Stories With P.O.W.E.R.
Successful marketing is about communicating your brand story in a way that engages, informs, and inspires. To do this your story must be:
Perceptive: First, take the time to truly understand the needs, wants, values, and concerns of your target audience. Pay particular attention to their emotional needs and the barriers to fulfilling them. Next, look at the ways your product or service can align what you’ve discovered. The insights you gain through this process can then be used to create a story that will resonate on a deep level with your target audience.
Ownable: Whether you’re marketing a product or a service, the story you create has to represent your brand truth. Everyone from the CEO to the customer service rep to the guy driving your delivery truck has to feel like they own that story and equally important, are living it. Stories that demonstrate your real passion for what you do and the way you really do it is the most valuable information you can give your customers.
Win: Obviously, when a consumer buys your product, your business wins. But your brand story has to provide a win for your customer as well. Will your product make life better? Easier? More fulfilling? Tell about the win that the consumer will enjoy, courtesy of your product.
Emotional: Sure, the features and benefits of your product or service are important, but can you describe them in a way that touches your target in an emotional fashion? Forget the fact sheet; talk instead about the compelling benefit behind your business.
Real: Forget fluff, hype, and non-essentials. People today are hungering for real, authentic experiences that are relevant to their lives or the lives of the people they care about—and buy things for.