Solve the human equation
“Many companies have forgotten they sell to actual people. Humans care about the entire experience, not just the marketing or sales or service. To really win in the modern age, you must solve for humans.” Dharmesh Shah
When human beings get into collaborative patterns of action, whether it be teams or communities of interest, or networks — they all have one thing in common: they contain individuals who share the same stories. It is the shared stories that enable the members of the collectivity to understand each other, their motivations, the habits, the expectations, the fears, the dreams, and this understanding enables the members of the group to anticipate each other’s actions and intentions and so start to move in unison and harmony.
Without this pattern of shared stories, the members of the group may appear as hostile, unfriendly, whimsical, capricious or difficult. Starting out by telling a story, and then the sharing of stories is an age-old method of building up this common libraries of shared stories and understanding in the minds of the members of the group.
Tell Your Story
“No tribal Chief or Elder has ever handed out statistical reports, charts, graphs or lists of facts to explain where the group is headed or what it must do.”
Peg Neuhauser
The ability to articulate your story or that of your company is crucial to almost every phase of enterprise management. It works all along the business food chain. A great salesperson knows how to tell a story in which the product is the hero. A successful line manager can rally the team to extraordinary efforts through a story that shows how short-term sacrifice leads to long-term success. An effective CEO uses an emotional narrative about the company’s mission to attract investors and partners, to set lofty goals, and to inspire employees. Sometimes a well-crafted story can even transform a seemingly hopeless situation into an unexpected triumph
When you begin to talk in stories, your black-and-white words turn into color. Your drab requests turn into a mission. People find you to be more compelling. And once that happens, others will see that stories work, and they’ll start telling stories, too.
Grow Awareness
“Content marketing is more than a buzzword. It is the hottest trend in marketing because it is the biggest gap between what buyers want and brands produce.”
Michael Brenner
To continue winning the internet marketing game, your content has to be more than just brilliant — it has to give the people consuming that content the ability to become a better version of themselves. Smart marketers and smart brand managers understand the importance of leveraging frame of reference to build their brands.
At its very core, marketing is storytelling. The best advertising campaigns take us on an emotional journey — appealing to our wants, needs, and desires — while at the same time telling us about a product or service.
Social media requires that business leaders start thinking like small-town shop owners. This means taking the long view and avoiding short-term benchmarks to gauge progress. It means allowing the personality, heart, and soul of the people who run all levels of the business to show.