5 Hints to Make Your Marketing Message More Compelling

I recently attended the Master of Business Online Conference, and thoroughly enjoyed the variety of presentations ranging from InBound Marketing to Mobile Marketing.  However, my favorite session of the day was a bold talk on “How to Make Your Story Not Suck” by Don Schindler.  Don’s engaging talk really pulled me in, just like any great story can do, which ironically was the entire point of the discussion. 

 The session was a great reminder of how quickly we can forget how important the story is behind our marketing.  It can be all too easy to jump into a tactic without slowing down and making sure the messaging is interesting and touches our audience.  All great strategies are a loss if the story is wrong.

 Here are 5 quick takeaways that will help your copy read less like an ad and more like a best seller:

1) Ask Questions – Don previewed the Notre Dame “What would you fight for?”  ad campaign and brought up the brilliant point that people simply cannot stop themselves from answering question. Incorporate questions into your marketing to get your audience engaged immediately.

2) Pull from well known story genres – People love reading mysteries, comedies, and romance novels.  They don’t get as excited about reading lists of features and benefits.  Stop boring your audience with the dull bullet points of your business and wow them with the emotional pull of your company told in a completely different way. 

3) Make Your Company the Hero – What problem is your product or service helping to solve?  You are a superhero in someone’s eyes, so think through what evil you are helping to rid the world of and go with it.

4) Use Storytelling Techniques - Write your content following the techniques of every great storyteller:  Set the scene quickly, hook them with the conflict & rising action leading up to the climax, and then recount the resolution to the problem. Don highly recommends reading The Story Factor for even more insight into this inspiring way of writing.

5) Write Differently – When you consider how you are writing about your product or service, break away from how you have described it before.  Rip away all of the marketing fluff.  Think about new and interesting ways to position yourself that are not only interesting to the reader, but also make you stand apart from the competition. 

Here's to great storytelling and more effective marketing!

Comments

[Laura Sweeney]

Thanks Kerry - good luck and let us know if we can help in anyway. By the way, looks like you offer some very cool little hats - what a fun product! Lots of great material to work with for a fabulous marketing story.

[kerry]

very informative....i am going to give it a try....