Marketing is storytelling.

When marketing is working, it makes people tell stories to themselves, among themselves.

Successful marketers are storytellers that consumers choose to believe.

The only way your idea will spread is if you tell the truth.  You are telling the truth when you live the story you’re telling.  Authenticity.  Complete dedication to and embrace of your story.

My story?  That blog can launch any business.  That heavy music can heal people.  That I am a musician/web geek/philosopher/entrepreneur.  I am remarkable because I am multi-faceted.

Marketing solves problems.  All the passion business people, their problem is the marketing.  The first problem is to come up with a remarkable offering.  The second problem is the marketing problem. (I think Personal MBA talks about this) Marketing is the most powerful force available to people who want to make a change.

You are not in charge.  Consumers are.  There’s nothing you can do — positioning, messaging, whatever, that actually frames your story in their mind.

Two things that separate success from failure:

1. Invent stuff worth talking about
2. Tell stories (true stories) about #1

Their Worldview and Frames Got Their before You Did

Don’t try to change worldviews.  Just find those with the right worldviews and frame your story.

There are millions of markets, because everyone’s taste/worldview are different.  The opportunity lies in finding a neglected/underserved worldview and frame your story to that worldview.

A worldview is not who you are, it’s what you believe.  And it changes all the time.

A worldview affects:

1. Attention
2. Bias
3. Manner of delivery (I don’t know what “vernacular” means)

The desire to do what the people we admire are doing is the secret ingredient in every successful marketing venture.

People Notice Only the New and Then Make a Guess

Simple stories -> likely to break through

The story creates an emotional want, not because it meeds a need.

• We ignore what’s not new
• If new, then we figure out how it happened (we’ll make it up)
• Then we use it to make a prediction
• We stick to the idea

Authenticity is more important than getting noticed.  Being new for newness’ sake has a high probability of self-destruction.

First impressions are important and extremely powerful, but we don’t get to choose when that is formed and which of our outputs they’ll pick up on. -> Be authentic and consistent.  If your story stays the same everywhere, you’ll have the maximum chance of conveying the right story.

Tell Authentic Stories.

Live it, all the time.  Here’s the two-question test:

“If I knew what you know, would I choose to buy what you sell?

“After I’ve used this and experienced it, will I be glad I believed the story or will I feel ripped off?”

And make sure that the story remains consistent in all corners.  That’s not hard if you actually live the story.

Successful stories never offer the things that marketers are likely to feature, like better quality, lower price, etc.

Personal connection is the only real effective way to tell stories.  That’s why it’s hard to build loyalty online.  By being transparent, though, it’s possible.

Find an underserved sector of the market.  A subsection that’s less common.

If you have a real purple cow, the stories will spread.  The “I can’t believe that!” stories.

Be an extremist.  Aim for the edges.