Ask the Experts
Ask me anything Wanna learn how to tell a killer story? Elliott Rayner, Head of Product Marketing at Babbel, will be answering all your questions on the topic. Get 'em in now.
Wanna learn how to tell a killer story? Elliott Rayner, Head of Product Marketing at Babbel, will be answering all your questions on the topic. Get 'em in now.
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In Product Marketing Alliance you can ask and answer questions and share your experience with others!
In my experience, I’ve found it difficult to track the exact impact that storytelling has had, and the revenue it has generated. How do you go about aligning product storytelling with concrete metrics that can prove its purpose?
The truth is this will always be very difficult. It is similar to measuring the value of an organization's brand in the market.
This becomes easier in the digital industries. With performance marketing we can create two very different product campaign stories, A/B test them, and inevitably track the performance of each. Giving us very clear feedback on the stronger story and its actual value.
When it comes to proving the value of storytelling, it is no coincidence that the world's most successful and valuable brands also have the best brand and product storytelling.
A great resource here is Simon Sinek's Golden Circle. This shows that purpose-driven storytelling can completely change how a product is perceived.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dAaWweraQ4&t=2s
Do you stick to any particular frameworks when building a narrative for your product? Is there a go-to formula you’ll use?
Similar to above, Simon Sinek's Golden Circle to a great starting place for any brand or product story.
How do you go about aligning the rest of your company to your story? Personally, I find it really difficult to secure adoption and actually measure how much/if other teams are effectively using our story.
What have you found to be the most successful medium to tell your brand’s story? Blog post/spoken presentation/digital media? How big a part does this play on the success of your story?
Sometimes the way your story is delivered can be more important than the actual content.
There was a famous study on the effective communication of meaning and emotion. It concluded that effective communication is split by...
7% The actual use of words
38% tone of Voice
55% Body language.
Of course, this is applied to public speaking or a presentation but I believe these patterns also apply to media and digital communication. We react differently to the same message depending on who delivers it and how they deliver it.
The most successful stories tap into that most basic human element. It why so many brands have mascots, endorsers, or faces to the company. To humanize them and in doing so make the message more relatable and effective.
Another great trick here is to use the actual consumer, how many brands or product stories are actually told from the point of view of the user/consumer?
Keep in mind the 7 38 55 split whenever you are crafting a story.
Hey Elliott, every PMM knows that comprehensively understanding your audience is key to creating a believable and impactful story; do you have any tips for really stepping into the shoes of your customer & gathering those insights?
So much of a PMMs job should be spent directly on Insights. Internally studying your own products and brand and externally with the market and your users. It's only with a deep understanding of all these areas that you can create a true product/market fit, and in doing so the perfect story to accompany it.
The best weapon here is creating really strong and well-defined User Personas. By grouping your users into segments it suddenly becomes a lot easier to create a more focused product story.
In telling our personal story, consistency is next to godliness. We attack those who seem to tell different tales about themselves.
But is that honest of us? Personal stories are multi-faceted, sometimes incongruous, and frequently meandering. That’s life.
Can we give life to products with stories that reflect the human experience?
Should products have one story with one message that motivates buyers?
Or can they have many angles that appeal to people in different ways?
This is a really interesting question. I actually think being honest about your inconsistency can also make you truly authentic.
A great example of this is sharing beta tests with your users before your product is ready for release. In this way you are saying to your users, we are not perfect, we need your help to take this further. That might feel inconsistent coming from a powerful brand voice, but it also feels human.
The most important to keep consistent is your tone of voice. It is ok to change our opinion, to admit mistakes, to change direction. As long as your tone of voice stays consistent. This is what consumers feel loyal to.
Hey Elliot, thank you for making time to answer our questions.
Hey Elliott, aside from Babbel of course ;) Which companies would you say are crushing it when it comes to telling their story? And what would you say makes their stories stand out from others?
I am a big fan of Patagonia. In the fashion industry, where so many of the voices sound the same, they took a huge risk in saying something different. Something completely radical. To not buy their products.
Their brand purpose of sustainability directly contradicted their business goals of maximizing sales.
This contradiction also presented an opportunity. The opportunity to say something that competitors couldn't. This not only gave them a unique voice in the market, but also a level of authenticity. Which is the secret to great storytelling.
The response? A sales increase of around 40%, which is conflicting, but impressive evidence for the value of authentic storytelling.
Hey Elliot, in a saturated marketplace with a wide variety of competitors offering similar solutions, how best do you suggest the story should be told to stand out from the crowd?
There was a great example of this year during the height of lockdown. A video that showed how so many companies sounded identical (attached). The reason they all sounded so similar all of the brands focused on what they thought the consumer wanted to hear, and so naturally they all ended up with the same voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=vM3J9jDoaTA&feature=emb_logo
The problem we have is that the modern consumer has a strong sense of authenticity. Why does Tesla suddenly care about my wellbeing? An emotional message from an unemotional brand feels strange. It feels the same as if a friend we have known our whole life, who has never shown any deep emotion, suddenly starting sending very deep emotional text messages to you. We would sense it as something strange, and it is exactly the same with brands.
Instead of starting externally with the consumer, you need to start internally with the brand purpose. What makes us unique? What are we trying to achieve? and most importantly, why?
By building a story this way you will not only end up with something unique but hopefully, authentic. Ant hose two things combined create great product stories.
Hey Elliot!
I hope you and your family are safe and well during this pandemic!
I would like to be honest here.
I and my team have found immense value from storytelling. Heatmap video of our content has shown that stories engage our visitors a lot more than conventional content.
However, i think I always grapple with quite a few things when it comes to stories.
Here they are:
Elliot, would you kindly answer these? I believe many content marketers like me would be massively benefited by your wise answers and insights.