Telling Stories in your business marketing will open up conversations and show new clients you really ‘get them’.
Walt Stack was a working guy in San Francisco who loved to run. His Wikipedia profile says they think he ran 62K+ miles in his lifetime. At 80 years of age Walt’s story was the focus of the first Nike ‘Just Do It’ video. The story clip shows Walt running across the Golden Gate Bridge, on his daily 17 mile run, with him talking about people asking him how he stops his teeth from chattering on cold mornings. “I leave them in my locker” he chuckles.
‘Just Do It’ then rolls across the screen with the now famous Nike swoosh.
Nike sells a commodity. They sell sports shoes. Interestingly, never once in the ad do we see Walt’s shoes, or discuss what he runs in. Instead, the marketing clip is telling his story and showing that if Walt can run at 80, we can all get moving.
What do you think of when you see the Nike swoosh?
By personalising their marketing, they engender a warm friendly, positive persona. They give sports shoes a personality. From top athletes, to Dad who plays footy with his son, they build them up. Campaigns such as ‘Find Your Greatness’ supports and promotes health and being active.
Nike may now have millions of dollars to spend on marketing but that certainly wasn’t the case in the early days. Importantly their focus on telling stories and putting people at the centre of their marketing remains today. No brand does it better.
Stories sell. They build TRUST.
The marketing of your local business online is trying to recreate meeting someone in person, which is not always easy!
Share your own story. I know its scary putting your head above that parapet! Tell your clients and future clients how you ended up running your own show. What career path and experiences have you had? What training, passions and circumstances led you down the entrepreneurial road.
Share stories of how you’ve helped your clients. You don’t have to share their names just tell us how you’ve solved skin problems, made them more money, got them a mortgage, sold a property or saved them some tax. Get specific and detailed on exactly how you’ve improved their life.
Every business I meet needs to to add more personality into their marketing. Stories help build TRUST. Otherwise anyone looking in just sees a logo, a brand, a generic service that looks like everyone else in your industry, Meeting new clients online gets SO much easier when you show up in person and share stories. People want to hear what you care about, why you do what we do and the type of people you help.
We need to show up through videos, articles and photos why we’re so good at what we do and the passion we have. A restaurant would show off their dishes, a clothes store rails of clothes. If you’re a service, non visual industry that isn’t as easy, but it is possible. Think of the ASB bank series of TV ads featuring the young couple buying their first house, putting in underfloor heating, growing their own tomatoes to save money, opening a business. Those ads have added a story to an otherwise dry service. They’ve bought it alive.
We need stories about YOU, the team, the faces behind the brand (narrative and photos):
Major birthdays/awards/stand-out piece of work/fun stuff (pets/cycling/social events/hobbies/charity events)
Team initiatives, collaborations and training – eg charity work, team night out.
We need stories of how you have helped customers:
Tell the story of what problem you solved for a customer. Likelihood is other potential customers have the same issue and need the same solution.
Remember Walt? Nike told his running story to inspire others to get active. Who is your Walt equivalent?
