At the last March's Optimization Summits in Dallas, TX, I heard several very intelligent and amazing speakers, but the speaker of the event that really made the conference POP for me - Giovanni Gallucci. This man absolutely entranced me. I didn't notice the time pass as I sat in his session, and wasn't ready for it to end when it was over. But why? Well, as his Twitter bio says, this guy is ALL COWBELL- he's brilliant, innovative, and realistic enough to connect his message with 90% of people in his audience. What made this man's session incredibly powerful was his ability to tella story, and to spin that yarn rather well. And the fact that his session was named, "Recovering from a Social Media Train Wreck," didn't hurt attendance either.
As marketers (and I don't care if you're a leasing agent, property manager, or marketing manager - in this industry we're all of a marketing mind!), one of the first fundemental lessons we have to learn is that marketing is also storytelling. As I'm telling you this, don't stop reading my article right here and think that I'm telling you to go write FICTION about your property. No, no. The most powerful stories are those rooted in truth and fact. The funniest and scariest stories are so because we can put ourselves in them - they're realistic. Don't believe me? Take a look at the number of seasons that Seinfeld ran and look at the script content, and then let's debate.
The essence of marketing is opening yourself up to develop a deep enough connection with the consumer that they wouldn't dare buy from anyone else. That's why I've decided to launch a blog series on the art of storytelling, because, you see, it's not enough to just send out your prices. It's not enough to just have a good product at a fair rate. You have to have something I want to connect with, and storytelling will help you find something that has "connect-ability" to your consumer.
Stay Tuned and start thinking about your own marketing story.