All Good Marketing Tells a Story – Part 2 (of 3)

Tap Into Your Roots To Tell Stories That Make a Deeper Connection

Telling your company’s unique story gives it a chance to stand out from the pack. The problem many companies run into is the fear factor. They are afraid to be different or open up, lest they stand out or receive negative feedback. Or they’re afraid that their story is not interesting. So, rather than digging into their roots they stick with clichéd marketing speak that sounds exactly like all the other bland sameness out there. Why do you think you hear so many businesses offering that they’re a “one-stop shop” that is “family owned and operated” and “goes the extra mile”? You’ve heard all those phrases before and they now probably wash over you like a lukewarm cup of water with a side of milquetoast.

Using common clichés and bland phrases don’t enhance your brand. Instead, they cast you amongst the masses, hiding your real story. Start by thinking of different ways to say those tired phrases. Instead of being “family owned and operated” tell people that you’ve been “vested in success for generations.” Instead of being open “24-hours” tell people you’re “ready anytime you need us.” Little things like this can help you open up to your real story and make that consumer connection.

Consumers want a reason to connect with your brand

Developing a deeper relationship with your consumers means taking chances. It means being more transparent and giving telling details about your company, even if it may feel uncomfortable or you fear the unknown.

I once helped craft such a story for a local staffing agency in the Pacific Northwest. The agency had dated marketing materials that made them look like every other small company that launched in the ’80s, and it showed in their outdated logo and website and a color palette of teals and yellows that looked beyond tired. Plus, the language they used was very “safe” – it was corporate, cold and didn’t have the personality of its owner, which was odd because the owner was a community icon and champion of local charities. Convincing them to tie the staffing brand to the owner’s positive image and personality, and highlighting the things that he had done to build the business and his community, brought positive recognition to the company and led to a larger and more loyal customer base over the next year. We updated their website to include the owner’s community stature, spruced up the colors and fonts, and brought the owner’s story to the forefront to create a greater connection to the community of employers and employees that would use their services.

Lying or being vague about your company can only lead to difficulty down the road. Just look at nearly every sports scandal currently being investigated. Being proactively transparent can help improve a company’s image. Look at a company like Buffer, a social media scheduling and analytics company that grew from humble beginnings in 2010 and now serves over 2 million. In 2013 they posted a blog that spoke to one of their founding philosophies – “Default to Transparency”. The blog openly talked about their revenues and the salaries of Buffer employees, with the thinking that “transparency breeds trust.” The blog led to hundreds of comments, many positive, and raised the profile and revenues of the company.

Even companies as big as Chipotle and McDonald’s have benefitted from telling stories that resonated. Chipotle recently made a positive PR move in its pledge to cook with only non-GMO ingredients, and McDonald’s put up a site called “Our Food, Your Questions” to get in front of their own food ingredients narrative. 

While you may not have the budget of those bigger companies, you can still tell your story inexpensively in many ways – through social media, your website, press releases – to help build that trust early on. The path to success changes for every business, but telling your story helps get you noticed. So hone your message, talk with a marketing, PR or advertising professional and build that story.

Up Next: How to Craft Your Company’s Story

All Good Marketing Tells A Story

All Good Marketing Tells a Story – Part 1 (of 3)

By Kyle O'Brien

The phrase “every person has a story” applies equally to business. Every company, business and corporation started somewhere, and their stories – their origin and history, the passion and motivation of the people involved, and the reason for their continued success – beg to be told. Each business is unique, and whether it’s a century-old corporation or a year-new upstart, it has a tale to tell.

The problem some companies have is that they haven’t yet told their story, perhaps because they don’t see it as important, or they don’t know how to put what they are all about into words and images that fit today’s methods of communication. To consumers, yours is just another business trying to get their money. Creating the “why” of the business, the unique selling or marketing proposition, then getting that proposition heard is what leads someone to buy. It makes them care.

Businesses need marketing in some form to help them tell their tales. Successful companies bond emotionally with their customer base. This dramatically increases their chances for brand loyalty and for long-term success, and that happens when they hone their ability to tell meaningful stories about their businesses.

From Retailer To Storyteller

An example I was proud to be involved with was a radio-based campaign for a local outdoor goods retailer in Portland, Oregon. The store was already popular, and the two owners had their names and faces on the side of the building and in their printed and online sale ads. Their business appealed to the independent and outdoor-minded people of the city, but they hadn’t really reached beyond their core customer base, and they had never really told the story of why they originally got into the outdoor retail business.

After sitting down with the two in a meeting, I found they were natural storytellers, and funny as heck to boot. So, I put them in front of the microphones at our radio studios, asked them questions and just let them go for over an hour. What came out of it was a wealth of engaging stories – they were friends since boyhood and had numerous, and often hilarious, outdoor adventures growing up, ranging from comically overturned kayaks to epic motocross trips – which we edited into 60-second commercials that aired on the indie rock station. The campaign, which also included banners and streaming ads on the radio station’s website, not only helped tell their unique story but also entertained in the process. The campaign continued for a year, kept fresh by rotating in new stories every other month, and it led to a widening of the store’s customer base with an increase in brand recognition, and ultimately sales. Letting the public into the owners’ personal world through smart storytelling helped bring them closer to their customers, which broadened their appeal and cemented brand loyalty. The listeners of the radio station felt they were learning intimate details about a local business rather than being sold to, which empowered them to shop at the store with confidence.

When stories like these are told, businesses and marketers win. But businesses need to open themselves up to the storytelling process. They have to understand that people want to know more about them and that this sort of transparency and detail can lead to greater brand loyalty.

See the next chapter of this blog for more about telling stories that make a deeper connection and how to create your story in elevator pitch form.

Visit www.marketingpartners.com.