What's Your Story: Make me care

Filed in archive Business , Commentary , Marketing on July 19, 2007

This article is part of a series on guaranteed success for tech and media marketing.

1. What's Your Story: An iPhone Christmas

2. What's Your Story: Demystifying Apple

3. What's Your Story: All business is drama

4. What's Your Story: Make me care

5. What's Your Story: Stand and Deliver

You've plotted your story. Now fill in the blanks. Tighten the threads. Knit a three dimensional tapestry with a different facet from every angle and different viewer. For your employees. Your shareholders. Your business partners. The media. The analysts. The market. Your potential customers.

This is how "they" know you. And love you. Or not.

Disney thought I was crazy when I talked to them about creating film demand, and saving money from expensive TV time, by tapping into their audience 15 years ago. Today conversations between and among people and products are commonly happening well in advance of general product availability. Some successful products never leave beta.

These conversations make you care and share your experience with your network.

THE MARKETER: We're positioning the product, educating the market, and creating the brand.
THE SALESMAN: Pre-selling takes the pain out of hard sales.
THE DEVELOPER: Friendly user testing kills bugs and improves the features set.

Pre-launch is a golden time where you can do little wrong. You set expectations. You control and refine perception and reaction. Last, but not least, you create demand.