Last month, I attended the ‘Start-Up Connection’ where local entrepreneurs presented their business ideas to anyone who would listen; potential investors, possible partners, future employees, and service providers.

What struck me most as I walked through the exhibit hall wasn’t the inventiveness and determination of the presenting companies, it was their inability to tell their story simply.

Don’t get me wrong…I’m no genius (and there is plenty of documented proof to support this), but there were several times when I tried intently to understand a presenters idea, and came away completely empty.

• were they too technical with me?
• were they too vague with their product?
• did they not demonstrate the need in the marketplace for their new ‘mousetrap’?

These were talented, enthusiastic entrepreneurs with great ideas and many of them will be wildly successful. They were skilled at employing or creating new technology and capitalizing on trends in the marketplace…but most would have benefited from some good old fashioned storytelling.

Often times when somebody tries to teach me something, I have to repeat it back to them, to make sure I understand. It often starts with…”let me see if I get this right…” and I try to repeat what I’ve just heard. This way, there’s little chance of miscommunication. If I’m wrong, they simply correct me, and we repeat the process until I understand what they’re trying to tell me.

This process works great when both parties have the time to talk on-one-one. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case during trade shows in exhibit halls. Passersby need to understand your message quickly…or they simply move on.

Many presenters fell into common traps:

Processezzzzzz. There’s a time and place to get into the detailed minutia of your company’s processes. There are definitely times when this is appropriate…a trade show banner is not the place.
Feature Focus. Nobody has ever bought a feature. Not once. Ever. People engage emotionally with value, utility and satisfaction.
Many companies used too many words (and jargon) and too few visuals (or the wrong visuals).

Remember, people can only tell your story if they understand it.

The secret formula: Hooray for Hollywood

There’s no reason to re-invent the wheel. Think of yourself as a movie producer. What will be interesting to the audience? What do they care about (market potential, return on investment, social good)? Can they identify with the characters (your business)? Do they see the potential? Can you make it heart warming, visually stimulating, funny?

Will they pay to see it?

OK, there is no secret formula, its common sense really:
Start your story with the landscape or current situation. Give them some background on the ‘big picture’.
Consider the audience, and tailor the message appropriately.
Use foreshadowing to show them the solution. Determine what the perfect world looks like for them, then reverse-engineer the ideal future. Demonstrate how they get from where they are to where they can be. Literally draw a map for them.
Tell related stories, hand-picked for your audience. Not boring case studies, but stories.
Go ahead and end the story with how they get started. Make it easy for them with a simple call to action.

Remember to keep it simple, and once you find out who you’re talking to, have key messages that resonate with them.

Tell your story simply and well…and it will spread like wildfire.

There are so many marketing tools, it can be a daunting challenge. Once the brand is established, do you:

• build your website?
• create a trade show booth?
• send direct mail?
• refine your presentation materials?
• produce a series of print ads?
• rely on social media?

The answer is…whatever will bring you cash in the door fastest.

Clients sometimes forget that marketing shouldn’t cost them money, it should make them money. There will always be some low hanging fruit, and that should be picked first, it will:

• help with cash-flow
• have the highest immediate ROI
• have ‘legs’…and can be re-used again
• set the foundation for future marketing efforts

The old saying about eating an elephant one bite at a time is true with marketing, too. We just like to start with the tastiest bite first.

The answer is pretty simple. We saw a couple of things that sucked, and tried to fix them.

The first one is probably obvious to most people; nonprofits and early stage start ups generally don’t have the time or resources to execute effective marketing programs. They end up either going without, or asking for pro bono work.

While we love doing free work for worthy causes, it doesn’t pay the bills. As our accountant likes to remind us, Spoke is NOT a nonprofit.

The other problem is probably obvious only to someone who’s interned at a marketing agency; most marketing internships are worthless. At agencies across the US this summer you will find interns spending an inordinate amount of time doing grunt work (getting coffee, making copies, filing, running errands, etc.). These interns won’t get a feel for the agency world, except for the view from the bottom.

When I did it, my bosses told me that I had to ‘pay my dues’.

Pay my dues??? I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to join the club! By the end of the summer all I knew for sure was:

• I didn’t like doing mindless work
• I knew the alphabet and was pretty good at working a copy machine
• I would never treat interns like that

The goal of Sprockets is to solve these two problems by letting our interns work on pro bono projects for nonprofits, and early stage start-ups. The clients get free marketing help, and the interns get a meaningful experience, a portfolio, and case studies to show future employers.

Don’t worry…we don’t just throw our interns to the wolves. We work with them on each of the projects, point them in the right direction, ask the right questions, and help them make the right decisions. But, at the end of the day (summer), the decisions are theirs, the work is theirs, and the success is theirs.

They might learn that they hate marketing, and that they should go to dental school. But at least they won’t learn it basking in the glow of a copy machine.
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Here’s a sampling of the work our Sprockets interns did last year:

Blessing Basket: Refreshed the logo, and designed point-of-sale elements that helped increase same-store-sales by more than 300%.

The Mission Center: Created their logo and brand collateral, and provided ‘visual storytelling graphics’ that enabled them to explain their unique business offering, and innovative corporate structure to prospective clients and investors.

The Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club: Developed an annual marketing plan, and outlined several innovative, low-cost marketing tactics that enabled them to communicate key messages with their stakeholders.

Connections to Success: Created an annual report that was used to reinforce their accomplishments with existing donors, and to solicit new ones.

StudioSTL & STLArtworks: Developed a corporate gift pack program, including a sell sheet and unique, low-cost packaging that reinforced their commitment to artists and the arts.

Good marketing is a lot like that.

Too often companies make the mistake of trying to be all things to all people. The most obvious example of this is when companies try to list everything they do in their ads, emails, and conversations with prospects.

Guess what? They don’t care.

Potential customers don’t have the time, interest, or energy to learn your life story. They’re just interested in that ‘one thing’. It could be innovation, customer service, or even price. But, it’s just one thing.

Good marketing isn’t about ‘you’, it’s about your prospect.

The next time you’re tempted to rattle off a laundry list of every possible reason someone might want to do business with you, take a minute and try to determine what you do that is most important to them.

Then, be that ‘one thing’.

image source

You’ve no doubt seen disclaimers in marketing efforts:

• not a real doctor

• past performance does not guarantee future results

• results not typical

Because social media, blogging, and word-of-mouth marketing make it especially difficult for consumers to identify paid endorsements, the new regulation requires that these relationships be made clear to the intended audience. If a company is providing free product or cash to someone to promote their product, the marketer must disclose it.

This is a good thing.

The FTC exists to (among other things) protect consumers and prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices. By holding ‘mommy bloggers’ to the same standards as traditional sources of advertising, the FTC hopes to make consumers less susceptible to unsubstantiated or false claims (looks like the acai berry diet’s days are numbered).

In full disclosure: as a writer I love to use purple, extra fine point Sharpie pens. The Sanford corporation does not pay me to say this…but if they’d like to, I’m available (Wait!?! Is that Mont Blanc on the other line…?).