The Importance of StoryTelling
Just finished the book “All Marketers are liars (tell stories)”, and strongly advise it, is not enough. It will help if you read it. Marketers are the target for this book, but genuinely everyone who wants to grow a business and has a company should read it.
So many times, I tried to start a business by buying and selling stuff online, unsuccessfully. I had to drop the prices so substantially that I would not have profit at all.
For months and months, I thought the problem was in me; I am just not a seller. I should focus on other stuff. Recently, I found this great author and inspiration, Seth Godin.
Started by listening to a few podcasts, and interviews that he had on YouTube, then I found out he is the author of 19 bestselling books.
Of course, I had to give it a try, and bought two books of him — “All Marketers are liars” and “This is marketing”. The books are small and of easy reading. Perfect because I am not the most patient guy for the task.
This book gave me a healthy perspective on storytelling and the importance of having a story when creating a brand or having a brand already established.
No way, I could ever profit by selling stuff with no story and values attached. People don’t buy things without being told a story first, regardless of how good your product/service is.
The importance to have a story attached to what your selling is crucial, especially now in a saturated market. Even if you have a product/service that you genuinely passionate about and believe that will work, sometimes and most of the times it will not work.
This passion and desire will blind you from apparent pieces of evidence. Don’t go that way; people are convinced already by other brands stories, established on the market for years and successfully. JBL is the best brand for speakers, and I refuse to buy from another brand because they converted me already. They told me that they make life more connected, entertaining, personalized and productive, and I believed it. Most of my friends have them, I have them, and I am satisfied. If you start your own speakers’ business, don’t try to convince me, convince one of my friends that was not convinced by JBL yet, and tell him a unique, authentic story first. He might persuade me later, who knows.
You noticed above that I mentioned authentically. Yes, because storytelling needs to be authentic. We, consumers, are not stupid. It’s like the old saying “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”. If your story doesn’t match your product or service, stays relevant and coherent throughout the process, you might fool me once, but for sure you will not fool twice and neither my friends will want it as well because I will convince them otherwise.
As a brand, if your goal is to gain a market share of an already saturated market you have to tell a story to a target segment, or what we call a niche that is yet not convinced by your competitor story.
The marketer job is to find that segment and elaborate a story based on factual pieces of evidence that will persuade a consumer to convert and create affinity with your brand and values.
This process might take time but will be highly effective if a brand manages to reach a few loyal consumers that most likely will tell their friends how good their story is. If you can retain a small portion of a market share with a loyal customer is way better to fight with already established brands that contain a more significant amount of a market share.
You may have the best product, with the best quality, design and logo, but if you don’t have an authentic story supporting it and a target audience willing to hear it, there is slight to none chances to succeed.
We are not just serving the market; we are creating valuable stories that will convert consumers on making long-term decisions.
“Stories let us lie to ourselves. And those lies satisfy our desires. It’s the story, not the good or the service you actually sell, that pleases the consumer” Seth Godin.
