Marketing Is Like Acting. It Works Best When Hidden

I committed the ultimate marketing sin. I created content for contents’ sake. Worse still, I counted it as a win.

For one client, my content was producing over 130,000 views a month (170,000 on a good month). Did it bring in sales? Sure. Did it bring in enough sales to justify the expense? I was hoping nobody asked me.

Something changed when I started telling stories. Clients didn’t start saying, “Wow, love the narrative, Tom” or “Gee, great use of subtext.” But they did say, “Loved your piece,” and “Great work. Sales want you on every project.”

“We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.” — Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal

Grammar and technical analysis don’t make a great writer. Harvard’s Steven Pinker may write clear prose with impeccable grammar.But it’s Homer, Hemingway and Harper Lee who are our greatest writers. Because in the deepest core of their being, they understand the universal truth that holds in every form of content from literature to business writing.The story matters most.