right story. right people.
I often get asked what my philosophy of marketing is.
Being me, I had a quick answer to their question: I believe the goal of marketing is to produce a behavioral change in people from something that does not benefit you to something that does, and the way you do that is to "tell the right stories to the right people."
At my core, I am a rhetorician; that is what my undergrad degree is in, after all. (I am continually shocked about how much and how often I fall back on this background—it is advantageous.) As an undergraduate student at CSULB (Go Beach!) and a debate team member, I encountered a theory of modern rhetoric that has stuck with me: the narrative paradigm.
In 1984, a professor at USC, Walter Fisher, published his initial work on the Narrative Paradigm. The basic idea behind the theory is that all meaningful human communication takes the form of a narrative. We seek ways to connect shared meaning with others, and we do this by telling stories, allowing us to understand each other based on shared experiences. A great example is the parables of Christ found in the Bible.
Other examples can be a book, a magazine ad, or a television show (among others).
Fisher theorizes that effective communication is a story that is consistent in and of itself (narrative fidelity) and makes rational sense to the audience (narrative coherence). This combination is called narrative rationality. That is, effective communication has both narrative coherence and narrative fidelity. A coherent narrative has internal consistency (the story makes sense); if it has fidelity, it is seen as trustworthy and true (the story connects with the intended audience).
The episode "Darmok" (which premiered in 1991) of Star Trek: The Next Generation is an excellent example of the Narrative Paradigm showing the power of narratives to create shared understanding between beings of vastly different backgrounds.
In it, the captain of the enterprise, Picard, is forced onto a planet with the leader of another species. That species speaks only in metaphors, so Picard cannot understand or communicate. Through the episode, Picard begins to understand the metaphors (coherence) and apply them to his speech (fidelity). By the end of the arc, Picard unlocked the communication, and they made a new ally.
As you can see (if my story to this point has narrative rationality), my marketing philosophy is a direct application of this. Telling the right stories (narrative coherence) to the right people (narrative fidelity). The application of this philosophy begins with asking some simple questions.
the right stories
Is the story you are telling about what you are marketing?
Does the story you are telling make sense?
Does the story you are telling deal with the behavioral change you want?
the right people
Do you know who you are talking to?
Are you aware of what your audience already thinks about your marketing?
Are you talking to an audience capable of making the behavioral change you want?
I would argue, very passionately, if given a chance, that the only purpose of marketing is to get a group of people to change their behavior (i.e., buy something, go somewhere, do something, etc.). If you are engaged in marketing activities, and this is not your goal, you are doing the wrong thing. Whether it is to get someone to take immediate action or remember your brand the next time you are at the store, all marketing should be designed to elicit action from the audience. Organizations of all sizes spend billions of dollars every year on marketing activities. Be more effective: "Tell the right stories to the right people."
