At IoD North West Summer BBQ, M3 Media Publishing CEO, David Lomas, and Jonathan Guy, Managing Director of Aqueous Digital, shared insights and inspiration with an invited audience of business leaders and directors.
“In this time of economic uncertainty, the IoD recognise the need for the best leadership and business sustainability,” said Claire Ebrey, IoD North West Regional Director.
“IoD North West are here to offer support to businesses, across the region, as well as access to professional and personal development,” enthused Claire. “One way of doing this is through our events, which are designed to encourage leadership, entrepreneurship and growth.”
“At this event we highlighted innovative content marketing methods that our attendees might not have considered,” said Claire.
Pain, Legacy and No Nuts
Talking to the guests at the event, sponsored by Together, David explained his formula for using content effectively.
“Storytelling is a powerful tool that enables you connect with your target audiences on a deep level”
“Grab the attention of your target audience by talking about their pain points,” explained David. “What are the things that keep them awake at night? What answers would they be searching for?”
“Finish your story with the legacy, the lasting effects of what you did for your customer when you resolved their pain,” David continued. “Leave out the nuts-and-bolts, the detail about how you you did it”
The Need Not to Sell
Taking up the storytelling theme, Jonathan Guy expanded on how using content effectively meant not selling directly, but allowing your prospects to come to you on the strength of what you are saying.
“Harness your content and improve its reach by focusing your storytelling on the issues and queries that people would be searching online for”
Jonathan Guy
Jonathan used the example of Scratchsleeves, a product designed to aid parents of children with eczema and other irritating skin conditions.
“The content that we developed for them focused on what people were asking about eczema, in the search engines,” explained Jonathan. “We also focused the content on the issues facing parents of children with eczemza, such as workplace absenteeism, stress, and lost productivity.”
“It’s not always the obvious issues that generate the best content. You can tap into a rich seam of online interest with your content if you choose a certain angle”
The talk ended with a lively audience participation, where David and Jonathan encouraged people to try their storytelling techniques on the people next to them.
“Hopefully people can start to see the value in content and storytelling,’ David concluded, “and how they are powerful tools to help businesses grow their customer base, and develop stronger links with their target audiences.”
To discover more about IoD North West’s future events, please click here.
