl (or guy) in the dark. You may know what you’re doing but she or he sure doesn’t.

by Rolf Gutknecht, Agent of Change (c) 2012

Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever. — Indian Proverb

Ever wonder the best way to represent your product or service to prospective clients or customers? Here’s something to think about. Stop talking about the features of what you offer. Don’t even focus on the benefits. Don’t tell me how good you are or why you’re better than the competition.  Instead, tell me about a situation your customers typically find themselves in. Paint me a picture of how that situation is improved by the use of your product or service. Show me what success looks like. Capture my interest with people or places that resonate with me. Don’t focus on you, your company or your products. Instead, tell me a good story!

Since the beginning of language, stories have continued to teach, inspire, entertain, motivate and engage us like no other form of communication.  From bedtime stories when we were young to story time in elementary school to the sharing of family stories around the dinner table, they connect us on a much deeper level than any list of advertising bullet points could ever do. For those not convinced, try telling any favorite story using only bullet points and then decide which format people find more memorable and meaningful.

Recently, my business partner, Dan, and I met with a mid-sized “challenger brand” company to talk about their business goals and how we could help them grow their business in the face of a number of competitors. Tom, the company president, talked about his products and their features.  It was the same stuff we’ve heard time and time again from other companies in his industry. It was only when he got away from the rattling off of bullet points and suddenly spoke emotionally and passionately about how one of his customers was saved from the brink of bankruptcy because of his company’s tailored services did we immediately feel more connected with his business.

So what’s the secret to good storytelling?

Well, there is a right way and wrong way to tell stories. The secret lies in making an emotional connection with buyers because emotions play the dominant role in most decision-making processes. We need to tell our stories with authenticity and real passion in order to cut through the information overload that buyers experience and the BS shields they put up. On that note, talk like a human. Enough with the business babble. Don’t worry about sounding smart. It’s alienating and condescending, and your story will be quickly lost on your audience. Talk like a human being that cares about making meaningful relationships with people.

So how do you relate your story to the reader so that it resonates and motivates them to take action in the form of purchase or even just their wanting to retell your story and spread the word?  Here are few things to think about:

• How are your products or services used? What stories might your current customers tell? For example, Avis uses real letters from grateful customers to tell stories about the company’s commitment to customer service.
• Who are your customers? What type of character is your customer? Use real-life case studies to showcase customers as themselves or create similar characters prospects can relate to.
• What emotions do people feel when they use your products or services? Do your customers feel confident, safe, happy, relieved, excited, satisfied, proud? Capture these emotions in the stories you tell.
• What’s your product’s role? How does your product help your customers achieve success? Build your stories around the benefits of what you sell. Think about the story Tom told me as noted above.

So that’s my story for today and I’m sticking to it. What’s yours? Go out and create your own stories and “live happily ever after.”