Steve Kayser’s article “In These Tough Times Here’s a Way to Print Your Own Currency Legally … with Content” had that effect on me.

In the article are the words: “You got no story. You got no game. You got no game – you got no business.” In other words, companies need to use relevant, “educational, entertaining” stories to help sell their solutions.

Got it. Check. I’m with you Steve.

Or at least I was…until I saw this: “Story-selling content is the new advertising, marketing and PR currency“.

Huh? Stop! Did I miss something?

Story-telling ain’t new

Good marketing has always focused on stories, even in the “old” tactics of print ads and PR. Heck, even in the days of snake oil salesmen. Framing the “pitch”, the corporate message, the product message, the service message, etc. in the context of a story that solves customer’s problems is a device that has been used since the dawn of marketing.

Now granted, as Steve suggests in his article, some companies have no story. Others companies have stories but can’t “sell” them to save their lives. Still others are great at “telling” stories, but can’t back up those stories with fact (Vaporware anyone?). That does not mean, however, that storytelling is new. That relevance is new. That framing marketing messages to address customer needs is new.

Then story-SELLING must be new, right?

Maybe what Mr. Kayser meant was that the delivery mechanism has changed. Social media is becoming an increasingly critical portion of the marketing communication mix. And it requires different rules of interaction and engagement. Different styles of writing. Different channels for delivering the message.

But is that really “new”?  Not really.

“Re-learned” is probably more accurate. After all, before newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and the Internet, marketing was conducted face-to-face. It was, for the most part, social. Sure, the salespeople stood before the crowd and shouted the pitch. But the crowd could shout back. Or throw tomatoes.

The point is, even back then, storytelling AND story-selling were both central to the process.

So What’s the Point?

“The truth is that your business success, whatever business you’re in, hinges on your ability to create remarkable content. Remarkable problem-solving stories. But no matter how great or remarkable your story may be, it still has to be discovered or found first.”

Mr. Kayser, I couldn’t agree more. This is the point. I just want to know when this became a new idea.

When marketing was a soapbox and companies held the bull horn, that statement made sense. To get noticed, you had to yell the loudest, to create a most eye-catching graphics, to have the best deal (Del Taco anyone?). You had to wow the buyer with the most eye-catching, earth-shattering marketing campaign ever.

How true is that statement now?

In the age of the Internet and social media, where information is prevalent and there is no lack of naysayers, does this still hold true? I ask the question because I am constantly reminded in my industry (where most the buyers know their tech inside and out) that savvy buyers see through the bold, and focus on the details.

Sure, the bold might grab their attention, but if there is no substance behind it – no substance to satisfy their need – then the buyer will walk away. Unless the product or service is truly earth-shattering, there are simply too many options (including those they’ll develop by themselves) to keep the buyer focused on you.

In the world of entertainment technology, I propose a qualification to “Go Bold or Go Home”. Go Bold if you can back it up. Go Home if you can’t. Differentiate yourself and your product in real terms (real features, real benefits). The buyer may not be wowed all the time, but they will certainly see how it applies to them, and that connection will get them thinking…and talking.

Tradeshows Still Work

Trade shows are still a very vital form of marketing. Despite the growth of social media, there is no substitute for meeting face-to-face with your customers. It’s networking in its purest form.

What’s Your Hook?

Frankly, very few people really care about your business. You need to make them care. If

you decide that a particular tradeshow is the right place to reach your audience, then ask yourself this: Why should someone care about your company? Are you introducing your company to the market for the first time? Are you launching a new product? Are you announcing a strategic partnership?

No Hook? Consider Other Strategies

If your company is exhibiting with no real hook, you may be better served considering other strategies. Send your sales force to walk the floor. Set up meetings off-site. Work with a partner. Throw a happy hour at a local bar. But don’t spend the money on a booth and all the effort that goes into it.

Set a Goal

Unlike some forms of marketing, tradeshows are measureable. When thinking about the show, ask yourself how you will measure success. Is it in names or qualified leads collected? Is it in demo CDs you’ve handed out, or the number of people that showed up at your speaking event? Whatever it is, make sure you can measure it. (I know some of you will disagree, but the number of drinks served at your happy hour isn’t a form of measurement.)

Package Your Message

Once you’ve decided internally that you have something to say, it’s time to start thinking about how to say it. Or, put another way, how to package it into a campaign. The campaign does not have to be ground breaking, although ground breaking is nice. Short of that, clear and memorable is just fine. Think about it this way: If your customers could walk away with one message, what would it be and how do I make it stick in their heads?

Fund Your Idea

At the same time, you should be weighing your campaign ideas against your budget. You may have big news, but only a small budget to communicate it. If that’s the case, your campaign may have to be more guerilla than you originally intended. Better to know that going in than to have your campaign fall flat due to budget.

Start Focusing on the Details

If done well, your message (and the campaign you build around it) should provide you with a general roadmap for the tactics you need to employ at the show. In my next few posts, I’ll take a closer look at many of those tactics, including what to think about pre-show, at the show, and post-show.

Advertisers love it because they are no longer relegated to the oft-overlooked side bar. Online sites argue that their editors know their readers best, so who better to write the copy. Even if this is seems like a marriage of the long-divorced church and state, I argue that both advertisers and sites are missing the point. There is a reason why TiVo exists, why print ads are dwindling in number and why social media is gaining steam – consumers don’t want to be interrupted.

But what if it’s an early stage company that is just beginning to focus more attention on raising its visibility? What if it never really had an official marketing budget? If your company is in that situation, here are four budgeting approaches that can help:

Flat Dollar Approach
Particularly useful for early-stage businesses, the flat dollar approach bases marketing budgets on what the company thinks it can afford. This approach is usually most effective in budgeting for specific projects that are one-time expenses, such as exhibiting at a trade show.

Defining a flat dollar amount may be challenging in the first year of a business, since there are no past records of sales and marketing expenditures. To help you define appropriate budgets, contact others in the field, such as partners or consultants, to inquire about cost estimations. The last thing your early-stage business needs is large cost overruns.

Percentage-of-Revenue
Allocating a percentage of sales revenue is one of the most popular methods for developing a marketing budget. The average allocation can range anywhere from 1% to 12% of annual projected sales. If your business is selling to consumers, typically budgets need to be greater. If your business is launching a new product or service, advertising and publicity needs are greater, so the percentage will also increase.

The main advantage to using a percentage of revenue approach is that the marketing budget will increase, or decrease, with the sales revenue of the company. The marketing budget will never spin out of control and deplete sales revenue. However, your marketing budget can change from one quarter to the next, making it difficult to stick to long-term plans.

Matching Competitors
Another method for creating a marketing budget is to analyze and estimate what the competition is spending. This is another simple way to set a budget, since maintaining costs comparable with competitors keeps the business in line with others in the field.

However, this method also assumes the competitors are spending the right amount and have a comparable business philosophy and plan, product mix and target audience. Even if you do not use this method, it can be useful as a checking mechanism to ensure that your budgets are not too low or too high.

Marketing Plan Objectives
The final approach uses the objectives in the marketing plan (such as the number of opportunities you’re aiming to achieve, etc) to determine the marketing budget. The budget is developed by estimating the expenditures needed to achieve the desired marketing objectives.

Although this method of budgeting can be the most realistic way to align budgets with the needs of your company, it is can also run headlong into competing financial constraints for a given year. Thus, it may take a little more effort to defend it.

Good luck!

Here’s an example of what I mean: Executives at an early stage company want the company to have more visibility in the market. Their idea is to run ads, reach out to editors, do direct mail, re-design the web site, and other tactics – all of which can be effective tools for raising awareness and driving leads.

Problem is, the company has never really spent time defining its brand. It has no unique or compelling brand message that sets it apart from the competition, that captures a share of its customers’ minds, or that motivates the employees to do and the customers to act.

Strangely enough, this is a relatively common problem, especially among early stage companies. That is not to say that these companies are naïve or inexperienced. On the contrary, most of these companies have great products and intelligent executives; they’ve just been focused on a number of very pressing issues (like developing the product and securing revenue) and marketing has fallen on the priority list.

But there comes a point in a company’s evolution when it must start thinking strategically about how it wants to define itself. And it is then that the needs for copywriting and marketing intersect. Marketers can help companies define their position in the market, and strategize about how to reach those customers. Copywriters can help a company craft a truly differentiated message that complements the marketers strategy and that flows through all the tactics a marketer plans and implements, from ads, to PR, to web sites and beyond.

Are we headed that way with social media and networking? Are we so overwhelmed with web 2.0 apps that we don’t know which one to use, or we use too many to use any of them effectively?

From a personal standpoint, I can’t deny the attraction of being and staying in touch in so many ways. And from a marketing standpoint, it offers consumers and companies more avenues for communication than ever before.

So does the paradox of choice really exist in the social media world? Perhaps, although I believe our society seems capable of handling more choices than ever before. Where the true problems start is when companies jump into social media without a plan, and with no way to manage all of the chatter or the apps being used to generate that chatter.

There is no doubt that involving customers in a plan can be tricky. But those who manage it best, whether they use one or one hundred social media apps, stand to benefit greatly from the effort.