Want people to listen? Tell a compelling story.

The days of placing your CEO in front of a camera and delivering your corporate message are gone. Oh you can still do it, but no one will listen. Today’s internet connected generation has grown up with that way of marketing and will instantly spot it as just that, marketing. So instead of talking at your prospective customer, give them something.

What I propose you give them is an emotion. Do this by finding and telling stories that deliver the emotion you want them to associate with your brand. Tell them a compelling story that they can’t turn away from. It’s really not that hard to do, you have biology on your side. We, humans, can’t turn away from a compelling story. I honestly believe it has been burned into our DNA from thousands of years of storytelling. We did it in caves, we do it in playhouses, we do it in movie theaters and today you should be doing it on the internet.

This year we produced one of these stories. Give it a look and see if it inspires an emotion in you. See if you’re compelled to watch it. See if it holds your attention longer than a standard CEO talking head video. I think it will.