Story

Steve Jobs once said, “The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.”

Good marketing creates a story from audience insights — an honest yet emotional narrative in which customers or employees (never the brand, product or company) are the heroes.

A story is not a laundry list of fancy features you think they want. It’s not a rational argument for why they should choose your brand or support your plan for change.

A story is about their problems, their desires, their journey from struggle to hope, and empowering their success and satisfaction.

Craft

According to writer and digital marketing expert Ann Handley, “Good content isn’t about good storytelling. It’s about telling a true story well.”

Good marketing dedicates time, expertise and effort to craft a campaign that tells a story consistently over time, in a manner that’s interesting and inspiring to consumers, employees or anybody we want to engage.

Craft is the care good marketers give to every word and moment of interaction with their audience. Craft infuses every aspect of the customer or employee experience — the lighting in the car showroom or the precise blend of essential oils to leave your mouth feeling minty fresh — so that your message and your audience’s lived reality are completely aligned.

Insight, story and craft. When done right, they can transform apathy and ambivalence into caring and belief by connecting people to brands, products and visions that are genuinely valuable and meaningful to them.

It’s not remotely easy, but the continued successes of some major consumer brands demonstrate marketing’s potential. Leaders can enjoy the same long-term success as employees. Because, no matter what group of people you’re trying to reach, good marketing should inspire meaningful change.