This is the ‘Win with Stories’ newsletter. It’s focused on helping founders and executives navigate leadership, sales, PR and fund-raising. Every week I send an email with a career or communication message wrapped in a short story. I also share one or a few actionable tips to help you achieve your career and business goals.
Want to read this email in browser or share this with someone? Click here.
The big mistake businesses make in marketing
I am a part of BNI(Business Networking International) in Mysore. For the uninitiated, BNI is a community of businesspersons who help each other grow their business by passing valid referrals.
It is a successful organisation and most members believe in its ability to improve both business and personal lives. However, many non-members think of it as another MLM and hence do not want to attend any of the organisation’s chapter meetings.
Now, the question we tried to answer in BNI Mysore was how do we change this perception?
I happened to be in the room and answered, “Member success stories!”
The team agreed and we launched a campaign called ‘Think Big, Think BNI’ and I coached a few members to narrate their success stories in less than 60 seconds on video.
Here are three of them:
- An events guy who was organising birthday parties went on to become a speaker event specialist bringing down big names like Vivek Bindra and Gaur Gopal Das to Mysore
- The first lady RO technician in Mysore came up with her own brand and is now competing with big water purifier brands
- A corporate veteran started an Ayurveda business at the age of 43 and turned it into a success despite initial hiccups.
Now as you see, BNI is not the highlight in any of these stories, the humans are and so is their success after their struggles. However, BNI is the facilitator of their success, but the members are the heroes not BNI.
This campaign was launched in the presence of 250 BNI members in Mysore, and they were asked to like, share and comment on the first video. The response to the video and the campaign has been outstanding.
While this note feels self-congratulatory, it also brings me to the biggest mistake businesses and brands make while marketing themselves.
One communication tip for today:
Most businesses market themselves as the hero. That’s the mistake they make.
Audiences are either interested in themselves or other humans like them. So the simple communication tip for today is:
In a world of hero brands and businesses, choose to be a mentor instead.
What does this mean in communication or marketing terms? Here are a few pointers:
- Narrate human stories like we are doing with the ‘Think Big, Think BNI’ campaign in Mysore. BNI is incidental to a human’s success story and not the other way round
- Always start with the audience’s interest, and make your communication relevant to their problems or desires
- Stop speaking, writing or marketing in assertions: Stuff like – ‘We are great’, ‘We are innovative’ and such. Show your innovation or greatness by showcasing how that helped someone else achieve success.
If you’d like to know more about how to narrate impactful 60-second stories for your brand(personal or product) or business, then reply to this email. I will share the link to the ‘Think Big, Think BNI’ videos and approach behind the campaign.
A quick reminder on how I can help you:
- If you are a business leader or a founder of a mature startup wanting to sharpen your story, storytelling and leadership skills or even a speech or presentation, then I can help. My coaching programs like ‘Story-flection’, ‘Ace Linkedin with Stories’ and ‘Inspiring Leader’ have helped CXOs and senior executives power their growth. The first 30-minute call is on me, write to me if you’d like to book my time
- If you are a corporate, MSME or late-stage startup looking to enhance leadership, communication, marketing and sales skills in your organisation, then I can help. My signature programs like ‘Lead with Stories’, ‘Movie-like Data Presentations’ and ‘Story punch for marketing and sales’ have helped many corporates and agencies multiply their success
- I am also available for keynotes, webinars and team-building sessions that incorporate storytelling.
That’s it from me today. Hope you found this newsletter useful 🙂
Tell me one thing that will make you share this newsletter with friends and colleagues 🙂
If it’s already share-worthy, then please forward this to your network right away. Let’s all win with stories.
If you received this email from someone, and like what you read, then you need to hit this link
