As marketers, we need to know what to communicate, how to communicate it and who we should communicate it to. In other words, we need to be storytellers. A great book on this theme is âAll Marketers Are Liarsâ? by Seth Godin. Of course, Seth Godin doesnât mean that we marketers actually lie. His title was designed to get our attention and from his books sales, it seems to have worked. His thesis is that we need a good story to tell about our product (or service) and, as with all good stories, it must be presented in an interesting way that doesnât actually show warts and all. This is no different from what we say in a job interview when we put our best face forward in the most interesting and compelling way.
I am not sure who is to blame (maybe it is Bill Gates and PowerPoint) but we have lost the art of story telling. When we communicate with our audiences, we are in danger of boring the pants off people.
In the same vein, we have lost the plot when it comes to developing our CVPs (customer value propositions) – our âofferâ? to you and me. We go on and on about all the features and benefits of our products and low and behold, our customers are dazed and confused. They probably canât remember what on earth we were talking about.
Enter the storyteller. We need to re-learn this ancient art and apply it to our businesses. This article in the Financial Times on Tuesday of this week tells the story. Click here to read the article.
