Marketing "Sin" #3: Friends don't let friends market like this...
Before StoryBrand CEO Donald Miller started writing bestselling marketing books, he published a wildly popular memoir. In that book, he talks about the day he realized he'd become massively self-absorbed.
He describes his mind at the time as being "like a radio that picks up only one station, the one that plays me: K-DON, all Don, all the time.”
I mention this because it’s easy for businesses to fall into this same trap. They fixate on themselves. When that happens, their marketing becomes self-focused and self-congratulatory.
Their home page, for example, features a dramatic drone shot of “headquarters” along with a history of the company. On social media, they post incessantly about awards they or their employees have won.
To be clear, these are all commendable things. However, smart businesses understand a bigger truth:
It’s not that most customers don’t care that your company was voted one of the "Best Places to Work," or that Bob won the sales award again. It’s that they REALLY don’t care!
More than potential clients want to read about how Trixie in accounting likes to collect old toasters, they want to know, “Can you help me solve my problem?”
This is the genius of the StoryBrand framework. It helps businesses use the seven elements of storytelling, NOT so they can tell stories about themselves, but so they can tell a compelling story in which the customer gets to be the hero!
Smart companies say, “We see the struggle you’re facing. You shouldn’t have to endure that! Here’s how we can help you overcome that problem and get to a better place!”
In short: Successful companies make their marketing customer-focused.
Ask your team some questions:
Is our marketing—even in things like LinkedIn profiles—focused more inward (my expertise, our accomplishments, etc.) or outward (customers and their concerns)?
What does a quick glance at our website show? Is it a shrine to "how great we are"? Or does it communicate, “If you struggle with ___, you’re in the right place! At ___ Company, we know how to help you overcome that frustrating issue”?
If we deleted from our ads, social media feed, website, etc. every reference to our company, every picture of our people, every mention of our achievements, how much text and how many pictures would be left?
In the end, what do we want most? To be admired? Or to help more customers? (You can have the first without the second. Do the second well, and you'll get the first too.)
Here's to marketing that's customer-centric!