M a r k e t e r the seven plots all stories must follow
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QUARTERLY THE M A R K E T E R THE SEVEN PLOTS ALL STORIES MUST FOLLOW LESSONS OF OSCAR- WINNING MOVIES CONTENT MARKETING: STRATEGY OR TACTIC? I s s u e 3 Q u a r t e r 2 2 0 1 8 WHY THEY MATTER AND HOW TO TELL BETTER ONES the 50 best marketing blogs
THE STORYTELLING CHALLENGE THE
MAGIC OF
seth godin
on stories vs anecdotes STORIES
15 S o p h i s t i c a t e d M a r k e t e r Ads.indd 15 17/05/2018 16:53
S o p h i s t i c a t e d M a r k e t e r 3 O nce upon a time storytelling was something that parents did at bedtime, or novelists did when their publisher asked for a book, or film directors did to win an Oscar. It wasn’t part of any marketer’s job description, and it certainly wasn’t a skill they would list on their LinkedIn profile. Then, suddenly, in 2012, everything changed. In just two years, storytelling went from something no market- er mentioned about themselves to an essential market- ing skill, one listed by almost 10% of marketers world- wide as part of what they do. What changed? Why did marketers suddenly decide that they needed to tell better stories? And have we really learned what it means to be a storyteller? These are the questions we answer in this special issue of The Sophisticated Marketer Quarterly as we dive into the state of storytelling in marketing. In our special features, we’ll be exploring what storytelling really means to marketers: the challenges it lays down, the opportunities it opens up, and the reasons why it’s such an effective form of communication for both B2B and B2C. We talk to Brian Solis about why he believes storytelling principles need to trans- form marketing and future-proof it in the process. We use the 7 plots of stories to challenge wheth- er brands have what it takes to be genuine storytellers, and we’ve got bags of practical advice from experts on how to develop your proposition into a genuinely compelling story. You’ll find all of our regular features too, plus our exclusive ranking of the 50 best blogs for B2B market- ers, lessons and inspiration from Oscar-winning movies, TED talks and punk rock bands, and how to tell if you really have a content marketing strategy. That’s the story of this issue. We hope you enjoy it! FROM THE TEAM WELCOME TO OUR STORYTELLING SPECIAL ISSUE Cream Publishing Cream Publishing, Adur Business Centre, Little High Street, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex BN43 5EG. THE TEAM:
EDITORS Jason Miller I Jane Fleming I
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CONTRIBUTORS Nico Lutkins I
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FOR CREAM PUBLISHING: CONSULTANT EDITOR Matthew Cowen I
ART DIRECTOR Tim Mapleston I
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PUBLISHER Victoria Furness lnkd.in/EMEA-Blog lnkd.in/US-Blog 15 S o p h i s t i c a t e d M a r k e t e r 010GY1800_LinkedIn_B2B magazine_Ad_031518.indd 1 Publication Pub Issue Date Trim Bleed Safety Color Space Creative Name Client Job Number Notes None Project Manager Art Director Copywriter Account Exec LinkedIn B2B magazine n/a 205 mm x 275 mm 211 mm x 281 mm 180.975 mm x 247.65 mm None Canvas: Run the Numbers gyro 010GY1800 Lorber n/a
Hein Hein
JOB INFO TEAM FONTS, IMAGES & INKS APPROVALS Proofreader Date Project Manager Date Art Director Date Copywriter Date Account Executive/Director Date Creative Director Date Quality Control Date
(CMYK; 350 ppi; 85.68%; 59.7MB), Gyro_Logo_ White.eps (12.26%; 493KB) Inks Cyan,
Magenta, Yellow, Black 3-16-2018 10:38 AM Printed on 3-16-2018 10:38 AM Saved at at a scale of None Julio Matos by Data is never the whole story. If you use it as we do, creatively and inventively, it has the power to bring brands together with the right people at the right time. But for something more to happen there must be a spark of connection, some humanly relevant meaning in the moment. Precision needs feelings. And our ability to bring those two together is why we’re the first global creative B2B powerhouse that’s truly full service. gyro.com S:180.975 mm S:247.65 mm T:205 mm
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C O N T E N T S SPECIAL FEATURES WHY THE ART OF STORYTELLING IS ALL IN THE MINDSET Nico Lutkins on the neuroscience that makes storytelling so important.
LinkedIn data shows how storytelling went from a sideline to an essential marketing skill. BRIAN SOLIS: STORYTELLING CAN SAVE MARKETING The bestselling author explains how marketing needs to evolve, and how telling stories can help. THERE ARE ONLY SEVEN STORIES. ARE YOU TELLING ONE OF THEM? Keith Browning on the seven plots that all stories must follow. 08 46 52 56 08 52 46 56 T H E S T O R Y T E L L I N G I S S U E 6 S o p h i s t i c a t e d M a r k e t e r C O N T E N T S ESSENTIAL WISDOM FROM THE SOPHISTICATED MARKETER’S PODCAST The best of Season Six of our podcast, starring Seth Godin, Scott Stratten and David Shing. THE ART OF TELLING STANDOUT STORIES Amanda Nelson of Salesforce explains how answering five questions can help create compelling B2B stories.
Gearoid Buckley selects the best TED inspiration on the art and science of stories CONFRONTING UNCONSCIOUS BIAS Andrew Monu explains why being on the receiving end of bias doesn’t make you immune to it. 50 GREAT B2B MARKETING BLOGS The 50 blogs every B2B marketer should follow.
Gini Dietrich on the art of compelling B2B brand building.
Trends, top tips, insights and inspiration.
Take control of video content and give yourself creative options.
LinkedIn Learning’s Paul Petrone explains why data needs stories.
MARKETING TEAM Great insights from IBM’s UK and Ireland CMO, Lisa Gilbert.
How a tire brand became the ultimate authority on fine dining. 11 13 15 16 18 25 27 34 37 41 42 60 69 41 42 S o p h i s t i c a t e d M a r k e t e r 7 SIX BIG IDEAS Tom Pepper explores the latest thinking on voice-based brands, video content, purpose and more.
Not all content marketing is strategic, but it certainly should be. HOW WATCHING OSCAR WINNING FILMS CAN HELP YOUR CONTENT MARKETING Inspiration from Forrest Gump, Gladiator, Crash and The Silence of the Lambs. ‘THIS IS US’ AND THE SECRETS OF EMOTIONAL CONTENT The formula behind emotional rollercoaster content that TV audiences can’t resist.
How one marketer turned a family secret into an award-winning film. THE MARKETING GENIE The proof that marketing solutions content can make for a surprisingly cute bedtime story!
How a side-hustle as a DJ helps one LinkedIn marketer hit the right notes. WHAT’S IN YOUR BAG LinkedIn’s award-winning marketer, Alex Rynne.
The CEO of gyro talks media transparency, integration and zombie apocalypses. CONTENT HEROES: DESPERATE BICYCLES What marketers should learn from a pioneering punk band. 44 60 64 67 69 71 73 75 77 78 18 44 67 34 8 S o p h i s t i c a t e d M a r k e t e r lot of time is spent discussing the art and craft of storytelling as it applies to marketing. But there’s a crucial part of the science behind stories that gets far less attention than it should. Stories aren’t just written and produced in the studio and creative department; they are co-created in the minds of the audience. And for this reason, the mindset of the audience you are telling a story to has a huge influence over how effective that story will be. STORIES AS SUBSTITUTE MEMORIES Neuroscentifically speaking, the way that a listener or reader experiences a story mimics the creation of their own most important and influential memories. And this is where storytelling’s unique power comes from. We don’t remember the story as something that happened to somebody else; we recall, imagine and relive it as if it happened to us. We apply it to our own lives. Great stories achieve this through a potent memory package: a sort of mental slam dunk combining all of the elements that are required to form powerful ‘affective’ memories. These are the memories that we can feel rather than just recall. They spring to mind unbidden whether we ask them to or not, and they therefore have a huge influence over our choices. Stories create such powerful memories because they connect characters, facts and events in a way that satisfies our urge to make sense of things. They use emotion to flood the brain with chemicals that strengthen our neural connections and form more powerful associations and memories. Above all, they convince us that they are worth remember- ing by aligning with the things that matter most to us, but doing so in a novel, attention-grabbing way that we’ve never quite experienced before.
It is the alignment with our deeper motivations that is the most crucial factor in any story’s success. If it doesn’t bring to mind something that our brain considers important, we won’t commit to it as listen- ers. We won’t reshuffle our mental connections to accommodate it, and we won’t release the power- ful emotion-derived chemicals that ensure it influences us in the future. Standard, run-of-the-mill storytellers push the most obvious emotional buttons with reference to children, families and romance; but this approach doesn’t often translate into long-term influence. The brain does the equivalent of a ‘so-what’ shrug and doesn’t bother rewiring our memories around the story – because at the end of the day, it’s heard it all before. If you want your story to hit home, you either need to find a new way to address these A We recall, imagine and relive stories as if they are happening to us - we apply them to our own lives T H E B R I E F BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE Nico Lutkins introduces our Storytelling Issue, and explains why this is such an important strategy for content marketers targeting professional audiences. Why the art of
storytelling
is all in the mindset S o p h i s t i c a t e d M a r k e t e r 9 themes, or you need to recruit your audience’s deeper and more personal motivations; motivations that are touched upon a lot less regularly.
This is where mindset and media choice come in. The best brand storytell- ers (think Dove, Volvo Trucks, GE with The Message podcast or HP casting Christian Slater in The Wolf) don’t gravitate towards traditional broadcast media as their storytelling platform. They use social environments where we are more actively engaged and our personal priorities are that bit closer to the surface. However as audiences are bombarded with more and more stories, the smartest storytell- ers will start to distinguish between the motiva- tions and personal priorities in play on different social platforms. They will seek out the priorities that haven’t been pitched to before. The professional mindset that B2B marketers aim to influence brings a lot of our deepest most powerful motivations to the surface. This mindset is purposeful, individual and aspirational. It’s concerned with establishing and maintaining an identity, achieving happiness, fulfilling potential, dealing with setbacks. For a storyteller looking to achieve real impact and standout, that’s a lot of emotional raw material, and it’s often largely untapped raw material.
It’s not always fashionable to admit it, but storytell- ing is an inherently interruptive creative strategy. Great stories compel us to stop what we are doing and pay attention. They do this by talking to what truly motivates us, and in doing so, they can exert a far deeper influence than other forms of marketing. For these reasons, it’s very much a myth that storytelling is only a valid strategy for B2C brands. It’s just as powerful an approach for anyone looking to engage and influence B2B audiences.
BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE S o p h i s t i c a t e d M a r k e t e r 11 Seth Godin: The crucial difference between anecdotes and stories Seth Godin used the example of “the boy cried wolf but the villagers didn’t come” to show how a great story can involve just nine words. Stories are universal because of the way we identify with them and the result that leads to. Whether they happened or not is the least important thing about them: “An anecdote is interesting because it happened to you – and it’s only interesting because it actually happened. A story is more universal than that. A story involves tension, and it involves identity. “There are wonderful stories that many powerful brands have been built around. They’re about identity, about culture and the change that we seek to make. What we do when we do great marketing is we tell stories; stories that create tension, stories that lead to forward motion.” This is just a tiny sample of the wisdom that came our way during Season Six. You can explore more of it in our Sophisticated Marketer’s Book of Wisdom, available for free download at lnkd.in/marketing-wisdom Scott Stratten: “A few thousand extra views aren’t worth your integrity”
The iconoclastic marketing podcaster was stag- gered by the number of brands who try to lever- age the news to amp up the virality and impact of content. Plenty have ended up celebrating death and tragedy as a result, and lost the re- spect of their audience.
“You don’t have to invest directly in AI to benefit from AI” The Anaplan CMO says marketers don’t need to invest directly in AI to benefit from it. Keep an eye out for potential suppliers and partners who are using AI to enhance what they can do for you. For anyone feeling intimidated by digital transformation, that’s a simple but empowering thought. Jack Kosakowski: “The less you talk about yourself, the more people will want to talk to you” As a marketer, it’s easy to assume that your sales teams want you to sell for them. The CEO of Creation Agency says this is the last thing that good sales reps want. They know content that goes on and on about how wonderful your products are will turn audiences off. The less you talk about yourself, the more people want to talk to you. Sales teams want content that adds value and complements what they do, not that replicates selling. Pieces of essential wisdom Season Six of The Sophisticated Marketer’s Podcast was by far the biggest in our show’s three-year history. Here are just some of the inspiring ideas shared by a star line-up of guests: FROM THE SOPHISTICATED MARKETER’S PODCAST Dave Shing: “Brands aren’t just seen” In a voice-led world, brands will increasingly be heard, touched and sensed in other ways. What does your brand sound like? What’s it feel like? Does it have a gesture that embodies it? Shingy wants all marketers to start thinking in different dimensions. W0RDS BY JASON MILLER T H E B R I E F BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE Ads.indd 15 17/05/2018 17:15 BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE S o p h i s t i c a t e d M a r k e t e r 13 T H E B R I E F Amanda Nelson
that 9am meeting about a new customer win to reading books to your child at bedtime, you’re a storyteller. Yet, if we’re all storytellers, that equates to a heck of a lot of stories. As marketers, we must not simply tell stories; we must tell standout stories. Standout stories evoke emotion, and ideally action. These are the stories that inspire, excite and entertain. For marketers, storytelling takes mundane case studies and press releas- es and turns them into interesting, engaging content. Storytelling works on any channel and any medium, wheth- er it’s a customer quote in a Tweet, an in-depth customer interview on a webcast, or a massive ebook featuring the stories of 100 customers. How do you find and tell the best stories? It’s all about answering the right questions before you start writing:
This question is all about your audience. Who are you trying to reach? Understanding your audience is crucial to telling stories that your prospective customers (or even current custom- ers) want to hear. This understanding helps you write in their language, address their needs, and tell the stories of their peers. Establish your audience, so you deliver the right message to the right audience.
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