Steve Jobs prefaced Apple’s 1997 brand marketing campaign “Think Different” in a presentation stating, “Even a great brand needs investment and caring if it’s going to retain it’s relevance and vitality. The Apple brand has clearly suffered from neglect in this area in the past few years and we need to bring it back. The way to do that is not to talk about speeds and fees. It’s not to talk about bits and mega-hertz. It’s not to talk about why we are better than Windows… The question we asked was: Our customers want to know who is Apple and what is it that we stand for? Where do we fit in this world? What we’re about isn’t making boxes for people to get their jobs done… But Apple is about something more than that. Apple at the core, its core value, is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better.” As cliché as it is to open with Steve Jobs, he’s right. In Part 1 we specifically discussed how an organization’s mission and values are essential for genuine brand storytelling. I wanted to share a small part of Jobs’ speech that illustrates the important fact that people connect with stories, not products. The full presentation speech will be linked at the bottom of this post. Identify Target Consumers’ Pain Points
Understanding your customers' pain points is a crucial part of creating content that resonates with them. Pain points refer to the problems or challenges your customers are experiencing, and identifying them is the key to providing relevant and useful information to your audience.
One of the best ways to determine your customers' pain points is to ask them directly. Conducting online surveys with your customers is an effective way to get specific information about their product interests and the issues they're facing in their industry or market. By asking clear and specific questions, you can gather valuable insights into your customers' needs and preferences.
Another way to identify pain points is to read comments, company reviews, and forums to learn what customers are saying about your products, services, and content on social media and other areas of the web. By paying close attention to customer feedback, you can gain insight into their opinions about your offerings and identify areas for improvement.
It's also essential to learn your organization's products and features and pay attention to the problems they're solving for people. This knowledge helps you target your storytelling more effectively and create content that speaks directly to your customers' pain points.
Lastly, building a strong rapport with your sales team members can provide valuable insights into the challenges your audience is facing. Sales team members usually have solid relationships with customers and speak directly to them, which can reveal pain points and obstacles that customers are experiencing.
By understanding your customers' pain points and using this information to inform your content, you can provide solutions to their problems and create content that resonates with your audience.
Ways to Find Your Angle
The first step in identifying your story angle is to understand your customer pain points. These pain points can guide you towards the answers and solutions your customers are seeking, but finding the perfect angle for your story takes some effort. Here are some ways to find the right angle for your content:
Think like a journalist and conduct in-depth research to uncover a unique angle that hasn't been covered yet. This is an important differentiating factor between you and your competitors.
Stay up to date on trending news, and consider ways you can connect what's happening in the world to the topic or angle you plan to cover. This can provide a fresh perspective and make your content more relevant to your audience.
Use web and social media listening to gather insights from your audience. Review comments on your posts to see what your audience is saying and what topics they're interested in. Use social media metrics, such as web traffic, email conversation rates, bounce rates, search visibility, and gated content downloads, to guide the direction of your content.
Use web tools, like Answer the Public, to discover what people are asking search engines. This can help you understand your audience's questions and provide answers in your content.
Link to Steve Jobs Presenting “Think Different”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keCwRdbwNQY
Thanks for reading part 2! The last part will cover how to utilize storytelling elements and techniques in a relevant and impactful way!
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