Dom D'Angelillo
Live From #INBOUND2021
Being able to tell a story is important. But being able to tell a story well and for it to be creative, thought-provoking and insightful is something else entirely.
You don’t just want your customers to come to you when they need you, you need them to always be thinking about you.
For 30 fantastic minutes, INBOUND 2021 became an English Literature class as Genein Letford talked through the use of metaphors for storytelling and how this can be applied to you and your customer’s message.
Why Use Metaphors?
To start like a GCSE piece of course work, Aristotle once said “The greatest thing by far is to be master of metaphor”.
In a nutshell, this is because the brain loves stories. It can relate complex narratives to everyday, common concepts which in turn adds context to your customers.
It’s about connecting two worlds, finding similarities, and explaining it in a language everyone can understand.
The overarching example Genein gave was for a finance company that helped businesses prevent needless spending.
She used the metaphor of ‘plumbing’ something everyone can understand and how the finance company found ‘leaks’ before any catastrophes occurred.
Emotion Wins Over Intellect
Your business could be incredibly technical and complicated for anyone other than your customers. Now, in the marketplace where everyone is vying for the same customer, using metaphors is how you’ll stand out.
After all, as Genein mentions, “emotion wins over intellect” and creativity is vital whatever industry you’re in, from accountants and bakeries to restaurants and construction businesses.
Building A Metaphor
So, you’re ready to change how you talk about your business, what do you do?
Genein advises (metaphorically) walking around you or your customer’s problem. What are you seeing, what are you hearing, smelling, feeling? Use all of your senses and picture how you apply them to the wider world.
This is an approach she refers to as the Miyagi effect.
In the film ‘The Karate Kid’ Mr Miyagi gets Daniel to paint fences and wax cars until finally, those motions become innate.
Creating metaphors for you and your business is the same. The more you do it the more natural it will become.
Summary
A hugely thought-provoking seminar, Genein’s approach was eye-opening in how marketing can really be used moving forward.
Regardless of the industry you’re in, you can always be more creative, and the greater the creativity you have, the longer you will stay in the mind of customers.
It’s something we’re really looking forward to trying for some of our clients here at Insynth.
About Insynth
At Insynth we deliver a predictable flow of leads, customers, and specifications for building product brands through our inbound marketing approach, proven to reach a technically demanding audience.
We use the latest marketing techniques such as construction inbound marketing, to equip building product companies to grow sustainability in this era of digital transformation.
As the only HubSpot certified agency to major in construction marketing. We have a proven formula of bringing a variety of functionalities together including CRM Implementation, Web Design, Sales Automation, SEO, and Email Marketing to achieve your ultimate aim: Growing your business and gaining new specifiers and customers.