PPB May 2018

| MAY 2018 | 69 THINK The subtle shift is one of perspective . In the promotional products industry, products reign supreme. Products are what we sell. Products are what we bill our customers for. Products are what we learn about, worry about and obsess over. Our world revolves around products. But our clients’ world revolves around purpose , the initiatives they have been tasked with, whether that’s increasing leads at a trade show, motivating their employees or thanking their customers. They use products as merely a means to an end . We, unfortunately, market products as the end-all and the be-all. Our websites are full of products, our email marketing is loaded with products, and our language, prospect pitches, and marketing conversations revolve around products. The reason? We are an industry of professionals who market products as the end-purpose when products are simply one part of the story. Distributors have been trained (subconsciously) by suppliers to lead with products when selling to clients. For years, we have used supplier fliers, marketing resources andmessages—all of which they provide for good reason and at considerable expense—tomarket to our audience. Inmy opinion, suppliers have always been better marketers than distributors simply because most distributors consider their marketing unimportant. Suppliers are forced to provide resources because of the vacuum left by this lack of interest. That is a huge strategic error because suppliers and distributors are in two entirely different businesses: suppliers sell products; distributors sell purpose. When a buyer calls a distributor, they typically begin the conversation with a need that sounds something like this, “We have a sales conference coming up, and we want to reward our top performers.” That’s a purpose -driven inquiry. Of course, they are seeking a product , but the product is simply a vehicle through which a purpose can be fulfilled; the product is the fulcrum through which an objective is achieved. Every product sold in our industry serves a purpose. Even when the client just needs “something to give away” and is nonchalant about its intent, the product still serves a purpose. Many a marketing coordinator has called a distributor to order a product for an event and been ambivalent about the outcome, but don’t let this corporate lethargy fool you: every product still serves a purpose. And worse: when a product doesn’t fulfill its purpose, it furthers the “trinkets and trash” myth that we all detest. So, what’s the subtle shift that will ignite our marketing message? The shift has to do with the viewpoint fromwhich we share our marketing messages; it’s about the way we tell our stories. “Stories are the currency of human contact,” writes Robert McKee, a Hollywood screenwriting consultant. Storytelling is, at its simplest, merely a mental shortcut, a bridge. It’s a way to comprehend something complex in a digestible, easy-to-process form. The shift that must take place in our marketing stories is one of perspective . A shift in perspective is what turns our product-centered marketing stories into customer- centric stories. “Make the customer the hero of your story,” writes Ann Handley, a digital marketer and speaker. It’s the customer and their purpose that need to be at the center of our marketingmessages, not the products. How do we do this? We simply shift the point of view. Instead of writing and telling marketing stories with the product as the central character of our story, we tell the story from the perspective of the customer and their purpose. In the workshops I lead on storytelling, one of my favorite exercises is one on perspective. I ask the workshop participants to think of a memorable incident that happened on one of their favorite vacations, and then to tell that story from the perspective of someone else who was there. The results are insightful and often hilarious. Some choose to tell the story from the perspective of their dog, a baby, a child, or a passive observer. The shift in perspective doesn’t mean you’re telling a different story; you’re telling the same story but from a different viewpoint. That subtle shift can change the entire audience response to your story. Stories about the projects that we do for our customers, told from the perspective of the client and their purpose gives our marketing messages rails to run on. Instead of reducing what we do to a product (which is merely one part of the story), we ignite our marketing message by turning the spotlight away from The shift that must take place inourmarketing stories is one of perspective . A shift inperspective is what turns our product-centered marketing stories into customer- centric stories. It’s the customer and their purpose that need to be at the center of ourmarketing messages, not the products.