The Many P's of Marketing: Parables

Marketing has gotten more and more nuanced, as new technologies and strategies have opened up many options for marketers.  It is my contention that today, the marketing mix contains much more than the traditional four or five P's that are taught in school.  In this series I am exploring the Many P's of Marketing.

Parables:  We are storytelling animals.  The most successful communicators, whether they are spiritual or political leaders, teachers, business leaders or activists, know that there is nothing quite like a story or parable to drive home the point.  Stories engage the listener or reader.  Stories frame issues and make points in a way that is easier to relate to AND easier to remember.

There is a reason that one of the most famous and successful ads of all time is a very wordy print ad that starts with the headline "They all laughed when I sat down at the piano, but when I started to play!..."  You don't have to have paragraphs and paragraphs of copy like John Caples famous ad, but if your marketing can engage prospects in a story you can engage them both intellectually AND emotionally.  It also allows you to utilize all the tools of a storyteller to hook and draw in your audience. You can read the famous ad here.

In the area in which I live, there used to be a storytelling festival.  It was a remarkable thing to see.  Every year, for a long autumn weekend, a large grassy field would be filled with tents, large and small.  You could go around from tent to tent listening to professional and amateur storytellers spinning yarns, cracking jokes and telling tall tales.  Virtually every tent was filled with a cross section of society that were brought together by the special magic that only a great story holds!  The remarkable thing is that it has been almost 10 years since I have been to that festival (it is no longer held) and I can still remember half a dozen of the stories I heard that weekend.  I went to a conference about a month ago and have to check my notes to remind myself about the Power Point presentations I saw.

A parables or story stays with you because it engages your intellect and emotions.  It connects with you verbally and, since it creates images in your mind, visually.  Stories, when used well in marketing, often "sell" the product without seeming pushy or aggressive.  Stories can also tickle your funny bone and give you a good general feeling about the company.  I remember several years ago reading a full page ad in the newspaper announcing that Taco Bell, to help with the national debt, had just purchased the Liberty Bell.  The company, the ad announced, was renaming the national historic icon the Taco Liberty Bell.  A glance at the date that this ad ran, April 1, told me that this was a company that wasn't afraid to be a bit irreverent or to take some chances.  The ad and the story it told generated HUGE additional media for Taco Bell.  You can read that ad here.  The point is that a story, even a made-up story, helps you cut through the media clutter and become memorable.

It is important to realize that storytelling does not always have to look like John Caples' ad, with paragraphs of copy and little else.  A smart, creative marketer can tell a story with a photograph, a short video, a radio skit, creative packaging and so much more.  Penzey's Spices and Lands' End often include stories about their customers in their catalogs.  Sometimes these stories involve the use of the products, but that is not the primary focus.  Instead, it gives the catalog reader an opportunity to relate to fellow customers.  It also gets readers to spend more time with the catalog, which more often than not ends up in more money spent on products!

You need to strongly considering making parables and stories a part of your marketing tool box.  If you don't, well, you're only telling half your story...