Balancing storytelling, tradition, martech and AI for long-term profitability

Let’s flip a coin. It’s a marketing coin. On the one hand, it’s your business today and on the other, it’s your business tomorrow. Since it is a coin, you may have guessed that it is silver. I’m always interested in improving current revenue, but passionate about long-term profitability.

Since it’s a coin and it’s about your business, we can also say that one side is very human and the other side is all technology. Yin and yang. A cycle of opposing but interconnected forces. Complementary and self-sustaining. Together, they succeed.

Adopting this duality depends on the maturity of your business, which in business is profitability. Let’s be clear, profitability is not the result of chance. You will need both sides of this coin. It is unlikely that you will be lucky in your future.

Tell stories

In an article purporting to address business, maturity and profitability, “narration» seems a bit artificial? I mean, are we all around a campfire? Is the storyteller strumming a guitar?

This is the first side, and it’s the title song. It’s about being very, very human. Let’s not forget that B2B is a personal business: people buy from others.

Your story is a powerful differentiator, but its power lies in how you tell it. It’s not about how wonderful, smart and beautiful you are. It’s just noise. Prospects and customers don’t care. They want and need to hear how deciding to do business with you will make them wonderful, smart, beautiful, and successful.

They need to hear the story from start to finish, and it needs to be reinforced with every interaction. It’s at the heart of every purchasing decision. This includes renewals: inertia won’t get you where you want to go.

“Stories are an indirect way of communicating a message through a narrative. They are often more memorable and engaging than other communication styles. Effective stories can transform complex data into understandable information, deliver messages that stick, build trust with your audience, and create relatability. People naturally remember stories better than facts, statements or data.

Abdulaziz Alnaghmoosh, “The power of storytelling: inspiring audiences in business development»

People are biologically programmed to use storytelling to process and internalize critical information and create connections with other humans. “The power of storytelling: how our brains are wired for stories”, from Human Capital Innovations, cites recent neuroscience research to propose three theories explaining why:

When we hear a story, our brain reacts as if we are actually experiencing the events. The auditory cortex fires to process the sounds of words, while the sensory cortex fires to imagine details like sights, smells, tastes, and movements. This transport into the story creates a deeply immersive experience that captivates our minds. The human brain is programmed to detect patterns. When we encounter information, the pattern-making hippocampus organizes it into logical sequences and stories. Stories serve as contextual organizers that help turn disjointed information into meaningful episodes. Because humans are inherently social animals, we are wired to connect with others. Stories allow us to simulate social experiences. Brain scans show that hearing vivid sensory details activates the same regions that would light up if one were actually experiencing the event. This neural mirroring helps create empathy and understanding.

That’s why it makes perfect sense for marketers to harness the power of storytelling. A well-crafted story can guide decision-making, align internal stakeholders, and motivate customers to act.

Storytelling isn’t just a buzzword: it’s a critical driver of customer value and the cornerstone of effective marketing.

Consider this example:

Company A was a leader in SMB data backup and aimed to expand into the enterprise market. It was about telling a story of expertise and innovation in backup solutions. But this has not resonated with business decision-makers. The only story that mattered to them was about expertise and innovation in data recovery. This is what aligns with their success goals.

Storytelling creates the arc that begins with first impressions and translates into preferences, engagement, and relationships and becomes anchored in culture.

Dig Deeper: How to harness the impact of storytelling in B2B marketing

Culture

Culture, in the broad sense, is the ocean of symbols and stories in which we swim. Company culture is (and I’m using an AI-generated definition because it’s good at it):

“The set of values, behaviors and objectives that define the work environment and operations of a company. It is the sum of written and unwritten rules that members of an organization follow and which can be influenced by employees, employers, customers and business partners.

If we can embrace our history, putting our customers’ needs and successes first, we can better understand their culture and eventually be seen as “one of them.” There is no greater honor, nor better predictor of future success, that is, long-term profitability.

Two quick examples:

An operations manager at a manufacturer was asked why he chose Company A from his shortlist of six SaaS providers. The executive responded that everyone said, “First, get on our platform. » Company A said: “First, let’s see how we solve your challenges. » When a CEO was asked what the biggest advantage Company B offered was, the executive responded: “Our salesman. He understands us and what we need.

Dig Deeper: The marketing ROI problem has its roots in marketing culture

Martech and AI

We are fortunate to have constantly evolving technology and breathtaking efficiency. Martech And AI seem so powerful together that they make this side of the coin that much brighter.

But these tools, as powerful as they are, are largely episodic or event-centered. They won’t reliably bring the authenticity, values, and emotional connection needed to be that storyteller and access the company culture. (At least, in the short term.)

It’s much more than just a draw

Here is another aspect of storytelling that is very important. Any new relationship with a supplier leads to changes for and within the company. These changes impact culture – how people do their work, interact and are measured.

It is often said that culture eats change for lunch. However, one of the principles of successful cultural change is to provide a coherent and credible vision of the future state and how everyone will thrive once that state is reached. To me, it feels a lot like storytelling.

Dig Deeper: How Wisdom Makes AI More Effective in Marketing

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