Today we’re gonna be talking about how to implement some of those strategies with one of our favorite strategies in that storytelling.
So we’ve been doing a lot of different storytelling while we’ve talked about different brands and what that really falls under the category of an online marketing is content marketing.
Storytelling is one of those things that it just brings things to life. If you wrap it up in a story, everything comes to life and it just feels a lot better.
Transcript
So over the last few weeks, we've talked about, some of the evolution of branding.
Speaker:And today we're gonna be talking about how to implement some of those
Speaker:strategies with one of our favorite strategies in that storytelling.
Speaker:So we've been doing a lot of different storytelling while we've talked about
Speaker:different brands and what that really falls under the category of an online
Speaker:marketing is content marketing.
Speaker:So, one of the first content marketers was John Deere.
Speaker:And, could you tell us a little bit about your experience with, John Deere.
Speaker:Absolutely storytelling is one of those things that it just brings things to life.
Speaker:So if you're on social media or if you're at a party and you're talking
Speaker:to somebody, the opposite of a story is an anecdote, right, where
Speaker:somebody's just telling you the facts and that can get boring really fast.
Speaker:But if you wrap it up in a story, everything comes to life
Speaker:and it just feels a lot better.
Speaker:John Deere, as you mentioned, Heather is one of the original
Speaker:storytellers as a form of marketing.
Speaker:And I remember reading some articles and, even in some books and some case
Speaker:studies about how John Deere would send out a magazine and they would share
Speaker:information, they weren't selling it.
Speaker:It wasn't a catalog of their products, but they were sharing information for
Speaker:farmers and for others that use their products on how to get things done.
Speaker:And that became something that lasted all the way till now.
Speaker:They still published this.
Speaker:So storytelling is really important and we've got a framework that we
Speaker:use when we're telling stories in order to help put this together.
Speaker:Anytime you have something that's abstract, it's nice
Speaker:to have structure to it.
Speaker:So, Heather, do you wanna hear the storytelling framework?
Speaker:I'd love to hear the storytelling framework.
Speaker:I always forget these things.
Speaker:I need to write it down.
Speaker:So while you're talking, I'm gonna take notes.
Speaker:Well, I took a course from Seth Godin about storytelling, and
Speaker:I think the way they had it structured was four or five C'S.
Speaker:And when it's the same letter, it's really difficult to remember the order
Speaker:and even the, the actual word itself.
Speaker:And so I took that and, broke it down and with our kids, we actually
Speaker:rewrote it as story S T O R Y.
Speaker:And so the way it works is that every story begins with a scene, whether
Speaker:you're watching a star wars movie or you're watching, Harry Potter or
Speaker:whatever it is, it starts with the scene.
Speaker:And sometimes that can be a little bit boring because there's
Speaker:not a whole lot of depth there.
Speaker:It's just more setting up what the rest of the story is going to be about.
Speaker:After this scene is set up, that's when something happens.
Speaker:So the T is thing that happens and usually it's, you know, a car crash or somebody
Speaker:breaks through this, you know, window, or there's something scary that happens.
Speaker:And that's the thing that happens.
Speaker:Then there's the, O.
Speaker:So the hero of this story, you've understood the scene.
Speaker:Something happened to the hero, and now there's an obstacle
Speaker:that this hero has to overcome.
Speaker:Maybe it's jumping out of an airplane who knows after the obstacle,
Speaker:then you've got your R S T O R.
Speaker:Once they've overcome that obstacle.
Speaker:There's this new realization.
Speaker:And they're like, oh, okay, well, I'm a wizard in, in the,
Speaker:in the sense of Harry Potter.
Speaker:Or if you're talking about star wars, you know, Ann again, realizes
Speaker:that, oh, he's got all this power and that's your realization.
Speaker:And at the very end though, why this was tricky for us, because other
Speaker:than yoga, yogurt and yoga, it's hard to find other words for that.
Speaker:So what we did is we just said your new self.
Speaker:And this is the transformation that's occurred.
Speaker:And that's what really wraps up a good story.
Speaker:When you watch a movie that doesn't follow this framework and almost all
Speaker:movies do, especially Hollywood movies.
Speaker:When you watch any movie that doesn't follow this at the
Speaker:end, you're sort of left empty.
Speaker:It doesn't feel like there, you know, there's not that, that,
Speaker:that good feeling at the end.
Speaker:But if you follow that at the end, you feel like you've been part of
Speaker:this story and you're part of the character, the hero's journey.
Speaker:And at the end, it's like, oh, well maybe I can do this too, because
Speaker:there's this realization of a new self.
Speaker:I really love that, you know, in a past life I used to be a teacher.
Speaker:And, one of the things that I did when I was teaching grade
Speaker:five, how to write stories is have that problem for the character.
Speaker:Your story map makes it really clear.
Speaker:I would just say, you know, that you have a character with a goal.
Speaker:And on their journey to get that goal, we're gonna create a problem and then
Speaker:we're gonna create another problem.
Speaker:Mm-hmm and then we're gonna create another problem.
Speaker:And then it kind of creates this comedy story.
Speaker:Like for example, one of the stories I used was a cat who wanted to make
Speaker:an omelet, but then he has these eggs, that hatch, and then the eggs, you
Speaker:know, think that he's their mother.
Speaker:And then, you know, like it's his problem after problem, after problem
Speaker:on his goal to getting an omelet.
Speaker:And at the end, I don't think he does actually get his omelet,
Speaker:but he becomes his new self.
Speaker:. And so for storytelling with our clients, you know, with John Deere, I
Speaker:think that they use content marketing really brilliantly because they're
Speaker:thinking about the client's challenge.
Speaker:And they're thinking about that journey from, you know, our getting to our goal.
Speaker:And then they're speaking to that.
Speaker:So, Amin, can you kind of explain why you think it's so important that brands
Speaker:today are providing helpful content and not just promotional content?
Speaker:Yeah, I think we've been oversold to, and everywhere you go, there's
Speaker:marketing messages and some do it.
Speaker:Well, some do it really poorly where it's just, buy buy buy.
Speaker:And nobody wants to hear that.
Speaker:We we've just become tired of that.
Speaker:And so stories are a way for a brand to be able to build trust.
Speaker:With the audience.
Speaker:Now I'll give you an example on Instagram.
Speaker:There's a really cool, account.
Speaker:It's called Tenile, T E N T S I L E.
Speaker:And they're kind of playing on the word Tensile and Tensile is the
Speaker:strength when you pull something.
Speaker:So this tent actually suspends, its like it's a suspended tent over ground
Speaker:or water or wherever you have and it's across three trees and it hangs there.
Speaker:and it's really cool because their entire Instagram account is just showing
Speaker:images of how the tent is being used.
Speaker:Other people showing how you set it up, how you get in and out.
Speaker:That's one question that I keep by getting asked is like, well, if it's suspended
Speaker:over water, how do you get into it?
Speaker:Or how do you get out of it?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And, and that leads to story.
Speaker:And so you hear the stories about that.
Speaker:Once you have a story and you actually resonate with it, that builds trust.
Speaker:And when you have trust, it's really easy to go and buy something.
Speaker:Because now you don't have to question whether or not this is a brand.
Speaker:First you resonate with first that represents your values and your ethics.
Speaker:And that is what allows you to purchase something easily without.
Speaker:So if you're, if you're thinking about telling stories or integrating content
Speaker:marketing into your current marketing strategy, there's three questions that you
Speaker:can consider, to help you make sure that your content is not just helpful, but it's
Speaker:helpful in terms of a strategy, which at the end of the day will get you sales.
Speaker:And that's thinking about your, your prospects as a community and the
Speaker:kind of community you wanna create.
Speaker:So the kind of people you wanna have around you thinking about your
Speaker:customer persona, when it comes to customer persona, the next question is
Speaker:thinking who belongs in this community?
Speaker:Who is that person that you wanna speak to?
Speaker:And, what are the kinds of obstacles they're facing in their day when they're,
Speaker:when they're on their story journey?
Speaker:What kind of scene are they in?
Speaker:What kind of thing happens that might be an impetus for them to reach out to you?
Speaker:What kind of obstacle might they be facing and what kind of
Speaker:realization do you wanna have.
Speaker:I'm gonna interrupt you there for one second I mentioned Seth Godin earlier, and
Speaker:when I was in the course, he would often say people like us do things like this.
Speaker:Mm-hmm . And when you're part of a community, it's people like
Speaker:us that do things like this.
Speaker:For example, if like me, if you like electronic music, well, people like us.
Speaker:We'll travel far away, spend a lot of money to go and watch a DJ
Speaker:mm-hmm . But you know, if you're into concerts or watching movies,
Speaker:you're not necessarily gonna do that.
Speaker:And you're not one of us.
Speaker:And that's, that's where community is really strong because you
Speaker:resonate with people like us.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's so important, isn't it?
Speaker:We tell our clients all the time to niche down and you know that
Speaker:everybody isn't your ideal client.
Speaker:So how does that people like us, resonate with that creating
Speaker:your ideal client persona.
Speaker:Do you think Amin.
Speaker:Well, I think a brand, if you look at a brand as a, as a persona in itself,
Speaker:Walmart attracts Walmart customers, whereas something higher end will
Speaker:attract higher end customers, right?
Speaker:It's like you don't go to Harry Rosen to buy, you know, a, a cheap shirt, right.
Speaker:You don't go to Walmart to buy an expensive suit.
Speaker:And so those are the kinds of things where people like us do things like this.
Speaker:If you think about your brand, are you trying to attract one
Speaker:type of audience versus another?
Speaker:Are you trying to attract, you know, a Porsche buyer or a Hyundai buyer?
Speaker:Mm-hmm so I think that it's really important that your community also
Speaker:feels safe amongst each other.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So once you kind of get over that fear of niching down and
Speaker:you think about the people like us, mm-hmm, do things like this.
Speaker:Then you can kind of start to look at different ways to
Speaker:connect with people like us.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:So think about some different ways you're gonna connect with them.
Speaker:Where are they online?
Speaker:For example, a lot of my clients used to be on Facebook and a lot of
Speaker:Amin's clients were on Instagram.
Speaker:So now that we've come together, we have to kind of decide like what.
Speaker:The, what is the people like us?
Speaker:Where are they online and how do we really connect with them?
Speaker:So that's the next challenge.
Speaker:So the that's the third question I have for you.
Speaker:But, earlier in this episode we talked a little bit about John
Speaker:Deere and how they were one of the masters of content marketing.
Speaker:And just another quick thing about John Deere is that they
Speaker:created a lot of children's toys.
Speaker:And, creating children's toys, I think is one of the most genius things, a
Speaker:company like that can do because as children grow up, connecting to these
Speaker:toys when they are adults, that nostalgia is what gonna drive them to buy.
Speaker:And so there's a psychological component there too.
Speaker:That is so genius about their marketing strategy.
Speaker:And we're gonna be talking about that in.
Speaker:Episode, we're gonna talk about some psychological principles that are gonna
Speaker:help you to implement these strategies and engage the subconscious mind.
Speaker:I'm looking forward to it and just like having a framework for story.
Speaker:I know Heather, you're gonna talk a little about, a framework for how to understand
Speaker:the psychology of branding and marketing.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:And it might feel manipulative, but it's just science.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Well, this was really fun, Heather.
Speaker:I'm glad we had a chance to talk about this.
Speaker:I'm looking forward to our next episode and thank you again for listening to
Speaker:our show and we'll see you next time.
Speaker:If you're looking for more great, remarkable tips, you can find us
Speaker:online@remarkablebranding.com or engage with us on social media.
