Your Story is Crap
January 2nd, 2007
Written By: Adam Sussman
If you have ever asked yourself why some ideas take off and spread virally while other ideas, especially those of your own seem to just flop flat on its face, this is a post for you to read.
You and I are not that different. I want to be healthy, successful, loved by my family and respected by my peers. I want to be able to buy what ever I want (within reason) and not worry each month about debt. I want to grow as a person and enjoy life for all it has to offer.
I say you and I are not that different because I am sure there are things I just mentioned that you can relate with. I am sure you want to be healthy, loved and respected.
What is interesting is that with these commonalities we share; how we go about achieving these things in our lives is completely unique. I have absolutely no idea how you wake up each day and strive to better your life for yourself or family but I do know that you spend a good portion of your life wanting what all humans want.
You and I have another thing in common. We both share in the difficulty of spreading our messages out to those who might possibly care.
I don’t care if you are in business or not, it does not matter what you do for a living. The bottom line is you have to sell your ideas, your personality and your demeanor to others in order to stand out.
You and I both share a moment in this time where the rules that have applied for the past 50 years for spreading ones message has changed dramatically. In the golden age of media, selling a message to the public was not that difficult. You picked an outlet, created a little jingle and presto.
Today everything is new and improved. Cars all offer pretty much the same gadgets. All the food we could possibly ever want is already on our grocery store shelves. Everywhere you look there are consultants who are cheaper, smarter and more experienced.
We can spend 20 minutes deciding where to eat due to the number of available restaurants in our neighborhoods. It can take 30 minutes to scan through 900 channels of regular and paid television programming. Because airline flights, hotels and cruises are so affordable, we have so many possible vacation destinations.
Shopping malls are expanding and large warehouse superstores have become the norm.
What you and I have in common is the fact that there is so much to choose from and that we are bombarded every second of the day with so many stories trying to sell us stuff.
Seth Gordin articulates this point better then me in his book “All Marketers Are Liars”.
Each day we are told thousands of stories. Some stories are obviously cheap sales tactics but others spread and become engrained in society. Take the story we are told about Organic food. There is a craze these days with all things organic and since its now a story people have bought, there are super expensive grocery stores selling only pure organic food.
Seth Gordin mentions how minivans got a reputation as the car for soccer moms. They are affordable, get good gas mileage and are safe for the kids. Volvo knows these facts but their job is to sell high end luxury SUV’s. Instead of promoting only the facts about the car (that Volvo offers leather, heated seats, gets less gas mileage and fits less cargo) they tell us a story.
They created a story about how soccer moms are ordinary and some women deserve a Volvo SUV because they are not an ordinary soccer mom.
Another group of people who tell us stories all the time are Jewelers. As I drive down my street I see billboards splattered all over the place which tell me to indulge myself because I’ve worked hard all year and deserve that new expensive watch.
Look around and think of all the products and services we buy. We buy them because we are told stories about them. We are led to believe something will help us and make us feel better.
After reading Seth Gordin’s book I could not help think of the World Wide Web. I believe there is a massive lack of good story tellers.
As I search around the web I am confronted with template websites that lack originality and focus. There are millions of shopping sites all selling the same products. There is an E this and E that yet there is only a handful of sites who truly understand how to tell a good story.
Microsoft has launched a new service where they are offering businesses free domain name registration, free websites, email and hosting. All for free. If you don’t believe me, go register your domain name for free here. Just be sure to use Internet Explorer because they don’t let you use their site in any other browser.
What is interesting about this is that Microsoft gets the fact there are millions of people who really have no idea how to get a website up and running. Microsoft knows that all these people believe they must have a website in order to be in business today because these users have all been told the same story about needing to be on the Internet.
For Microsoft, they know there is a huge demand of budding business owners who need this service. What the business owners don’t know is that when they create their free webpages, no one will ever hear their story! There are just way too many of these look alike template free website offerings on the internet and for many who use the web, we know that if a site looks like a template then chances are that site is not going to tell us a unique story.
Understanding what is going on presents a whole world of opportunities. You need a story; I need a story and all those people out on the Web need a story. We are all humans and we all love to tell stories. That’s what we do, we are story tellers. Some of us are bullshit artists, either way we tell stories.
Are you trying to get a new job, impress your date, and promote your products or services? You must come up with a unique story. You want your story to be natural and contagious. The fact that you offer a product for 10% less than everyone else or that you offer free shipping with every order are really not good stories.
No one cares about that kind of stuff. People will only talk about what is new and has not been talked about before. We must wear sun block because of skin cancer. I must buy antivirus software because of Trojan Horses. The Toyota Prius is saving the planet. Organic food is healthy and good for our local farmers. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Ice cream is bad, frozen yogurt is the way to go. It’s just like Mom made it growing up. It is healthy and allows you to spend more time with your family. We are a family owned restaurant.
You and I share a challenge. That challenge is to get our messages out in a way which will get others talking organically. If we can do this, we might just have a hit.
January 3rd, 2007 01:52
I love that book. This is what stuck in my brain the most.
People buy what they want, not what they need. What people usually want is a great story that they already believe even before it’s told.
For me… Hawaii is a tropical paradise, but you already knew that. That’s why it works. It may or may not be true but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
In my opinion… Internet marketing involves working around two distinct thought processes on the part of the consumer.
Internal Search:
This is the internal process of recalling past information from memory. The “Mental images” or the representation of an idea in a person’s mind and the ability to form and recall mental images and to learn about the world from them.
Preexisting internal information influences how the consumer perceives external information.
External Search:
This is the external process of seeking information from the outside world via Search Engines, Reference Websites, Blogs, Opinion Leaders, Family Members & Friends.
The consumer has a pre-existing belief system about all products and services. These beliefs create a “Lens” or distorted POV the consumer uses when using a search engine to research products and make purchase decisions.
It is generally very difficult to attempt to change beliefs that people hold, particularly those that are strongly held, even if they are inaccurate. It is usually easier to strengthen or modify existing beliefs than it is to change them.
For me… It’s a lot easier to tell you how cool Hawaii is versus how bad it sucks.
This is called a Cognitive Consonant. (The stories match) When someone tells you something you already believe, it gives you the warm fuzzes. A good salesman will first listen to you and then tell you things that you already believe or at least hope are true. The same goes for web design and online advertising.
Cognitive Dissonance is the exact opposite. This is the inner tension that a consumer experiences after recognizing an inconsistency between the internal and external sources of information.
Whatever the consumer believes… is true. They will filter out everything else.
Preexisting mental images and emotions influence external information filtering. When the mental image matches the new information source, the consumer is much more likely to notice, study and retain the new information.
Stories that match get bookmarked and linked to. Stories that don’t match are invisible.
Emotions also influence information processing.
In general, happy people tend to scrutinize arguments given (e.g., cost versus benefits of using a product) a lot less, since they don’t want to lose their happy moods by doing too much thinking.
Sometimes… The more you want something to be true, the more you are willing to pay someone who reinforces your belief with an authentic and convincing story.
A good story is easy to tell. The stories and information need to be authentic, natural and easy for one person to tell another.
You should be able to get someone’s attention with less than 75 characters and then explain what it is and why it’s cool in 350 characters or less. Why? Because that’s the max character count that digg will give you.
January 3rd, 2007 11:54
We’re living in a post-information age world. That is, I agree with you that now that we have a glut of information, story if king. It seems to be the one constant through every stage of social evolution, doesn’t it? Stories give our life meaning whether we’re gathered around a firepit dressed in animal skins or gathered around our laptops dressed in pajamas. Thanks for the posting.
January 5th, 2007 16:51
Awesome post.
January 6th, 2007 19:30
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January 9th, 2007 14:04
Excellent points, especially since we all have developed some level of ADD from all this.
January 10th, 2007 23:10
good post. not great. you got me on the title but after the first couple paragraphs it drifted off into another area. I was looking for a direct tie-in with the great “your story is crap” title. instead we get some marketing psychobabble which is all very true but was lacking the right punchline. hope you can take a grain of criticism… feel free to dish out at me if not
January 12th, 2007 04:52
Microsoft…those bastards!
Really enjoyed this post.
Now I want to do a new blog called “Natural and Contagious”!
January 12th, 2007 07:40
We all develop a unique and individual frame of mind. Our experiences in life take us through different paths, so we all see the same but from different angles. Advertisers appeal to the most common experiences, reaching to their target audience. Reaching many may not be more productive than reaching a few who could better join our uniqueness. A multitude of admirers are much worst than one good friend. But if you like to shine, so be it.
May 25th, 2007 10:59
Great post. It is a little weird what does become the huge news across the web and you have to wonder at times who heard it to spread the word so quickly. I know something getting DIGG’d or on Boing Boing will help accelerate the process for sure.