\u201cTell them a story,\u201d was the advice of one witchy old woman I encountered in a nook and cranny candle shop. We had gotten to talking and she wanted to know what I was writing about. The matter was complicated enough, let alone trying to explain it in one neat little sentence to someone who looked like they popped out of the 14th century. But her words couldn\u2019t have been more evolved \u2013 and on the money.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople will always listen to and remember a story. People are like children,\u201d or something along those lines was what she followed with. I applied her rule not only to my general pitch but also to my approach when building the project. Everything became clearer to me, and more easily communicated to my project. The project found its identity and purpose \u2013 all in a simple storified version of a much more entangled nexus.<\/p>\n
Stories work. Stories get our interest. And stories motivate us to action. Now apply this to your marketing strategy.<\/p>\n
Evaluate your brand with fresh eyes. First, take a little exercise and imagine you\u2019re turning your product or service into a bite-size version of itself. You\u2019ll be selling to the toughest critic there is: A room full of kids. If you\u2019ve ever taught, you\u2019ll know the severity of the task at hand, sooner choosing to go before the Shark Tank or Dragon\u2019s Den panel before baring your brainchild to a room full of brutally honest little people with incredibly short attention spans.<\/p>\n
But if you can get them to understand your idea, get excited about it and communicate it to the next kid that wasn\u2019t privy to your story, then you know you\u2019ve pretty much aced your marketing plan. If they can get it, anyone can.<\/p>\n
So with that picture in mind, go back to your drawing board and take another look at your business, service, product, project or message \u2013 whatever it may be. Judge every aspect of it from your logo, tagline, style; your aim is to evaluate what message you\u2019re communicating. If you can\u2019t figure it out and present it to that room of kids, then you\u2019re wasting your time hoping your clients will a) understand, b) remember and c) most importantly, care.<\/p>\n
Storytelling goes further. It\u2019s not just about communication, branding or even your business \u201csoul.\u201d It\u2019s about getting on board with something that\u2019s been going on since about 1991, but really picked up speed in the last decade. Consider transmedia, cross-platform stories and now of course social sharing. Also pay attention to the type of news that goes viral; it\u2019s always a story.<\/p>\n
Next, take a look at ads. Again, ads that take on the role of a story (either true or fictional) always get increased audience attention and buzz.<\/p>\n