What's Your Story?

Technology Marketing Through Storytelling

by Laurie Griffith

So, your company has a website, a LinkedIn page and a Facebook page. You tweet; you blog; you post articles. But so does your competition. How do you know whether anyone can really hear you?

Recently we did different Google searches using obvious search terms for accounting firms in St. Louis. We changed the order of words, used “CPA” versus “accounting” and also used a number of spellings for our city (“St. Louis,” “St Louis” and “Saint Louis”). The results varied from a low of 94,600 hits to a high of 573,000 hits. What are the chances that a future business or personal client would find our firm versus any other accounting firm from an ordinary Google search?

Further, there are over 3 billion people using the internet at any given moment. They are performing searches and adding content. Modern businesses feel that an online presence is necessary, and they add to the volume of content by having a website, LinkedIn page, etc.

Having a digital presence is the first, and comparatively easiest, step. The true challenge is figuring out how to stand out and be heard over the digital roar. Businesses use various digital marketing strategies, such as search engine optimization, a mobile presence, conversations in social media, and paid advertisements and placement. But again, how does a company ensure these strategies are working together to generate notice and interest in the company over the competition?

Angela LaRocca is a brand manager at Unidev, a full-service web marketing and software development company. She believes that before using search engine optimization, businesses should develop an overall marketing plan that includes their unique stories. “Marketing is the universal solution to create brand awareness and is crucial for any business. Even though technology has changed the way we do business and interact with our clients, the basic principles of marketing haven’t changed.”

Developing a powerful online presence is part of an overall marketing plan. Before a business spends resources on developing a website, hiring content writers and purchasing ads, LaRocca says, it should know and talk about what makes it unique.

LaRocca asks, “What’s your story?” A company’s story is an important part of this plan. “Behind every powerful company and piece of technology lies humans, and behind every project is a story. Storytelling has become a genuine, effective way to approach digital marketing.”

Your story is what separates you from the competition. It makes you unique. The story must ring true and be believable. Many effective ad campaigns have used stories to communicate their messages.

Greg Alexander, Unidev’s founder, adds: “Using stories is a powerful manner to convey your message much more effectively and truly engage the customers. Information wrapped in a story is retained a lot better than just delivering data. Storytelling humanizes your brand and makes it so much more approachable.”

After a company has developed its story, it should weave the story consistently and seamlessly through all of its digital marketing. The story will help guide the content that is added to the website, to tweets and to blog posts. In this digital age, the story is not only in words but also in pictures and videos.

Join us at our next Sharp & On Point Speaker Series on Tuesday, Nov. 15, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Lodge Des Peres as Greg Alexander, Unidev’s founder, president and CEO, and Angela LaRocca discuss “Technology Marketing Through Storytelling.” They will share client case studies as well as how the Unidev brand has evolved to become their own powerful testimony. To reserve your seat or for more information, visit www.LopataFlegel.com.

Laurie Griffith is a principal at Lopata, Flegel & Co. Accountants and Management Consultants. The Sharp & On Point Business Advisory Speaker Series is a free event at the Lodge Des Peres sponsored by Lopata. Learn business strategies you can immediately put in place to point your business in the right direction. For more information, visit www.SharpAndOnPoint.com.