“storytelling” as a cornerstone of what they’re doing to market online

How to bring videos, blogs, social media, live streaming  and technology to get people to engage with your brand and the products you sell? But the idea of storytelling as it applies to business isn’t about spinning a yarn or fairytale but it is about what role your business,  products and services play in helping people do what they want, how they fix their troubles, how they shoulder their burdens, how they overcome their fears and meet their needs. Think in those terms when producing customer stories, case studies, or client narratives—so that people can relate to them. In that way, your content is not about “storytelling,” it’s about telling a true story well.

What are my customers genuinely interested in knowing about

The job of marketers is to generate new ideas and pull compelling stories out of their organizations by figuring out what their audience is genuinely interested in seeing and reading or knowing about. Think about what you do, how to tell that story, and how to engage your customers through the stories you tell.  That’s critical especially for business-to-business companies, which often sell intangible products or services that aren’t intrinsically interesting, but the way people use them are interesting. At Virgin America, for example, the hallmarks of what the brand is known for—leather seats, mood lighting on its aircraft, wireless connectivity—expresses the story, in part, of how the airline goes beyond the ordinary.

Tell how your products or services live in the world
Actually—don’t just tell: Show. Uncover the real-life instances of how your product lives in the world by looking to your customers for inspiration.  Benchmark Brands incorporates customer stories of how its products help people into its marketing. If a shoe is meant to help someone with heel pain, Benchmark doesn’t just state that fact, “but we tell the story of someone for whom it made a difference,” says Trish Tobin, Chief Marketing Offier of Benchmark, which sells more than 2,500 styles of comfort, wellness and therapeutic footwear through its Footsmart brand.

Have their stories be your story. At Threadless, an artist receives $2,500 if his or her shirt is printed and sold in the Threadless store, and his or her inspiration for that design is woven into the site, and, more broadly, into the company’s brand. Tell the story of how your products came to be, or how your customers use them. Even if you’re making something less naturally prone to story than customer-designed T-shirts or therapeutic shoes, “your product can still be content,” Balzer says.

Nonprofit marketers have employed storytelling to “sell” their missions for some time. Their stories are always about the real people or conditions that donor money has helped to change. Since the addition of online tools, they’re actually at the forefront in social media, gaining followers, brand ambassadors, and participants in viral marketing campaigns. What hasn’t come quite yet is the fundraising revenue from this channel.

There has to be a great challenges/pain/need/issue/drama set up. That’s the key. The thing is.. it’s not easy to do. If you make that first part sing, you have a great hook and a captured audience. The solution/resolution part is even tougher to do, though. Those that make it really compelling (and uniquely mapped to those original challenges) are the masters. You see this with Hollywood movies. Many screen writers can get the hook part .. they do really good set-ups. But they fumble with acts 2-3.

I worked at non-profits and trained folks on storytelling after doing a lot of academic study on the topic. It was the most powerful way to connect with donors. Now in my work with social media and PR, I see how much work needs to be done in considering the audience and the context for storytelling

It’s exciting to see marketing take a turn for the more personal, more connected and (hopefully) more honest and engaging. It also helps make my transition from fiction to copy writing make more sense! Bring on the age of the story!!

I agree with you that ‘real life experiences’ connected to the actual creation or use of a product or service are compelling stories for customers and are good materials for developing ads. But you seem to imply that fiction stories have lesser value. However, I find these ‘creative fiction stories’ to be strongly compelling to customers and sometimes more so than real stories because they capture the imagination, produce excitement which people want to be part of, or draw out strong emotional reactions that the product or service stays in-front of people’s minds. Creativity (which we demand from marketers) make what is ‘real’ more visible.

It got people’s attention and helped with brand recall. Since people today are more knowledgeable about the health benefits of fish, it’s a better way of getting the consumers’ interest than going the traditional route of highlighting the health benefits of salmon/tuna as a great source for OMEGA-3 or for being good for the heart.

Geko was also good for making an insurance company more relatable or tangible. And maybe creative ads will be better for marketing services that do not have much differentiation.

I’m intrigued by storytelling as a tool for leaders when sharing about changes in the business. Thank you for expanding my mind on this invaluable ability for today and tomorrow’s leaders.

7 reasons why you need a brand journalist

I took this from "MarketingProfs" site.

Ann Handley

Brands now have the ability to bypass the traditional press and tell their own story in their own voice in a unique and compelling way. As I see it, good content isn’t about storytelling; it’s about telling a true story well.

Unfortunately, many businesses don’t tell their story well. In our recent survey of more than 1,000 B2B marketers (conducted with the Content Marketing Institute), we found that creating compelling content is the biggest pain point for businesses. Which is why I favor the idea of hiring or contracting content creators who function within your company as embedded brand or corporate journalists.

The phrase “brand journalism” was coined in 2004 by Larry Light, then McDonald’s Corp.’s chief marketing officer, who said in a speech at an industry event that McDonald’s has adopted it as a new marketing technique. The term has evolved since then, although the basic idea of customer-driven versus corporate-driven marketing remains fundamental.

A brand journalist or corporate reporter works inside the company, writing and producing videos, blog posts, photos, webinars, charts, graphs, e-books, podcasts, and other information that delivers value to your marketplace.

Such content creators will convey your company’s true story in a compelling way by uncovering the stories about your brand and how your customers are using your products and services; narrating them in a human, accessible way; and sparking conversation about your company, customers, or employees.

In other words, brand journalists bring a journalist’s sensibility to your content. They bring an editorial approach to building a brand.

Here’s why I like the idea of hiring brand journalists:

1. They know how to tell a story : Journalists are trained to tell a story using words, images, and audio, and they understand how to create content that draws readers in.
2. They put the audience first : Journalists are the only people, in my mind, who put the needs of the audience (vs. the company) first. Paradoxically, that serves a company’s needs far better—because the content they create is customer-driven vs. corporate-driven. Their innate understanding of audience means that every time they sit down at their desk to create content, there’s always a little voice in the back of their head reminding them, Nobody has to read this. That kind of pressure on your content-creation efforts can only benefit your brand.
3. They know how to simplify : Business—like life—can be complicated. Our products can be involved or seem impenetrable. But journalists excel in deconstructing the complex to make it easily understood. They excel at expressing the kind of nuance I first learned from my journalism professors: Assume the reader knows nothing. But don’t assume the reader is stupid.
4. They approach content with a Mind Like Water :  A lifetime ago, when I was covering town planning board meetings for a local newspaper, I arrived in the newsroom very late one night and told the night editor that there wasn’t a single thing to report on; no decisions had been reached by the Board. The editor—who I’m certain ate cigarettes for breakfast—schooled me thus: There’s always a story there, he said, even if it’s not the one you were expecting to write. So your boring technology product? Your services firm? Your regulated industry that precludes you from talking about certain specifics? The Mind Like Water content creator finds the crevices where the stories lie. (Also, whatever you sell can’t possibly be as dull as town planning board meetings, and I found plenty to say after that night.)
5. They tell the truth : The best corporate reporters care about accuracy and truth, whether they are creating content on behalf of your brand or a traditional publisher.
6. They quote sources : Journalists are trained in backing up opinions and assertions with research and facts, and attributing ideas to proper sources. That enhances your credibility as a voice in your industry.
7. They bring a journalist’s sensibility to building a brand : That enhances your integrity. This might be a good time to ask: But what about that integrity issue? Is a “brand journalist” really a “journalist”? In my mind, it is a kind of journalism, even if it’s clearly not impartial. (For example, a brand journalist wouldn’t produce anything negative about the company. A journalist working at a traditional publisher would.) Both have a role, and I’m not suggesting that brand journalists stand in for traditional news reporting. They are two different things. We need both in our world.

But, that said, I like the shorthand meaning that the phrase “brand journalist” affords, because I think it’s an easy thing for companies and others to grok at a glance. In other words, it immediately suggests what the role does… as well as what it doesn’t do.