Master Your Story…Capture Your Market

Now that you know romancing your one and only customer with the “art of something more” is

your main marketing objective (see my last two blogs) we can move on to the most important element of your marketing plan. Understanding your customer intimately is just the beginning of your marketing work. You now have to communicate and speak the language of your customer personally and authentically. Marketing Communications today is much more about engaging your customer than it is about a closed proposition selling facts, features and benefits. Let’s go back to the original note from your “one and only” customer…

Dear Wellness Lifestyle Marketer

Give me something more! Wow me! Enchant me! Entertain me! Impress me! Reassure me! Engage me! Thrill me! Restore me! Entice me! Fix me! Soothe me! And oh yeah…make sure you educate me too.

Truly-
Your “one and only” customer

P.S-Just wanted to remind you it’s all about me!

 After reading a note like this, the challenges of marketing communications seems daunting. How do you market “something more” and convince your “one and only” you are delivering “more” everyday? You have done your market research and studied your psychographic profiles, now the next great frontier is marketing communications. Know thy customer and speak their language seems simple enough but in the experience economy you have to speak emotionally charged language. Your “one and only” customer doesn’t want just a massage. No! She wants a transforming experience from the moment she walks through the door.

 We all get Starbucks doesn’t sell just coffee, Nike doesn’t sell just sneakers, Guinness doesn’t sell just beer, and Harley doesn’t just sell motorcycles. These iconic brands sell “something more”… an experience and a transformative mindset which we as consumers love to embrace! Each of these brands transcends beyond their basic product offering and creates strong identification and loyalty inspired feelings with their customers. How did they rise to the top and become “more” than just a product? They romanced and captured their market through something as old as the caveman and very human…

Conceptual Storytelling… marketing communications for today’s experience economy

 We can get bogged down with words like branding, positioning, tactics, and differentiating. The easier way to grasp marketing communications is to understand basic storytelling. Storytelling exists particularly in marketing where high concept (create/design) and high touch (emotional/meaning) intersect. Daniel Pink, author of business book “A Whole New Mind” believes “Story is high concept because it sharpens our understanding of one thing by showing it in the context of something else”.  Today’s consumer demands “No more just the facts! Engage me with a story! Make it my story, one I can relate to, identify with and emotionalize”.

 Stay tuned next week and we’ll explore the craft of storytelling. You soon will discover what matters most is giving your features and benefits context meaningful to your customer and delivering your core message with emotional impact. Wow! That was easy! Are you picturing the friendly “Staples” button right now? It’s a perfect example of a high touch/high concept in marketing communications today.

 Laura Connolly
Wellness Communications Specialist
Trendscapes Media
Serving Wellness Lifestyle & Culture
info@trendscapesmedia.com
609-613-4642