If I had to make a bet on what is missing from your business marketing…..
I am betting what is missing from your business is You!
Not the faux you.
If you are like most folks, the transparent, principled, unique you is out as you attempt to be all things to all people. Keep reading and notice the examples I mention later on.
Learning to tell stories is neccesary to standing out in an over crowded, screaming, hyperbolic world. It is as human as human can get.
Our caveman kin did it thousands of years ago around the camp fire (they did not have Instagram I am told).
A good brand story can take your prospect through a journey of emotions that lead to your credibility through your transparency and your demonstrated expertise. A good story is a De-Commoditizer. Its the anti-sameness elixir.
In short, it leverages your number one power that we all share. But few will allow themselves to reveal.
That is your humanness.
Seriously, is there anything more intoxicating than the words, “Once upon a time..” Or, Just imagine….?
Your digital business story is told through time via the tools given to you via the internet.
Do you buy a brand, or do you buy the feelings that you attach to that brand?
Would you like to know what makes it the easiest for your prospects to attach their good feelings to your brand?
1. Humanness and belonging
2. Demonstrating humanness through story
There is nothing more human than story or myth.
Consider a story I told recently in my Facebook feed.
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I have often marveled at memes, even before meme was a common word. (I highly recommend Richard Brodies Virus of the Mind for a very readable introduction. Too many know memes as the photo quotes dropped across the web. In short a meme is a viral thought. It behaves like a real virus, except that it is of mind, and it like a virus it mutates.).
One time upon travelling on vacation in the 6th grade, and staying at a dude ranch in Idaho. We met the owner’s kids and befriended them. And I delighted in the same myths that they told we also told in Hawthorne, CA. Somehow those stories made it over one thousand miles to St. Anthony Idaho.
Or did St. Anthony Idaho make it to Hawthorne, CA?
As I matured and sharpened my intellectual curiosities I was noticing that some of the old slangs that we used as kids were being used by my own kids.
But they often mutated somehow.
For example the phrase “down low” meant to my mid life brain, on the “qt”. Which means “keep it hush”. Which means “keep it confidential” lol. “loose lips sinks ships kind of thing”.
Not so much these days. In fact, after several years of raising kids and coaching dozens. I am still frustrated with my lack of command of a working definition for the modern version of the words “down low”.
Of course with kids that might be the point!
Now “Boof”. (Or is it “beuf”? )
That is a new word that this generation has created (as far as I know). It means in some ways fake. A nicer way to day it is generic.
Easy example that works for me. Is that when I was a kid OP (Ocean Pacific) shorts were what us kids who fashioned ourselves as surfers/skaters would crave for our branded uniform. Besides our shaggy hair and over scraped -scarred knees.
So back then and even today, it is quite easy to identify that the only point of difference is a label. Often made in the same exact sweat shops. So my dad being Mr. practical and budget bought us what kids today would call boof >>OP courdery shorts from Target. Without the OP label.
Argh! the shame and humility!
I grew up hating Target lol.
Do you remember Members Only jackets? One time I took off my overpriced Members Only and compared it to the boof one on the rack of a store. Same exact markings, made in Pakistan, everything! except the brand label.
I discovered that the printed letters “members only” cost me an extra $26 for that inferred membership “card” and my packed feelings that were marketed into those words.
Little did I know pops got me educated on how importing and marketing works. Disintermediation and branding. Today names like Wish and Alibaba make that process easier. Is it fair to say that there is no Amazon without the formers?
My ex-wife’s dad was a pioneer in that stuff. He would go to Italy find the hot fashions, take it to Asia to copy cheap. And import it to us consumers to get on a budget.
Remember those rainbow rubber flip flops? He introduced them on Target stores.
That was his account. Weird how worlds collide. He spent six months out of the year abroad. Three in Italy secretly photographing up and coming fashions. Often getting chased out of the stores. Then the other three in Asia getting them produced. Today, they do that online in minutes.
Words mutate and evolve as do ideas.
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Your Business World is a Members Only Jacket
It is human nature to generalize. When we generalize. We find sameness, and then we can compare on price.
A brand makes comparing more complicated if not impossible.
A personal brand with a story is a super brand.
Persona Marketing
There is a lawyer in LA who I feel like he has been running TV commercials since black and white. Larry H Parker. I cannot believe he is still around. And after decades of programming I cannot forget his name.
And who can remember Go See Cal? He would do stunts on planes, put his head in Shamu the whales mouth. Or his dog spot a Tiger.
Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
There was only a few channels to tempt us away in those day. And 30 seconds of a new Cal Long Beach Dodge commercial was a nice chance to grab snacks in between “I Love Lucy” re-runs. But often his commercials were like mini shows since they were always unique.
I call these personas the Colonel Sanders effect.
By personifying your brand, you can attach human qualities to something that is lifeless and where most benefits have been bastardized and obfuscated by competition.
You on the other hand cannot be copied.
You are attaching feelings to your business. Think about what feelings Cal put on the viewer. Most folks do not trust car dealers. But how could you not trust Cal Worthington?
In fact, it kind of makes you feel a bit smarter than some of his foolery right? How can you not out negotiate this guy who:
“I will stand upon my head to make a deal,
I will stand upon my head until my ears are turning red
Go see Cal, Go see Cal, Go see Cal”
Think about Colonel Sanders. Very cartoonish humans right? But very human. Vulnerable. And memorable.
I am not too sure Larry H Parker would be so successful if he would take “your case until he was red in the face! Go see Larry go see Larry.” But his persona was appropriate for his business and most importantly relatable. By the way his line is “I am Larry H. Parker and I will fight for you!”
What I want to impart onto you is that what is missing from your business is mostly the you! Your story(s) makes you relatable.
Did you relate at all to my OP shorts story above? Have you gone through that pain as a kid? Of not getting what you want. But what is maybe worse, not getting the “team uniform” of your generation at that moment?
Then as an adult did you capitulate to your kids wanting today’s version of OP? (It is Volcom if you need to know 😉
Too often business people want to hide behind a professional veneer, or even worse their brand name.
I do not care how unique your service or product is. It is easily commoditized and copied with todays technology.
The difference maker is you.
Humanizing, personifying your business as you, the Larry H Parker of your business. Makes your business more personable. More unique. More difficult to compare to and forget.
Create a Cult of Personality
You might recall that I have been a football coach off and on over the past 18 or so years.
And one of the greatest compliments that I have ever received from a parent is that he was going to miss my “cult of personality“.
When you are on a Coach Tim and company team, you belong to something special, something different. The parents and kids knew it. I get calls and DMs all the time from pro athletes, coaches, and parents harkening to those days.
Same with the digital marketing side.
Family.
When you make your organization a cult. Something to belong to. To be part of. That is when there is no comparable to you or your business. Because in fact,
“belonging is humaning”
Examples of Personified Cult Brands
- Lady Gaga‘s Star Rose From Cult Marketing-Fans have their own names (little monsters), their own hand signals, and words.
- Football if one can call it a brand persona with its athletes speak in secret codes, have their own rules, hand signals.
- Apple-I am hesitant to list Apple other than really without Steve Jobs is there an Apple cult following?
- KISS-I grew up with Kiss and the various characters the band members represented. It was cartoon, super hero mythology and cult following all in one.
- Kim K- is a great example of persona branding.
How Do I Join, and Why Would I Want To?
- Connection– no need to talk about that as I have beat it to death.
- Insider- Did you catch that band gif a few paragraphs up? That is a band from my young adult era called Living Colour. The song they are playing is Cult of Personality. If you knew that without me saying it. You got my inside reveal.And you probably had a pretty cool song that makes you feel good, play inside your mind. Yes, you are welcome.
Do you remember the comedy of Steven Wright? He had this dry almost depressive monotone delivery that on the surface did not cry comedy! But it was his intellectual highbrow content that made your brain split in half figuring it out. And when you did. You were an insider.
Same with Seinfeld. I was told to watch the sitcom from my chiropractor long ago. He told me to make sure give it three episodes before I judge it. Two in I was hooked . Talk about a cult following.
When you get the joke, you kind of become an insider. When you get the cult, you are an insider.
So how do you cultify your audience?
When you present an idea into your prospect or clients mind and a light goes on. You own that space for ever! You are the voice that speaks to them about your subject matter. They are inside baseball as they say. And you are the host.
You Own the Frame.
You created the frame. That is the context by which they see that part of their world.
Thus, you are the authority they go to on that subject.
Often times, the very fact that you are the only one attempting to set the frame, allows you to own it.
In short, you make your business hep.
Intellectually, physically, spiritually, intellectually etc. Or all of the above.
Why? To stop sameness!
I have clients who do laser and body reshaping. Some of it is based on radiofrequency. In other words, they “microwave” your skin!! Go too deep and it isn’t skin anymore, its the stuff the skin is protecting. Oops.
So those machines must be precise. And they must be calibrated and maintained. And why they cost $100,000 and up.
Or go to Amazon and buy copies for $100! What’s a little microwave on my liver? Yikes!
But people will buy those to save a buck. So my clients are competing not only against others with similar or the same machines. But also the illusion that one can do in effect a DIY from duped sources.
In order to inoculate against sameness, they created a club VIP card and mixed procedures with unique labels that only they provide.
Sound familiar?
How do we see this work in the real world, perhaps your world?
Real Estate-ForSaleByOwner.com one of the original DIY for real estate. (I actually created a huge fsbo site before them but that is a story for another day). Today we see Zillow and others attempting to disrupt the MLS model of selling. There has been talks of them attempting a fee for service model, and others who will buy the house at a discount for a fast sale to flip it.
SIde note: I created the big to small geo location model. State, county, city, neighborhood. The seo idea of General to specific in that niche anyway. Some later would mix that with the later concept of long tail and hyperlocal. But its not a complete story without the general, specific.
Cars-I actually sat in on a sales pitch to one of the first online car disrupters called AutobyTel back in the 90s. Today, many shoppers have already done their shopping by the time they hit the car lot. And many purchase without ever getting to the lot. That means there had better be something unique in those deals or it is all price comparison.
Aesthetics-As soon as one radiofrequency or laser comes out the competitor creates something similar. Consider Botox. At one time $1000+ and I have seen it on PCH in Redondo Beach offered on a banner for $40. One way out of this trap is to combine procedures to create a higher perceived value.
Dental-emergency dentistry is real and helps drive needed sales. But a cavity is a cavity. Until it is an emergency.
Plumber or trade can get away with the emergency aspect and at some point their phone will ring. Backed up pipes, broken roof, etc.
DUI or Criminal attorney is an emergency.
Differentiation comes from renaming what you do. Often that comes with added value perceptions. However, simply changing the label or name makes comparison difficult.
In any of these I learned early on, that the service name. Like Botox is hot with little competition online until it commoditizes and the keywords need to expand to catch folks in the middle of research points.
These research points are what I call your digital breadcrumbs.
Much of it can be solved through storytelling. Myth making.
My pal did a 2.5 hour webinar the other day. How many people sit through a whole 2.5 hour webby? I suggested he cut it up and distribute it across his socials as his digital breadcrumbs that funnel folks to the bigger webby at YouTube or his money site.
Cut ups, or digital breadcrumbs as I say, seem like a story about nothing all on their own. But together they tell a compelling reason to join your team!
What is your story to tell ?
There is not a straight line anymore. Digital is not a sequential book. It is not just produce some good blog content and move on. It is also about dropping your digital breadcrumbs of your delicious content morsels all over the web. To support your message across the web.
“Digital Media is the story of your brand told through time.”
You can produce content for all of your social media and 2.0’s. Which can be daunting. Or use your single post from your blog and syndicate it out to your many platform entities. Or both. This also can include your persona representing your company.
Back in 2007 I explained some of the possibilities to the Chicago Tribune. All we had were blogs back then. Today, there are tons more.
Persona Examples
The Huell Howser Approach
Howser was a California treasure. He produced a PBS show for years called “California Gold”, and “Visiting With Huell Howser.”
These shows were so informative that I believe that they should be included as part of any history class in school. He helped us locals discover stuff about our California that we never knew existed.
This is Howser doing a show on the Perris, Ca Rail Museum. Particularly interesting to me as my father grew up on a ranch out there.
HIs awe shucks and unassuming style made for a very watchable show that was in effect about our California history.
He is useful to mimic for anyone who is shy in front of a camera and not sure how to produce content. It is not about him at all. He puts the show onto his guests.
I can see many local businesses following Huell’s construct to humbly take the authority over their local area before anyone notices.
I taught a local Realtor to use this approach.
He was shy about approaching people and before we knew it he was interviewing business affiliates, chefs, and community leaders at events.
He knew who Howser was. I said do him. He did his style very well! And owned the authority frame for doing it.
She Who Gets Asked, gets the Authority
Watch Christi Carrillo of Keller Williams Silicon Beach, Marina del Rey here in this video.
Do you think she exudes authority? She does not even speak much about her business or profession. But you know that she knows her stuff. She even mentions the book she has coming out for even more authority stacks.
When you own the frame, you get to own the narrative. You get to tell the story. Because if you want to be found you have to be online. If you want to check out as credible you have to have good reviews (your story as told by your cult).
To own mindshare or authority. You have to own the frame by which your market views the world.
The Story Teller
Check the ad agency guys reframe a “wheel” into something more compelling.
The Elevator Pitch
We have all heard of the vaunted “elevator pitch”. That compelling snippet that you utter to a stranger when they ask you what you do for a living when in between floors on the elevator.
“I make it rain leads for you !” is probably not a great example. But better than nothing.
Remember that stories (emotions) sell, facts tell. People act on emotion.
Stories tap into emotion while lowering ones resistance.
A good template structure for an elevator pitch is demonstrated by Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology:
- State the Problem
- Present Your Solution
- Explain Why People Should Trust You
- Describe Your Value Proposition
- Offer a Call to Action
That and other elevator pitches are a very short and hopefully compelling story that naturally bring people to consider doing business with you.
But before we go much further let us look at what makes a good story.
The Structure of a Good Story
Imagine
John Lennon asked us to imagine….. And pretty much any fans were pretty much down with whatever came next. Imagining is fun. It is once upon a time in a world far far away.
Drama/Conflict
Someone is wronged, killed, subject to the wrong side of fate. As a human of any adult age, pretty much everyone can relate to drama and conflict.
Resolution
The drama resolves itself either into a happy ending, or at least some sort of lesson for the hero ie the reader.
Antagonist-don’t all stories have a bad guy. Darth Vader or Lord Sith type? One of my favorite conflicts in a story is when the protagonist is also the antagonist like Walter White in Breaking Bad. And Tony Soprano in the Sopranos.
Hero
I highly recommend studying Joseph Campbell and the Reluctant Hero or Heroes Journey. Almost every movie and Madison Avenue advertisement has elements of his work inside their art.
In fact, there would be no Star Wars without having met Campbell, so says George Lucas.
The journey goes something like this. Oh, before I tell you. Realize there are only about 8 stories in the world ever. They all follow the same path. The journey is one of them.
What does the story of Jesus, Superman, Spiderman and Rambo have in common? You got it! The Heroes Journey.
I found this Joseph Campbell documentary. It is more about self help than advertising. But it does delve a bit into ads. The hero journey. Is the most pervasive story told by mankind. Generation to generation. I highly recommend investing two hours. It might be life changing for you!
It is also the most pervasive story told by your advertisers to get you to buy. They make you the hero. They make you the Luke Skywalker or Wonder Woman of your world. Because you deserve it don’t you. 😉
Remember that this is not a sequence, It is a non-linear series of events published as blogs, comments, posts, videos, etc left as digital breadcrumbs. Fed to your audience non-sequentially. Seemingly without order.
For me I usually like to start here, from an article. However, I have and am going back and cutting up old interviews that I have done as the interviewer and guest. And using those to drop my breadcrumbs. The story from Facebook above actually served as a foundation for this article.
I can actually screen shot one of the quotes above because:
The Digital Mafia
There was a critical blog called Salty Droid that complained about those who partook in “get rich ” quick marketing of the early 2000s. (Today’s similar version is a channel called CoffeeZilla on YouTube). Critical of this hyperbolic sort of marketing, it was mostly a rant fest for my tastes.
I am not saying that is was spot on or off ethically, but it did point out some fundamentals that are seemingly agnostic.
That is upgrading the old idea of the Joint Venture could work when marketers with similar lists came together to promote one another’s products. Salty Droid called this a conspiratorial like mafia.
Done for good it is just a very effective joint venture.
What if you joined forces with local businesses to support them and to offer them help to build their business. All in the hopes of mutual support? Sort of taking BNI or the Chamber to the streets?
The content that can naturally flow from this could be epic and keep you and your business friends very busy story telling, and more clients!
This is something we did for a local client once and we were well on the way until health reasons slowed him down.
The Roving Reporter
I thought I would end this by pointing to somebody who I recently discovered just this year. His name is Michael Yon. He calls himself “America’s most experienced living combat correspondent.”
I have no idea if that is true. But it did get me to dive into his blogs. The path. The story I listened to intently was back in January during the tensions there. Then he moved it to the border of San Antonio and into Mexico.
New to his methods I had no idea what his method was.
He talked about masking and he was into masking long before anyone even admitted the need for a shutdown. And how he is concerned about pandemics. And how what we have in the modern world is much less than what happened to the locals as America was visited by the Europeans a few hundred years ago. And how his family was amongst those who landed on the East Coast as refugees.
He goes on and on and plays comparisons of todays march towards the border vs then. And even visits my area in Los Angeles and the crime, and homelessness. That maybe we need to take care of those here first. All dictated mostly by photos, and some text, and some essay. He even visits as far south as Columbia and the deadly Darien Gap.
It is brilliant story telling through time. Whereby he uses time to tell the story he wants and really does tell it sequentially. With each visit to a location as a chapter of a book that never ends.
A great read and study if you are into that kind of thing. And if you got this far, then I suspect that you are.