Creed: Story Transcends Product Features
The fourth line in our Content Creator’s Creed states that ‘Communication derived from story transcends communication derived from product features.’ This is the point that most inexperienced sales-people fail to grasp. It’s what sets your content apart from the rest.
If you go into Best Buy and ask about a specific piece of equipment, what is usually going to happen? You’re going to get an endless stream of product features: it has this big of a hard drive and it works this fast. Although these can be good to know as a means of a comparison, if you’re in an early stage, you’re probably not ready to hear them. The ‘how’ and ‘what’ of a product is not nearly as important as the ‘who’ and the ‘why.’ The kind of information that activates empathy in the human mind is the kind that helps us see ourselves using the product.
Let’s say we are talking about bicycle that we want to sell to senior citizens. Instead of telling them that it has this many gears and can go this fast, we’ve got to share with them who uses it and why they do. Maybe we would say this is that kind of bike that active retirees have used to climb the huge hills all over our neighborhoods. Already, that’s inspiring more emotion than simply talking about the fact that it has twenty-one speeds.
We’ll see a change in our consumer when we start talking about who this product is good for and why they are using it. For example, who uses Shortcut Content? We have been helping time-starved business owners create content for their business. These are people that know they have a story to tell, that find that they just don’t have time to write. So when they use our service they can actually tell the story; they can talk about their patients, about their customers, they can talk about why they got into the business that they’re in, and they can talk about why their customers use them.
The customers that have been using Shortcut Content for the last three years have never had to write a thing, but have had, in some cases, more than a hundred thousand words posted to their blogs. They’ve written the equivalent of two or three business books by sitting down and having conversations with us once a month. By telling their stories using our help, they’re helping their customers understand why it’s important to use them for their services. Want us to help you tell your story? Contact us.
I’ve written a post about each line of the Creed. If you’d like to see them, just click on the links below:
We believe…
…the best content comes from individuals rather than organizations
…your work’s meaning and your company’s purpose are best shared through a human voice of storytelling
…communication derived from story transcends communication derived from product features
…readers deserve first-hand stories from experienced experts
…stories are best shared by experts who have lived to tell the tale rather than vicariously through writers and researchers
…the strength of your company rests in the personalities of your leaders
…sharing your wisdom through story is your best legacy
And the BEST way to write your story is whatever method gets the job done.