Storytelling For Success

Give Customers A Voice For A Fresh Approach To Marketing

Storytelling isn’t a new way to make content, but it is a new way of thinking about marketing campaigns and a different approach to branding.

Jeremy Goldman of Firebrand suggests, “There’s a balance between telling the story and being in the story. How do you strike a balance between capturing attention and being true to yourself? You want to get them into the funnel but you also have to get them down the funnel.”

“People like to read about people,” explains Laura Thomas, Chief Blogger for Dell. “Even when we’re talking about a new product, we push to find the human element – the people who created it or brought it to market, or a customer. It’s much more interesting to talk about what people are doing with our technology that to talk about our technology.”

The key is authenticity and celebratizing. Sony PlayStation Vice-President, Platforms Marketing John Koller stresses to, “Make the people important, elevate who they are, and make them important to their circles. As we saw the efficacy of that, we saw more opportunities to bring attention to our fans.”

The big thing concern is oversaturation. “Content marketing is about creating content, so there’s going to be a glut – more content than customers can consume – so it’s about time to look for the big themes: security, the cloud, the Internet of Things. There’s a lot I can pull from and build, instead of starting from scratch.”

Jeremy has learned, “Telling a more authentic story brings more engagement,” and Laura agrees. “With great content, the reader has to see themselves in the story – it could be me – even if we are talking about us.” That is what creates great stories.

Download A View From The Top: The Evolution of Marketing and the Customer Journey by author Kevin Popović.

Based on Incite Summit West, this book examines current thinking from marketing leadership from some of the largest brands. The contributors were senior level and accomplished, but most importantly, that they are all very active in the development and delivery of the work on behalf of their organizations. These speakers are not sitting in the ivory tower, they are leading their troops into battle – and they are winning.