Tag Archives: storytelling

What Santa Never Told You About Authentic Storytelling

santa-claus-storytelling

In previous blog posts, we have long stressed the point of view that a key marketing trend is that of authentic interactions with people. One acknowledged way of interacting with people, in a real way, is through storytelling. Disney does it and just look at how Santa and his helpers has been doing it for years.

How do they do it in a seemingly effortless way? We’ll use this post to examine ways of crafting an effective story for your brand – in case Santa doesn’t leave instructions under the tree.

Admittedly, marketing agencies have long used the story approach to campaigns but we believe times are changing. Instead of a brand telling a story, why would it not use all of its elements to allow customers connect with a story they want to be part of?

As we approach the Festive Season, we believe that perhaps technology is not such a threat to bricks-and-mortar retailers that everybody is writing about. This is mainly because shop owners can still offer the human touch. The one caveat here is probably the influence of weather conditions on travel.

Of course, these retailers must augment the experience for the shoppers with multi-sensory and multichannel experiences but the real challenge is to enter the world of the customer and to be a part of their story.

How brilliant would it be if brands could move people from being observers into being part of a story, why? Because us marketers have known for eons that stories activate emotions which in turn motivate people to act i.e. to get involved.

To help you visualise what we’re saying, let’s look at a potential scenario using a standard story structure:

  • The consumer is the protagonist in the story
  • The experience is what happens (the touchpoints – where it happens)
  • The competitors are the obstacles for the customer getting to what they want
  • The product or service is the reward / the outcome

The point we’re making here is that brands should have a look at how they structure their stories. It’s not about telling it – it’s about engaging customers directly in their storylines by taking them on a journey and providing a reward at the end. This reward may be for the customer or even somebody else e.g. a charity cause.

Here’s a thought – could brands help people with their own stories? Could they help people change their lives (or others) through what they buy? The thing is storytelling can make a difference so why aren’t brands using it to make a difference for their customers and ultimately their bottom line.

People might not remember your brand, but they will remember a good story.

We mentioned above that storytelling makes a difference. Let’s see how it might – using a Leinster Rugby story as an example.

Story version A – “Jim decided to come into our shop and buy a Leinster Rugby jersey. He had the option of an array of colours, sizes, and excellent cotton quality. There was also an online option.”

Story version B – “Jim is a long-time supporter of Leinster Rugby and had an old club jersey that had seen better days. The team’s on-field performance was going through a lull and supporters were getting disgruntled. To show his continued support Jim purchased a new jersey from our supporters’ club outlet, looks great and is now delighted to be part of the team’s resurgence.”

This is a made-up example, but anyway – which one will you remember most? The second one I reckon, because we provided elements that you might relate to. In version B, we tried to use the standard story structure outlined above i.e. a character, a reason why, a little conflict and a resolution.

Our example stresses the point that promoting the features of your product / service in the structure of a story doesn’t really work. Set yourself apart by incorporating your brand elements into an authentic story that people can relate to.

Here are the elements of a good story:

  • Characters – give your audience somebody to relate to so that they can empathise
  • Plot – this is the build up to the conflict which leads the audience to want to know what’s next
  • Conflict – something has to go wrong e.g. the Leinster team above were going through a lull
  • Resolution – show your customer how it was solved and the takeaway (your product)

People might not remember your brand, but they will remember a good story

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Tips and Timesavers.

Have a look at how you are structuring your current brand story. How is your tone and are your visuals appropriate? Look at testimonials or case studies that you can use. Always have a look at whether you are creating a great story or just telling people what you offer.

Facts (product features) are useful but let’s face it they are not as powerful as stories. Anyway, stories are how we experience life. We read books and blogs, watch TV and listen to the radio. We watch sports and share stories with friends at parties – so why wouldn’t we be open to more storytelling?

The beauty about the current, connected environment is that brands have many more tools at their disposal for extending stories and for people to share them. As alluded to above, there are more opportunities to be authentic with your brand and thereby immerse people into the essence of your brand.

Here are 10 elements to consider when i) creating a story and ii) when outlining your story

           Creating a Story

  1. Enhance the appeal of the story by explaining where your brand comes from
  2. Discover what attributes your brand can credibly claim that are appealing to your audience
  3. Associate meaning to a weakness that might turn it into a strength
  4. Create a sense of exclusivity or scarcity
  5. Demonstrate the value to users
  6. Use influential users of your service/product to add credibility

    Outlining a story

  7. Be authentic and tell your story with emotion
  8. Relate your story to your customers and highlight the benefits of your product/service
  9. Take your customers on a journey through the matching of your values and theirs
  10. Humanise your story and don’t be afraid to use humour

Storyt­elling is a brand narrative that puts the needs of the customer at its centre.

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Conclusion

The myth that some brands are clinging onto is that people want to hear about their brand. They don’t! They want to be drawn into an experience that’s relevant to them – not you.

This makes sense really as any story should aim to please the person to whom it’s told. Self-promotional stories told by brands are unlikely to strike a chord with the intended audience and just end up annoying them.

Here is a really comprehensive storytelling guide infographic I found on hubspot.com. We hope you have a wonderful Festive Season.

“Thank you for reading our blog post today” – Aidan & Jim.

 Would you like us to notify you, by email when we publish new content? If so, just let us know by clicking here. Of course, we can always meet face-to-face, just leave your details here and we might grab a coffee, cheers. Jim – O’C&K

Ringing in the marketing bells of 2015.

marketing-businessman-2015

It’s time to break old marketing habits and embrace new methods of engagement.

Hands up who has read a 2015 predictions article, in the last week? Yep, I thought so – almost everybody. In this post, we might refer to one or two trends but in general we will discuss what we’ve learnt from our own marketing interactions, in the last year.

Heading into 2015, marketing has become a key word again because, as a business discipline, it appears to be finally moving out from its perceived buzz-word shackles. As we move into a new year and the tsunami of new technologies, channels and platforms continue to wash over us, the ability of marketing to tell a brand’s story, in an engaging way, is becoming even more important to business growth.

Why is this important? Because, in general, people won’t put up with any brand communication that wastes their time anymore. There are a lot more pressing factors in people’s lives nowadays and brands need to be able to empathise and understand this environment. As mentioned in previous posts to this blog, companies that treat people as humans, with honesty and relevancy, will come out tops. Organisations need to focus on empowering people with a little more control over their lives.

‘Organisations need to focus on empowering people with a little more control over their lives’
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Marketing’s time in the sun.

It is being said, with more frequency, that customer experience is the new source of differentiation for businesses. We agree and believe that this will only intensify over the coming years. How brands analyse and use customer data correctly, and not just pay lip service to it, will determine if they get a return on their investment (ROI) in data analytics. Marketing activity is central to realising this ROI.

I suppose you cannot talk about customer experience without mentioning, ‘digital’. The challenge for brands is to integrate responsibility for all customer touch points, during their purchase journey, under the one umbrella. To us, it makes sense that it is a marketing umbrella that’s used. More importantly, and probably controversially, a marketing strategy should include all customer-facing technology as well. Those internal silos need to be broken down, as nobody knows customers better than the marketing team.

One of the biggest challenges facing the marketing function is to be more disruptive (in a constructive sense), internally. For many years ‘marketers’, myself included, simply  implemented campaigns (advertising, sponsorship, CSR etc.) rather than investigating some form of ongoing innovation. With the marketing team’s new ‘time in the sun’ it needs to stand up and lead the revolution towards putting the customer at the centre of all business operations. The secret of marketing is to understand the psychology of your audience.

Marketing can play a key role in the growth of a business because it is the motivating factor for new customers – for example:

  • Getting people’s attention and interest
  • Getting them to buy your service instead of a competitor’s offering
  • Making them loyal and to become brand advocates
‘The secret of marketing is to understand the psychology of your audience’
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Is listening the new marketing trend for 2015?

As is said by many, brands need to be smarter about their marketing and evolve it, because their audiences are more knowledgeable and in control than ever before. Here are a few areas where a marketer can focus on, in the coming year.

  1. Personalisation – people will accept information that is relevant to them personally
  2. User experience – know how and where a prospect gathers information, and their influences
  3. Communities – think of each relevant community member as a potential brand advocate
  4. Advocates – personal engagement with influencers, will create a WOM ripple effect
  5. Storytelling – People like and remember stories – make yours a compelling one

So, how do we go about dealing with these five customer-focused areas? Simple – use the three ‘Ls’ – listen, listen and listen. You will only understand this if you accept the notion that your customer expects a customised experience. They do because it is being fuelled by digital, mobile and a resultant sense of empowerment.

When planning ahead, that old marketing chestnut of ‘awareness’ must be taken as a given rather than a focus and thereby modern vanity metrics should become less of a distraction. If real brand engagement is to match customer’s expectations you will need to know, in real time, what those expectations are. Therefore, we need to listen more.

Tips and Timesavers.

Let’s be honest, running a business can follow a fairly simple model. Make / provide something that people want and tell them about it. Thereafter, your satisfied customers tell other people about it and eventually a loyal community is developed. If it is that easy then why isn’t everyone successful in business? Because, it is still, all about the brand and the skill that is required to develop a powerful one.

Increasingly, you must be a thought leader in your business category so as to differentiate your brand. In this regard, and looking ahead to 2015, we would suggest that brands:

  • Get emotional – use the emotional values in your business category for positioning
  • Be authentic – your brand story must reflect the category’s realities by being ‘believable’
  • Be relevant – there is no point in using many online sources unless they’re engaging
  • Be brave – people expect you to be using technology to customise their experience
  • Be conscious of privacy – people will expect greater security in relation to their data
  • Outsource – use the expertise of others to make yourself a thought leader

Of course, there is not much new in what we are suggesting above but, as a wise person once said, ‘if you want to do something new, you must stop doing something old’.

We don’t like finishing on a negative note, but it is worth mentioning a few business pitfalls to avoid in 2015 and beyond.

Don’t think that you know everything about your business category or that the bit you do know is still true. There is also a danger that you might believe that whatever has made you successful to date, will continue. It helps to  look outside your own category of business. The two obvious lessons to be learned, from recent years, are thinking that a) your next big competitor will come from within your industry and b) there is no need to be online because, it doesn’t apply to your industry.

“Aidan and myself wish you a brand engaging, technology-embracing, profit making and smarter outsourcing 2015.”

“We hope you have enjoyed our marketing tips and timesavers blog” – Aidan & Jim.

Would you like to be notified by email when we publish new content? If so, just let us know by clicking here.

Of course, we can always meet face-to-face, just leave your details here and we can grab a coffeet, cheers.   Jim – O’C&K

 

Business Marketing – building relationships with effective communication.

christmas business marketing

“We want to create value for you by sharing marketing tips and timesavers” – O’C&K.

7 ideas for SME’s marketing online this Christmas.

Whenever the owners of small or medium sized businesses ask us about business marketing, we respond by separating the two words. We suggest that, business is about building two things; trust and relevance and marketing is about building one; a relationship. The tool needed to build all of these, is communication.

You can talk about any type of ‘new’ or ‘old’ marketing you want to, influencer marketing, engaging marketing, broadcast marketing, transactional marketing – it doesn’t matter. People connect with people and communication is how that happens, in whatever way that works for both.

Wanting a relationship is human, it is only the type of relationship that differs. As a result, organisations (of any size) must seek out ways, online and offline, which build relationships. Use any method you want to, social media, traditional advertising, growth hacking – just make sure that you are creating an environment for a person to have a positive engagement with you / your brand.

If you think about it, in this digitally enhanced and fragmented world of customers – building a relationship that can’t be copied or stolen, may be the only differentiator, in business. How do you build such a relationship? – By using consistent and effective communication.

Business marketing is about communicating a relevant story.

Let’s be fair, some organisations are embracing the notion of consistency in their communication. Almost every day we read about the tsunami of organisations entering into the content marketing and / or storytelling space. The trouble is that sometimes, this is not done in a consistent and effective manner, because they are storytelling from a traditional advertising mind set.

To me, this is a waste of time. Personally, I don’t want any of my timelines interrupted by a tweet, a Facebook or Google+ post, advising me about a great product! No, for me social media is -s-o-c-i-a-l…. I don’t want to discuss my holidays with my bank manager (even if she, ahem, paid for it). Educate me or entertain me – that’s it.

If you want to share a story that includes your brand, make it a compelling and authentic one that I might be interested in. Also, tell me the story where and when I want it. I might want to check out a service of yours on my mobile but I may read about your story in a blog, on my tablet. And if it’s that useful yes, I’ll share it with my friends on my social media networks. Lastly, please make it different to all the other ‘stories’ because my time is precious.

Be smarter about your business marketing because time is precious for everyone. Your time is spent concentrating on growing your business and marketing has to play its role. To do so, however, your marketing must respond to people’s needs and desires. You have to acknowledge this if you are to earn people’s attention.

The fact that you can’t force anybody to listen to your story anymore, means that you have to ensure that you are part of their story. You’ll read many blogs, articles and books on the need for data management, new technology, automation, targeting, optimisation and measurement. But without being authentic when marketing your business, people won’t care and you’ll end up being a busy fool.

Building blocks for smarter business marketing.

Even before embarking on your storytelling journey, there are some building blocks that should be in place, especially if you are a small business with a small marketing budget.

  • Identify your USP. Choose one thing that differentiates you from competitors and build around that.
  • Be clear about your audience. Don’t waste time on an audience that will never buy your offerings.
  • Use the right channels. A channel should get new customers, and/or build relationships / reputation.
  • Start off with a clear business model. Ensure correct pricing – from a customer’s point of view.
  • Enjoy yourself. Do things you enjoy and that fit with your company’s values.

Tips and Timesavers.

We mentioned above about a business building relationships. Last week one of our Facebook friends, contacted us for activity ideas, to sell products online between now and Christmas. We do apologise for mentioning the ‘C’ word so early in November. However, as we can’t all afford the big TV campaigns, some of the ideas below may help to level the online playing field for SMEs, in the coming weeks.

  1. Maximise social: If you’re planning some offline activity such as a flyer (QR codes), a trade show, a Christmas market stall – broaden your activity impact using social media. Have early-bird discounts, talk about the advantages of shopping early and online. Use each channel / audience in a different way and invite them to get involved (by sharing). If you have a range of products think of using Pinterest.
  2. Site optimisation: track search activity and re align landing pages and search terms. Have you access to FAQs or a sizing chart (fashion). Use large thumbnail images, quick view buttons and testimonials. Make sure the check-out process is simple.
  3. Create an experience: Set up an advent calendar. Each day have an offer on a particular product, have a discount, a 24 hour competition, a quote, a picture – anything that raises awareness or drives people to your site. (O2 have done this in Ireland in the past offering music downloads). Use Instagram to give people gift ideas.
  4. Get emotional: Email is still a personal channel. Use an online ‘pull strategy’ to encourage people to send their gift ‘wish list’ to you. Get them to write a story about why they would want to give one of your products to someone they love. Maybe the best story would get a free gift etc. Their email would give you permission to mail your catalogue to them, for inspiration.
  5. Be generous: Create Christmas themed gift cards. Offer free discount cards – people tend to spend more than the card offer. Promote a BOGOF offer which would help people to solve their gift buying problems by getting two for one! How about free posting?
  6. Be helpful: Delivery countdown. Remind your online followers that there are only ‘x’ amount of days left to ensure pre-Christmas delivery. Let them know if a particular product is almost out of stock.
  7. Be human: Set up a scheduled tweet. Don’t go overboard on this but there is nothing wrong with a little Christmas cheer – schedule a ‘greeting tweet’ for Christmas Eve or Day.

Hopefully, some of these might ‘spark’ an idea of your own.  We want to ensure that you have a turkey stuffin’, wine sippin’, santa hat wearin’, cracker pullin’ bit of fun, this Christmas season.

Outsourcing your content management.

To finish, I’d like to return to the notion of organisations entering into the content marketing and / or storytelling space, in an ineffective manner. Sometimes the task of ‘storytelling’ is delegated to the overworked marketing team (or development person) that are trying to get their heads around data management, new technology and customer’s increased expectations.

The obvious answer is to outsource. However there is a caveat here also. Traditional agencies may lack digital knowledge and digital agencies may lack strategic know how. There is a new breed of content and editorial agencies but the trouble is that they may well lack brand knowledge. Perhaps we will eventually get an integrated model that can understand both the editorial mind set and the brand management side but in the meantime, make sure you all agree the deliverables up front.

“Here’s the plug folks – at O’C&K we combine our own experience and that of our ‘contacts community’ to deliver brand management, engagement strategy and storytelling into a seamless experience for your brand. Let us know if we can help”.

  If you have any other tips or timesavers please leave a reply below. If you’d like to receive similar content, just subscribe by clicking through the pink button, on this page.  Of course, if you want to get in touch, leave your details and perhaps we might meet for a chat, cheers.   Jim – O’C&K