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Storytelling and Branding: A Look at the StoryBrand Process

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If you’ve seen or heard an advertisement that stood out, elicited strong emotion, and resonated with you, it is likely that the brand that created the ad was using the storytelling framework.

There is a proven framework to use when creating marketing content that tells a story. According to a Business to Business (B2B) video on “Building a StoryBrand,” by Donald Miller, storytelling allows advertisers to cut through the noise, get customers’ attention, and grow a business. The framework to follow when using the storytelling method includes creating a marketing campaign where a character has a problem, they meet a guide, the guide gives the character a plan, and then the guide calls them to action, the plan helps them avoid failure, and the story ends in success.

Psychologically, humans share a need for survival, safety, relationships, and self-actualization, and the storytelling method closely follows those themes. StoryBrand breaks down how to properly execute each aspect of brand storytelling:

A character

For a business, the “main character” in a marketing context is the customer.  A brand should focus on the customer foremost. To compel customers, clearly articulate what customers should want within the context of your business.

Has a problem

The “problem” within a marketing campaign’s story should be personified. For example, frustration as a problem within an ad’s story is not as effective as presenting an outdated, time-consuming process that makes a customer feel frustrated. The problem presented should be relatable and singular.

Meets a guide

This step in the storytelling process is where the company comes in. The character/customer in this step meets a guide (aka the company). To position a company as a guide in a marketing context, it is important to recognize that consumers are looking for two characteristics in a business: empathy and authority.

Customer receives a plan

There are two forms of a plan within a storytelling marketing format, The Process Plan, or what steps a customer can follow to do business with the company. This includes steps such as scheduling an appointment, creating a customized plan, or executing and reviewing KPIs. The second type of plan is The Agreement Plan, which is a service level agreement that tells customers what they can count on if they make a purchasing decision.

Call to action

Customers need to be called to action; businesses must send an obvious message to customers to persuade them to act. This can be done through direct calls to action, such as “call today” or “buy now,” or transitional calls to action, which are informational, such as the ability to view blogs, webinars, videos, so the customer has more potential to be called to action in the future.

Leveraging storytelling in your brand’s marketing campaigns has the potential to increase customer engagement and brand awareness. Share Moving Media has over 30 years of experience adapting business’ marketing campaigns to succeed in the healthcare supply chain industry. If your business could benefit from the creation of online content such as blogs, podcasts, webinars, marketing material, and more to set your business apart in the medical supply industry, contact Scott Adams at sadams@sharemovingmedia.com to set up a time to meet.

Trends in the Supply Chain Industry

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If you’ve been scrolling through social media and experienced multiple business’ ads integrated throughout your feed, you have experienced a marketing trend. Social media advertising has become popular for businesses throughout many industries. Marketing trends greatly impact advertising tactics and drive consumer behavior especially within the medical distribution industry.

A “trend” is defined as how industry changes or develops over time. The healthcare and medical supply chain industry experiences many phases of marketing trends, and leveraging them has the potential to impact the success of marketing campaigns. Changing a business’ marketing tactics to reflect current trends may be crucial to stay up-to-date and stand out in the dynamic world of marketing.

Many outside factors influence the industry in general and the medical supply chain industry’s success of certain marketing campaigns, such as the higher incidence of chronic disease, the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer demand changes, and more.

To advertise successfully, companies must be aware of these trends and develop marketing strategies with them in mind.

Read on for 3 marketing industry trends and how to leverage them for success in medical device marketing.

  1. Identify Popular Trends and Emulate Successful Campaigns

Research other companies’ marketing campaigns to evaluate what trends and tactics make other brands in the industry successful. Determine what tactics are similar across brands, and develop a strategy as to how you can fit your unique brand message into the trend.

  1. Build brand awareness

Identify your brand’s specific target audience and tailor all marketing and communication efforts toward that goal. This will allow your company to determine what works from a marketing perspective and allows leaders and marketing professionals to gain a better understanding of what is and isn’t popular with consumers.

  1. Know the industry

When leveraging marketing trends, it is necessary for a company’s leaders to be very familiar with the industry. It is important to understand the current state of the industry, its challenges, and the future direction of the industry. This will allow a business to create niche and informed marketing content.

Share Moving Media has worked within the medical distribution industry for over 30 years, and has a thorough understanding of the industry, its trends, and how to create informed marketing content that stands out. If your company could benefit from insight into successful marketing campaigns that work in the industry, or if you could benefit from the creation of blogs, podcasts, webinars, or other marketing content, contact Scott Adams at sadams@sharemovingmedia.com to schedule a time to meet.

Sources: 4 Ways to Leverage Marketing Trends for Viral Growth | Entrepreneur

Impact of Marketing Automation

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As a busy business in the medical supply chain industry, it can feel like you are being stretched thin when focusing on marketing at the same time as other sales and business responsibilities. Fortunately, in today’s increasingly technology-based marketing sphere, there are many ways to organize and automate the planning of marketing campaigns to make the process less daunting.

It is now more possible than ever, due to technological advancements, to integrate new automation systems into a company’s marketing strategy. Automation systems reduce time spent on marketing efforts and improve the outcomes of a business’ outreach techniques. Marketing automation refers to specific software platforms that can assist companies in digitizing and organizing marketing and sales engagement to better generate leads.

Another option that can alleviate the time burden of marketing is outsourcing content generation. Share Moving Media has extensive experience in marketing within the healthcare supply chain industry and can generate content for your business so you can focus more energy on sales tactics.

Both marketing automation and outsourcing can assist brands with achieving their sales goals, generating leads and sales, and optimizing return on marketing investment (ROI).

Read on for three benefits of marketing automation and outsourcing, and how to determine an option that is right for your business:

  1. Determine Business Needs

Outsourcing marketing can help your brand focus its efforts on sales in the medical distribution industry instead of keeping up with marketing content creation, which can be time consuming if executed properly. If your brand’s marketing needs have increased, a software or company that outsources content creation may be the right fit for your company.

  1. Evaluate the Ease to Your Business

How much time does your team currently spend on marketing efforts? How much of the company’s budget is going toward paying the marketing team? Could your company benefit from a cheaper, easier option? Both automation and outsourced content creation can reduce a company’s marketing costs and make it run smoother overall, letting you focus efforts on other business-related responsibilities.

  1. Explore Analytics and Reporting Options

Would your brand benefit from specialized data reporting that tracks the success of your marketing efforts? If so, your brand may benefit from tracking its data in more specialized software or help from an organization that specializes in creating marketing leads.

If your brand would benefit from marketing content that is tailored specifically to promote your brand and that stands out from competitors in the medical distribution industry, Share Moving Media can help. With over 30 years of experience in the medical supply chain industry, we can assist your brand in organizing its marketing goals and creating engaging content. Contact John Pritchard at jpritchard@sharemovingmedia.com to schedule a time to discuss your business’ goals and how together we can best represent those goals through content creation.

Determining Your Brand’s Marketing Audience

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When determining how to make a brand’s marketing tactics more successful, businesses are often told to create campaigns that will appeal specifically to their “target audience.” What exactly is a target audience, and how does a brand determine who they are selling to, and what consumers they could potentially be selling to? Read on to learn about how businesses can determine their consumer audience, improve marketing tactics, and appeal to specific consumers.

A brand’s target audience includes all of the consumers they are trying to reach and engage with their marketing campaigns. Consumers that businesses should target may include a wide range of demographics, ages, genders, socioeconomic status, etc. A company should market toward consumers that have goals, interests, and purchasing capabilities that align with the company’s product or service offerings.

Unique, tailored content created specifically to appeal to the audience’s goals and interests has the potential to boost a brand’s success and sales.

To learn about your business’ audience:

  1. Gather Information on the Existing Audience

When determining your brand’s target market, start by tracking sales data related to individual customers. Gathering this information can include tactics such as talking to a business’ salespeople about trends they have observed in customers, or implementing a data-based survey after sales calls that gives a business an understanding of their current customer base.

  1. Identify New Targets

Once a company establishes who their target audience consists of, they can move on to attracting new customers. Customer groups that may be interested in a business can be determined based on their demographics, interests, needs, wants, and budgets that align with your company’s product or service. By directing company marketing efforts toward people that need, want, or can afford a product, it is more likely a customer will view content and make a purchasing decision.

  1. Follow Trends & Distinguish Brand from Competition

Brands that stand out from their competition appeal to their consumer base with marketing tactics that differ from the industry competition. Keep in mind that trends, such as social media and technology, can impact marketing tactics. Leveraging current trends can help your business determine how to market to its target audience successfully.

If your company in the medical distribution and sales industry could benefit from implementing marketing tactics that are specifically designed to capture the attention of your brand’s target audience, Share Moving Media can assist you. With over 30 years of experience in the medical supply chain industry, our team can help your company create content for marketing campaigns that capture your audience’s attention and boost sales. For more information or to set up a brief session to discuss the needs of your business, please contact Scott Adams at sadams@sharemovingmedia.com.

How to leverage social media for your business

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In the last 10 years or so, social media has transitioned from a platform to keep up with friends and family to an invaluable tool for sales and marketing purposes. It’s a powerful way to connect with your target audience, while also reaching new prospects that you might not have been able to build a relationship with.

Here is a breakdown of the major social media platforms that businesses can use:

  • Facebook – Where it all started. Facebook was the pioneering social networking platform, giving friends and family members the opportunity to easily reconnect. It’s a great place to connect with customers and talk about what your company offers.
  • Twitter – Another one of the early platforms, Twitter is a better platform for exchanging information and connecting with your customers one on one.
  • Instagram – An image and video-based platform, Instagram is a perfect platform for marketing pushes with pictures and video.
  • LinkedIn – Built for businesses and professionals, LinkedIn is where businesses can leverage their employees as brand ambassadors to talk about what the organization offers to its clients.
  • TikTok – The newest of the bunch, TikTok is a video-based platform that can be incredibly effective for your business, if used correctly. To be most effective, you need a deep understanding of your brand and your customer base.

Use social media for marketing:

Incorporating your social media into your marketing plan will help you to reach customers and prospects right where they are. Make sure to post your content consistently to ensure a steady presence, develop a clear voice that will resonate with your audience and use your analytics to better understand your audience. Social media is a great way to generate leads and engage with your audience, so it’s important to know what kinds of content they are most interested in.

Use social media for customer service:

Part of what makes social media such a powerful tool is the immediate accessibility to your customers. Through social media you can respond to customer issues, which will make it easier to build and strengthen relationships with your customers. Hashtags are a powerful way to group your organization with some of the bigger topics that your customers care about.

Use social media to sell:

Through advertising campaigns on social media, you can increase sales for your organization. Brand ambassadors or social media influencers can help to boost the word-of-mouth buzz about your organization and boost sales. Social listening is another process where organizations can take a macro view of what their customers are talking about online.

How can your business leverage social media to generate revenue and attention for your brand? At Share Moving Media we help best in class manufacturers build relationships with 95% of the distribution reps in the US. Please contact us at sadams@sharemovingmedia.com to learn how we can help you gain market share through distribution.