I was driving into work today and ESPN was discussing a rather interesting topic. Many of their reporters are also their broadcasters or radio personalities. What was being discussed was the viability of UFC and if the sport needed its stars more than the stars needed the league. It was brought up that many reporters who write about certain sports will tend to follow narratives. They gravitate towards certain players’ rise or journey or in Football ‘s case, they discuss the tradition and hardship of the city.
It got me to thinking. Many of these sporting leagues thrive under the stories they tell or how they handle their marketing. As an avid fan of the NBA, I can tell you that the league definitely follows individual stars rather than a team itself. Now I can’t say which method is better or not, but all I can say is that in the NBA’s case, the route they picked for themselves worked. They used a style of following individuals that fans can relate to. The figures that make people feel inspired or just awestruck. That’s why sometimes you’ll hear on broadcasts, they talk about some players being marketable or not.
Marketing isn’t About the Product. It’s About the Receiver.
This all reminded me of a topic that I learned back in school and when I was in college trying to read as many marketing articles as I could find. Marketing needs to revolve around things people can relate to. Marketing isn’t about the product or the service, what it is about is how it can benefit the customer, how it will make them have a better life. It can make them feel happier, sexier, confident, and so on.
When it comes to digital marketing for your business, discussing the attributes of a product is great. At the end of the day, you need to be sharing what sets your product apart from the competing ones in the market. To do that though doesn’t mean you just talk about the competitive advantage itself. You need to translate it into what kind of benefit it will bring to the customer’s life. Translate success.
Write that narrative. People love stories and many people love their own story. Make sure that your product or business can be a part of their story and that your product can do that for them.
