Path to profitable growth is in satisfying the wants, not needs
Characteristics of a great story
It’s true. Not because it is factual, but it is authentic and consistent
Consumers are very good at detecting inconsistencies
They make a promise – bold and audacious
They are trusted. A marketer needs to earn the credibility to tell the story
They are subtle, allowing the consumers to draw their own conclusions
They happen fast
They don’t appeal to logic, but to our senses
They are not aimed at “everyone”. Average people have many different points of view about life and are by and large satisfied
They don’t contradict themselves
They agree with our worldview
Consumers are complicit in marketing. They believe the stories. Without this belief, there is no marketing.
Successful marketers are just the providers of stories that consumers choose to believe
Marketing is about spreading ideas.
How Marketing Works
Consumer’s worldview is already formed
People only notice the new and make a guess
First impressions start the story
Great marketers tell stories we believe
Marketers with authenticity thrive
The curve of making stuff vs the curve of making stuff up
The value in creating and producing something new has dropped. Mass production and advertisements can’t generate profits
Creating something remarkable and then marketing it through storytelling generates profit. Product and service life cycles are much shorter now
Most people selling services/products struggle because they focus on production – making stuff cheaper,better
Remarkable product + storytelling has a better chance of succeeding
Step 1: Worldviews and Frames
Each person has a different worldview
WV = biases + values + assumptions
WV influenced by people, places and life experiences
WV is not about world-sized issues, it more often than not affects how we think about small day-to-day issues
WV = lens for decision making
Frames are elements of a story painted to leverage a worldview a consumer already has. – George Lakoff on political discourse
Frames is the way you hang a story on a consumer’s existing worldview
Frames are the words and images and interactions that reinforce a bias someone is already feeling
Different WVs, different frames
Don’t change WVs. Instead, identify a group with a certain wv, frame your story in terms of that worldview and you win.
Changing WVs is expensive and glamorous work, but doesn’t lead to a lot of profits
People don’t want to change their WVs. They like it, embrace it and want it to be reinforced.
Marketing succeeds when enough people with similar WVs come together in a way that allows marketers to reach them cost-effectively.
Be a big fish in a small pond. Then move to adjacent ponds. – Geoffrey Moore – Crossing the Chasm
Opportunity = find a neglected WV and frame your story for them
People group together into common worldviews and your job is to find a previously undiscovered group and frame a story for those people
Find overlooked big markets by clumping together people with complementary worldviews
WV is not who you are, but what you believe and your biases.
WV is not forever. It’s what the consumer believes right now.
WV affects three things
Attention – whether we pay attention to something new
As a marketer, you cannot force people to pay attention
Push marketing like ads are random interruptions which are not predictable or scalable for marketers
Bias – new information received is coloured with our biases
Euphemisms help you frame a story to get past people’s biases
Vernacular – choice of media, tone of voice, words that are used and even smell
Copywriting
Photography
web design
branding
Examples of marketing to a previously ignored community with a worldview
Examples of new tea brands challenging old brands like Tetley and Lipton
Republic of Tea
Tazo
Selling wine and alcohol through stories
Not all ignored worldviews are markets in waiting. They’re either too small or too much on the fringe
Conventional wisdom has ignored many small communities for long. Such small groups along with other groups that have complementary WVs can turn into a cult -> movement -> trend -> mass market. Leap from the “none-of-the-above” group to the general population.
Unlike Moore’s simple curve, it is a multi-dimensional mess that occurs across populations and WVs and markets
Difference between early adopters and the mass market is one of worldview
It’s a mistake to assume that there’s only one product adoption lifecycle curve and that the only WV that matters is where people are more likely to adopt new tech
Edges of the curve are where there are people with an unfulfilled worldview
Speaking respectfully to a person’s worldview is the price of entry to get their attention
Best marketing stories are told with frames but ultimately spread to people who are open to being convinced of something brand new
It’s not enough to find a niche that shares a WV. That niche has to be ready and able to influence a large group of their friends
[[ToResearch]] How to influence a group to spread the word
A shared WV doesn’t make a community. They just share a bias, but don’t talk to each other because they’re not interested in why others have the same negative view (like hating car dealers)
Best marketing happens when you talk to a group that shares a WV but also talks about it which makes it a community
The desire to do what other people we admire are doing is what helps successful marketing efforts
People buy art at an auction because of their friends. They’re not interested in something that no else is looking for.
Step 2: People notice only the new and make a guess
How the brain processes new information
Look for a difference
Look for causation (coincidence) Three rules for the road between setup and payoff
Use our prediction machine Setup triggers anticipation – what happens next. This leads us to an adrenaline-fuelled insight from making connections ourselves which results in engagement
Rely on cognitive dissonance
In the face of random behaviour, people make up their own lies
We drink the can, not the beverage
People only notice stuff that’s new and different. Once they do, they start making guesses about what to expect next.
Step 3: First Impressions Start the Story
You don’t get much time to tell your story.
Short attention spans
The animal brain inside us and things we do instinctively. The subconscious mind.
To avoid the onslaught of choices, we make snap judgements.
If the story is compelling and addresses basic human desires like fear or power or acceptance, it might be embraced
We have no control over when the first impression happens.
Superstitions are incorrect theories based on snap judgements
Facts are not the most powerful antidote to superstitions. Authentic, personal interaction is.
Step 4: Great marketers tell stories we believe
Marketing = advertising (pre-internet world)
Marketing = storytelling
Tell a story worth sharing and a lie worth remembering
The only way to change minds is to get past the filters and safeguards people erect to insulate themselves from opposing points of view and then to tell a story that spreads
Stories only work because consumers buy what they don’t need
The reason people buy stuff is because of the way it makes them feel
Step 5: Marketers with authenticity thrive
Before we are able to share a story with our friends and family, we should be able to tell it to ourselves
How to start your authentic marketing story
Copy someone from a different industry who is telling a similar story
Discover the cues and signals used
Do them all, not just a few. (Story is a symphony, not a note)
Stories promise to fulfil the wishes of the customer. They offer:
a shortcut
a miracle
money
social success
safety
ego
fun
pleasure
belonging
Competition
You can’t tell a better version of your competitor’s story. Once the customer has bought someone else’s story and believes that lie, persuading the customer to switch is the same thing as persuading the customer to admit that he was wrong. People don’t like to admit they’re wrong
4 reasons why a new product launch failed
No one noticed it – because they were not looking. People only notice something that is remarkable or exceptional.
People noticed it but didn’t want to try it – because they don’t share the worldview as they’re not interested
People used it but didn’t return to it – no sticky enough or lack of habit loops
People liked it but didn’t tell their friends – worldview
The stories that work are the ones that spread.
You succeed by being an extremist in your storytelling, then gracefully moving your product or service to the middle so it becomes more palatable to audiences that are persuaded by their friends, not by the storyteller.
Examples of stories framed around worldviews
“I believe home-cooked meals are better for my family” – Crockpot
“Organic food is better”
You can’t just sit down and make up a story and expect people to believe it. You have to tell a story, not give a lecture
You cannot prove anything to the customer. You gain a customer when she proves to herself that you’re a good choice. The process of discovery is more powerful than being told the right answer.
Expectations are the engine of our perceptions
Storytelling works when the story actually makes the product or service better
Fibs are lies that make the story come true. It’s a way of describing your offering (in human terms) that makes the thing itself more enjoyable or more effective
Fraud is a marketing pitch that once revealed as a story makes the customer angry. Fraud is a story told solely for the selfish benefit of the marketer
Just because people might believe your story doesn’t give you a right to tell it!
Marketing is the art of making promises using non-verbal techniques
Successful stories don’t offer better quality or a good price
Don’t rely on marketing as a crutch. If it requires to change your story or your offering, then that is what you need to do.
Oxymorons – framing a statement around a worldview and then deliberately confounding expectations
compassionate conservatism
socially conscious investing
OMs might help you address a small but previously unaddressed group that actually wants both
Questions to ask
Which worldview are you addressing?
which frame are you using?
what’s the story that’s worth noticing
how will you live your story
what hard decisions are you willing to make in order to keep your story real and pure and authentic?
what are the shortcuts your fans can use to tell the story to their friends? how can you help them frame that story?
how can you radically change your product or service so that the story is natural and obvious and easy to tell?
what is the value of the permission the customer gives you to tell them something
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