Welcome to the attraction economy. Where permission marketing is passe because, with attraction, customers now come to you. Where the currency of this new economy is emotion. And where stories are the fuel for this new economic engine.
This is all according to Kevin Roberts, CEO of ad firm Saatchi & Saatchi. In an appearance at last week's Ad:Tech conference he put it simply as:
"Reason leads to conclusions. Emotion leads to action. We're in the business of generating action."
Whether or not you buy into the idea of a shifting economy, one of "attraction", as a marketer you can't avoid the truth: we're in the business of generating action. And how do you emote someone to act in today's noisy, crowded marketplaces and our current world of information overload?
That's where Kevin's new currency comes in; storytelling. It was once easy to stand out as a good storyteller. The difference today lies in the mass quantities of information and stories competing for our attention. We need to filter out most of it in order to understand any of it. That's made us better judges of authenticity. We've all got pretty good B.S. detectors these days.
So how to make your story stand out?
- Stand for something. And stand there. It's very tempting as a marketer to glob onto the next big "cool" thing. Or to instigate change. That's how we're wired. It's part of what makes us good at what we do. Drawing a line in the sand and saying this is what you stand for and not wavering makes your stories resonate. It makes your stories matter.
- Involve your customers. Stories are much more powerful when told by those who live the experience.
- Tell your story from "their" point of view. Too often, we marketers cast our company and product as the hero of the story. After all, it's our story, so shouldn't we be in the starring role? Actually, by putting your audience member as the main character, you've given them a stake in the game. Of course, your product is what makes them live happily ever after. But it's a story about them, not you.
- Show more. Tell less. Think of your story as a children's book...there are more pictures than words. Engage both sides of your audience's brain.
- And, most of all, you must be authentic.
John Moore, the brilliant proprietor of Brand Autopsy, put this last point beautifully in a recent blog post:
"When working with clients, I stress the importance of TELLING THE STORY and not Making Up a Story.
TELLING THE STORY is about designing marketing communications to deliver on the promise all the while being clever, savvy, authentic, and true to the brand. It’s about treating consumers as being interesting and interested."
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