Once upon a time there was a story.
The story had a beginning, a middle and an end.
It had a really great opener that hooked you in.
It had interesting and complex characters you wanted to know more about.
It was told around campfires, written on stone tablets, acted out on stage and printed on leaflets. It was shared at parties and in bars and on park benches. It was listened to on wireless radios, made into movies and television shows.
The story kept spreading until one day something called the world wide web was invented.
Now there were new ways to tell the story. In blog posts, podcasts, You Tube and Vine videos, Tweets and Facebook posts. Sometimes the story was told in words and sometimes in pictures. Sometimes both.
But the one thing that never changed was the story itself.
Yes - there were new twists and fresh takes. The characters varied, appearing in an assortment of shapes and sizes and with unfamiliar names.
No matter how many different ways it was told or tweaks made or mediums created through which to tell it - the story kept drawing people in.
It hit that sweet spot. The one that connects hearts and souls. That makes us pause and think, laugh or cry, happy or angry.
The one that makes it a story worth sharing.
No matter who I talk to about marketing in the digital age, the one question that inevitably is begging for an answer is how will all this "stuff" ultimately make me money. The "stuff" being the blogs, the content marketing, the YouTube Videos, the followers on FaceBook and Twitter and Pinterest or LinkedIn, the innovative Apps, all that SEO marketing.
It doesn't surprise me. It's the same question I was asked when I was selling sixty-second radio commercials in the eighties.
No one has ever been big about investing in marketing without an assurance that it will make them more money. Everyone wants to know what the ROI is. They want proof that all those Instagram followers will translate into cash in the same way they always wanted to know exactly how many customers one television spot in the early news would.
The real truth is there is no one straight direct line. I'd argue there really never has been. But there will always be people trying to prove one by offering a multitude of data that often misses the real point.
Marketing today has changed in that it is about creating meaningful conversations with people who are interested in what you have to say and at some point willing to plunk down their credit card to buy your wares. Digital technology has provided an avalanche of tools through which you can do that.
But if the needle is not moving, and by that I mean revenue is not increasing, the real reasons remained unchanged. They are not quantifiable. They are one or more of the following:
1-Your story is fuzzy and not relatable. As Michael Margolis said so well,"Technology is just the means, not the ends in itself. The story is what's really at stake." If I can't figure out what your story is, I'll be going elsewhere. I don't have time to try and decipher it.
2-Your solution to my problem is unclear. It's wordy. It's not succinct. I can't figure out how you might help me. In fact I'm not sure you even know what my real problems are. It's a noisy, busy world out there. If you're not making it easy for me to absorb, you've lost me before you had a chance to convert me.
3-There isn't a market for what you got. Maybe what you got ain't all that great. That's a tough one to own up to but one worth taking a look at.
4-No one believes you. Whether you are a brand or an individual profile on LinkedIn looking for a new job, if you come across as untrustworthy or not authentic, no one will listen to your message no matter how many social networks you are engaging with. Consequently they won't buy, convert or call you in for an interview.
5-You forgot to ask for the order. Today, we like to refer to that as a Call to Action. Primarily because we like to not use the word "sell". We prefer conversion. It sounds less harsh. But the end result we are looking for is the same. Moving the needle.
