Yesterday, I had the pleasure to participate in the last Product Marketing Twitter chat managed by the Drift´s eam.
The core message of the chat was to take your Product Marketing message to another level, and I have to say it: the questions were amazing but the answers were even better.
But one particular question that resonated a lot in my mind yesterday was the number 5:
What is one thing you plan to improve as a product marketer in 2016?.
My answer for this particular question was:
and it seems that answer were well received for some of the participants in the chat.
This post is to explain why I think that Storytelling & Video Marketing must be in my plan for 2016 to be in a better Product Marketing professional.
Improve your Storytelling every second
Thinking yesterday about these resolutions, I was reading an ebook written by Intercom’s team about Customer Engagement, and I found a very interesting chapter called “The Right Message” where they explained some things about how to keep your company’s tone in every message you write to your customers:
Tone and voice aren’t big issues in the early days of a start-up — generally one person (a founder or co-founder) is handling all customer communications. Or at the very least the team is huddled around the same table, such that coordinating communications isn’t much of an overhead.
But as you grow and more people are interacting with your customers, having a company style guide helps ensure consistency. Companies like MailChimp and Buffer have shared theirs, which are worth reading before you prepare your own. At Intercom we’ve also shared why we think a style guide is so important.
It’s worth noting the distinction between tone and voice. The communications that you receive from your bank will be very different from the handmade bike company whose waiting list you have been on for the last year (or at least they should be). That reflects a company’s voice.
and you should be wondering why I put this here.
It’s simple: The tone of your company is just one part of your Storytelling, and you must work hard everyday to improve it, in every form: blog posts, whitepapers, ebooks, videos (more about this later), etc.
In the recent years, one of the key skills that every Marketing team is looking for new members is precisely Storytelling, because it allows you to adapt quickly the message for prospective and current customers using anecdotes, jokes, laughs & and more.
This is one of the main reasons why Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, co-founders at HubSpot wrote about the DARC framework to hire a Modern Marketing professional, making a big emphasis in one key point: C = Hire Content Creators, and as you should be thinking:
To create great content, you have to start with a good story.
So, What you can do today to improve your Storytelling skill? I will let you 10 resources for it:
- On Writing Well, by William Zinsser. Simplicity is part of a good Storytelling strategy, so this book could help you to deliver powerful messages with less words.
- Go Beyond Blogging: How to Become a Great Storyteller, John Bonini, Growth Director at Litmus
- The 7 Elements of Inbound Storytelling, by HubSpot
- Storytelling Essentials: 15 Lessons From 2013’s INBOUND Bold Talks, by Laura Fitton from HubSpot
- The Psychology of Stories: The Storytelling Formula Our Brains Crave, by Share Jones
- Storytelling 101: How to Seize the Attention of a Distracted Audience, by Barry Feldman, President of Feldman Creative
- Hook Your Audience With These 4 Storytelling Tactics, by Todd Wolfenbarger, Owner of The Summit Group Communications
- Everybody Writes, by Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs. This is a must-read in 2016
- [INFOGRAPHIC] How to Engage and Persuade People Through Storytelling, by Neil Patel at Quick Sprout
- Storytelling Is A Marketing Leader’s Most Important Skill, by Thomas Bartha. Don’t forget to read his research called: “Why skilled marketers fail — And how to fix this”
and one last thing: Don’t forget to see C Space Storytellers videos from the past CES. Every talk is amazing.
Invest in your skills related to Video Marketing
If you have not include Video in your Digital Marketing Strategy for 2016, you are forgetting an important point:
73% of B2B Marketers Say Video Positively Impacts Marketing ROI
, Source: ReelSEO.com
There are a lot of reasons to invest in Video Marketing in 2016, but this is not an easy task, and as a Marketer, you need to dig deeper on it. For example, if you are really interested in why video is important these days, you must see the keynote of Robert Kyncl (Chief Business Officer at YouTube) at CES. He explained brilliantly the facts why video will transform Digital Experience. This is a must-see:
But, again, What can you do to improve your Video marketing strategy and skills? There are lot of good resources about this, but I will put here my favorite teams rocking Marketing with incredibly engaging videos:
Wistia’s blog
Video Marketing & Production Blog | Wistia Blog
Wistia provides video marketing tips and education along with video prodcution tips.wistia.com
This company is one of those companies that truly use Dog Fooding. They are one of the companies with services focused on video, but their own videos and resources are awesome. Check it out this, this and this
ReelSEO
https://www.reelseo.com/video-marketing-campaigns-2016/
If you are looking for Video Marketing and you don’t visit ReelSEO, you are doing something wrong. Every resource from this team is remarkable. BTW, check it out this if you make a bold plan for your Video Marketing in 2016, and of course, don’t forget to visit Tubular Labs
Shakr
Shakr Video Marketing Blog
The Shakr blog. Everything about Shakr, video marketing for SMBs, and harnessing the power of video.blog.shakr.com
If you are new editing and making videos, Shakr is the answer. They have created a simple interface to make your videos even more awesome. Check it out their blog too
Other resources
- [INFOGRAPHIC] Why Millennials Love Video Marketing, by The Content Strategist at Contently
- Dove’s Newest Social Experiment Is a Content Marketing Hit, by The Content Strategist at Contently
- Looking for new Video experiences? Read this piece from Google team about Google Spotlight Stories
- Inspiration? inVision has made this post for you
- Designing GIFs from videos? Read this guide from inVision
- Do you want to revamp your Video Marketing strategy on YouTube? You must see Video Marketing 101 Series from Lisa Jean-Francois, aka Lisa-a-la-mode on YouTube. BTW, don’t forget to sign up for her mailing list, and she will send you her Guide for Video Marketing.
- Check it out the amazing team at Animoto. They have created a lot of great guides and resources for Video Marketers, so don’t forget to visit their site. I will let you here just three of their resources:
- Why Mobile Video Optimization is a Must & How to Do It
- Getting Started With Business Video: 6 Questions to Ask Yourself
- Why It’s Time to Step up Your Video Marketing Game
Conclusions
Many Marketing leaders have expressed the importance of these two skills for the future of the field, so if you want to become in a better Marketer, you must embrace Storytelling and Video Marketing right now:
Start today and make great stories in a form of videos, you will thank me later
.
