A recent post of mine is titledTELL A STORY: EVEN IN B2B MARCOM. Ireally am committed to this concept, so here is some more on that theme.
My friend,John Waire, is an incredible photographer (and husband, and dad, etc.). He recently tweeted regarding another photog who emphasizes storytelling with his images,Daniel Kevorkian. Ina recent post, titled THEARTOFVISUALSTORYTELLING, Daniel says,"We all live among stories … but we sometimes forget that we are storytellers". This reminder is so poignant and eloquent that Ifeel compelled to share it – and to remind myself of this important fact.
John also directed me to theCOLDNOSEPHOTOBLOG(dog lovers – beware – this is very moving). One post, titled,RESCUE:ABUSYPLACE, tells several tiny little stories that are anything BUTtiny. With one excellent image, and a few well-chosen words (sometimes only two or three), the author almost had me adopting a dog – about SIXTIMES!!!
So, what does this have to do with industrial B2BMarcom? How can this sell your product? Can Ishow you the money? This is easy!
Remember, few customers are surfing the net, walking a trade show floor, or making phone calls to your customer or tech service teams because they have ageneralinterest in your products or services. These days, people fire up Google, jump on a plane, or pick up the phone because they have a real problem, or a hot opportunity. Most things are urgent these days. Add to that the fact that our global economy is really stressing organizations and individuals. In other words, these situations contain a lot of emotion. Yes, Iam talking about industry, about business to business situations. And remember, if you are one of the few who are addressing these emotins – with truly valuable and compelling content – you're going to get attention.
When you can see the true VALUE that your information, services, or products deliver to your customer, when you can see how you can reduce the pain – or accelerate the implementation of a hot new idea – then you have the beginnings of a very exciting story. When you can get truly psyched about how you can help your customer, then you've taken the next step. And, when you can wrap it all up in a compelling story – and tell it in the right way, at the right time, in the right place – you just might get a hard-bitten industrial engineer to adopt a puppy.
