Stories.
All mankind is connected through stories. And have been since the very beginning.
Stories are how we pass our family history down.
They keep our culture alive.
They teach us lessons, morals, values.
We consume stories in every part of our life. Film, TV, books, plays, social media, print media, ads.
Pre-Covid, if you wanted to build your brand you needed a story. Plus a quality product, good customer service, a great tagline, identifiable branding.
You needed relationships with journalists. Relationships that were usually started (and continued) over a three-hour boozy lunch (as my expense account from my days as a TV PR will attest to).
In these post-Covid, digital days things are different.
When we talk about the “new normal”, we focus on how our lives have changed.
Hybrid working. More flexibility in our work/life balance.
We’re more cautious around groups of people and more aware of germs. Who doesn’t have a friend who’s questioned why we ever watched someone blow candles out on a birthday cake and then ate it?
But there is so much more to the “new normal”.
We avidly consume more digital material than ever before.
We’re willing to pay extra for the sake of not leaving our houses.
We expect more from the companies we spend our money with. Can’t deliver something to me in 48 hours? Well, I’ll find someone who can. Bad customer journey? Unacceptable these days.
You have minutes to prove your value to your potential customer, sometimes even seconds. And then they’re off.
So, let me ask you this – have you changed the way you’re telling your stories? Have you changed your stories?
Here’s some hard post-Covid realities:
- You still need a quality product. But quality isn’t enough. According to last year’s EY Future Consumer Index, quality isn’t even in the top five first deciders for buyers (they are affordability, health, planet, society and experience).
- Your relationship with your potential customer is everything. From the way you hook them in to how they can buy from you to delivery, your audience doesn’t have any patience for anything that inconveniences them.
- Speaking of client expectations, gone are the days when we hope you have what we want. Today we expect it. In exactly the size and colour we want.
- Branding doesn’t have the reach it did previously. Today, you still need a recognisable brand but you need to be able to fully utilise your data and form new partnerships to achieve the same reach. You can thank digital for that.
- A great product is good. Great values are even better. Mission, vision and values statements aren’t just a nice-to-have anymore. Ethics count now more than ever.
- Mainstream media has taken a serious bashing the last few years when it comes to being trustworthy. You need to embrace truth and transparency in your comms.
- You don’t just need a story, you need a STORY. A great story. A story not just with a beginning, middle and end but with a shining hook or a face to it.
- You really have to put the hours in building those relationships with journalists. Most of them are freelance now and don’t have the time for those boozy, three-hour lunches anymore. Those that are still in-house are doing the work of two or three people.
- Print media is a business too – they need advertising as well as editorial.
- Media relationships and expert reputation delivers – journalists will always reach out to established contacts, experts and influencers for story ideas.
- We’re living in heavy days. We’re in a post-Covid world where we’re watching everyone get Covid. Putin’s ego trip into Ukraine gets worse every time we check the news. The cost of living has skyrocketed and people are worried about how they heat their houses and put food on the table.
In this strange “new normal”, we need stories more than ever.
We are further apart than we have ever been and yet in desperate need for connection.
Our trust and faith in the institutions we’ve grown up on has been at best cracked, at worse shattered.
We’re more demanding, less forgiving and not open to giving other a lot of time to prove their value to us.
We also need stories more than ever.
For the last two years, our nervous systems have been hit so hard we’re living in a constant state of overwhelm that feels normal to us.
We need to connect. We need to feel that we’re not the only ones going through hard times.
We need joy in our lives. We need to learn to trust again.
We need to find a way to tell the history of the last few years. And we need to find a way to recover from it.
The phrase “Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.” shifted the way this nation behaved. We need positive stories today that will help us find our footing in this strange, new world.
Today, right now, your stories are more important than ever.
Make them count.
Written by: Christina Melville
Chris is a business coach and guided healer helping people navigate periods of transformation in their businesses and lives. She focuses on the whole, helping entrepreneurs conquer their mindset demons and create a business that allows them to achieve their life goals. Learn more at www.transformwithchrism.com.
