#184: Talkin’ Shop—How Clear Messaging Unlocks Growth for Complex Tech Brands

Summary

Marketing Made Simple: Episode #184 – Talkin’ Shop—How Clear Messaging Unlocks Growth for Complex Tech Brands

Release Date: November 27, 2024
Host: Dr. J.J. Peterson
Co-Host: April Sunshine Hawkins
Guest: Kelly Scholl, StoryBrand Certified Guide

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1. Introduction to Messaging Challenges in the Tech Industry

In this episode of Marketing Made Simple, hosts Dr. J.J. Peterson and April Sunshine Hawkins delve into the intricate world of marketing for complex tech brands. They underscore a prevalent issue: many tech companies are laden with jargon like "innovative solutions" and "advanced technology" but fail to articulate the specific problems they solve in simple, relatable terms.

Dr. J.J. Peterson emphasizes, “[...] when you don’t have a clear message about the problem that you solve for people and you actually explain how you solve that in a way that a fifth grader could understand, you’re missing a huge opportunity in the market” (00:08).

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2. The Prevalence of Technical Language and Its Pitfalls

The conversation highlights that while technical terms resonate with industry insiders, they often alienate potential customers who may not grasp the complexities. April Sunshine Hawkins notes, “But all of the things that you’re going to share, I know when they hear these specific examples, they’re going to go, oh, yeah, that. That’s also applicable to me because of xyz” (05:32), pointing out the universal applicability of clear messaging strategies.

Kelly Scholl adds that tech founders often struggle with the misconception that complexity in messaging equates to intelligence, stating, “they think, no, our business is too complex, our product is too complex, our industry is too complex. This is not going to work for us. It is absolutely not true” (10:19).

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3. Implementing the StoryBrand Framework in Tech Marketing

Kelly Scholl, a guest expert, discusses how the StoryBrand framework assists tech companies in simplifying their messages without diluting their expertise. She explains that the framework helps in identifying the core problem and presenting the company as a guide that provides a clear solution, making the customer the hero of their own story.

Kelly Scholl highlights, “Your customer is very smart, but they’re also very busy. And so we need a clear message that really translates to them that you are the solution to their problem” (10:19).

She also shares insights into how tech companies can balance technical details with simplicity, ensuring that their messaging is both informative and accessible.

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4. Case Study: Revamping a SaaS Platform for Grocery Stores

A significant portion of the episode focuses on a case study involving a SaaS company serving retail chains and grocery stores. Kelly Scholl outlines how her team worked with the client to create multiple brand scripts tailored to different stakeholders, including developers, users, and enterprise-level investors.

Kelly Scholl describes the process: “We actually created four different brand scripts during the workshop. One was for the developers... one of the brand scripts was for the user, one of them was for the enterprise level like going out and getting investors” (16:19), illustrating the necessity of targeted messaging for diverse audiences within the tech ecosystem.

The collaboration led to a complete overhaul of the client’s website, starting with the homepage and extending to specialized landing pages, resulting in immediate positive outcomes.

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5. Essential Website Elements for Tech and B2B Companies

The discussion transitions to best practices for tech company websites. Kelly Scholl emphasizes the importance of including key pages such as:

• Homepage: Clearly articulates the company’s story and value proposition.
• Solutions/Services Pages: Detailed descriptions tailored to different customer segments.
• About Us Page: Showcases the human side of the business, presenting the team and company culture.
• Case Studies and Testimonials: Provide social proof and demonstrate real-world applications of the product.

Kelly Scholl advises, “We create our messaging and marketing around getting them to understand what it is you do first so they can do business with you” (20:44), highlighting the strategic placement of messaging across the website.

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6. Final Advice and Actionable Steps for Tech Marketers

As the episode wraps up, Kelly Scholl offers practical advice for tech company leaders. Her primary challenge to founders and CEOs is to take ownership of their company story and actively engage with customers to understand their needs better.

Kelly Scholl asserts, “Your first challenge is to really own the story, to really fully own the story... Talk to your customers, reconnect with why you’re doing this, and hear from them in their own words” (30:29).

Dr. J.J. Peterson reinforces this by presenting an actionable step for listeners: “Call one of your customers on the phone... hear from them directly in their own words what problems they had before working with you” (32:03).

This step encourages tech marketers to gather authentic customer insights, which can then be integrated into their marketing strategies to create clear, impactful messaging.

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Key Takeaways:

• Simplify Messaging: Avoid excessive technical jargon. Aim for clarity that even a fifth grader can understand.
• Customer-Centric Stories: Position the customer as the hero and the company as the guide in the storytelling framework.
• Targeted Brand Scripts: Develop specific narratives for different stakeholders within the tech ecosystem.
• Comprehensive Website Structure: Ensure your website includes clear, targeted pages that address various customer needs and stages.
• Engage Directly with Customers: Regularly communicate with customers to refine and validate your messaging based on their feedback.

By implementing these strategies, complex tech brands can unlock significant growth through clear and relatable marketing messages.

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Notable Quotes:

• Dr. J.J. Peterson [00:08]: “When you don’t have a clear message about the problem that you solve for people and you actually explain how you solve that in a way that a fifth grader could understand, you’re missing a huge opportunity in the market.”

• Kelly Scholl [10:19]: “Your customer is very smart, but they're also very busy. And so we need a clear message that really translates to them that you are the solution to their problem.”

• Kelly Scholl [16:19]: “We actually created four different brand scripts during the workshop...”

• Kelly Scholl [30:29]: “Your first challenge is to really own the story, to really fully own the story... Talk to your customers, reconnect with why you’re doing this, and hear from them in their own words.”

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Conclusion

Episode #184 of Marketing Made Simple offers invaluable insights into refining marketing strategies for tech companies. By leveraging the StoryBrand framework and prioritizing clear, customer-focused messaging, tech brands can effectively communicate their value propositions, engage their target audiences, and drive growth. Whether you're a CEO, marketing director, or entrepreneur in the tech space, the actionable steps and expert advice provided in this episode are instrumental in transforming your marketing approach.

Transcript

[Dr. J.J. Peterson]

I think the highest number, actual, like, number of workshops that we've done for one industry has probably been in the tech space. Innovative solutions, advanced technology, customer experience. Words that a lot of tech companies use, which are good words, and I'm not saying don't use those words, but when you don't have a clear message about the problem that you solve for people and you actually explain how you solve that in a way that a fifth grader could understand, you're missing a huge opportunity in the market. Hello, hero maker. Welcome to the Marketing Made simple podcast, powered by StoryBrand and brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, where we believe your marketing should be easy and it should work. I am your host, Doc, Dr. J.J. peterson. And I am joined by my co host, April Sunshine Hawkins. Hi, April.

[April Sunshine Hawkins]

Hi, JJ and hey, hero maker.

[Dr. J.J. Peterson]

April. We're pretty tech savvy.

[Kelly Scholl]

I mean.

[April Sunshine Hawkins]

Yeah, no doubt.

[Kelly Scholl]

No, I mean, I don't look at us and see.

[April Sunshine Hawkins]

I watch on your wrist. It's not. There's not one on mine either. But no, we're super tech savvy.

[Dr. J.J. Peterson]

Super in our personal lives. Yes, we are. No, I would not say anybody would use. Would describe us that way as, like, tech savvy. You're very outdoorsy. Like you. I don't rely on a lot of technology. I mean, we all have our phones. And I would not say I'm an early adopter of technology. Like, I have to learn about it. And then usually Jamie helps me, like he kind of is the early adopter and then explains it to me. I'm like that old person who, you know, has to have their kids explain Facebook to them kind of thing.

[April Sunshine Hawkins]

Yeah.

[Dr. J.J. Peterson]

But over the years, you and I have spent a lot of time with tech companies. So much time helping them clarify their message. Because let's just be honest, there's a lot of insider language often that comes with tech.

[Kelly Scholl]

It's all insider language.

[April Sunshine Hawkins]

Yes.

[Dr. J.J. Peterson]

And sometimes that language works if you're talking to people who are on the inside. And sometimes it doesn't work if you're talking to people on the outside. I mean, we are in. I mean, I would say probably of the private workshops we've done as a company, I think the highest number, actual, like, number of workshops that we've done for one industry has probably been in the tech space.

[April Sunshine Hawkins]

Oh, for sure.

[Dr. J.J. Peterson]

Because a lot of people in that space need help clarifying their message.

[April Sunshine Hawkins]

Oh, there's just so much to do for them, specifically because the people inside are so passionate about what they do and so smart. And so smart. And they want, they want to get their point across and they want the people to know and understand what this thing even is and what it does. But then that just really bogs down, that can bog down the message. And then the marketers go, well, we can't say all of that, so let's just say solutions. And then nobody knows what it is.

[Dr. J.J. Peterson]

Yeah, innovative solutions, which they are, or advanced technology. Like those are some words that a lot of tech companies use. Innovative solutions, advanced technology, customer experience, which are good words. And I'm not saying don't use those words, but when you don't have a clear message about the problem that you solve for people and you can't actually explain how you solve that in a way that a fifth grader could understand, you're missing in a huge opportunity in the market. Because just if everybody goes out and says, we have innovative solutions, we have incredible platforms, we have advanced technology, then it's all, everybody's the same. Yeah, again, you can still use those words, but you have to figure out how to craft them in a way that actually shows people what problem you solve and what their life is like on the other side. Which is why we always use a story brand framework. When we come in with the story brand framework and we help people clarify using that. Now you have a more complete story and you don't get bogged down in the, just the technical terms that have to be conveyed in, in any kind of marketing because you do need to get to some specifics and specs, but the reality is you need to be more clear and more simple in the language. And because we have worked with so many people in this space and we know that there's a lot of people who maybe you're not in the tech space specifically, but what you do is complicated. You offer a lot of value to your customers. You offer a ton of just like solutions, innovative solutions to their problem. And you want to figure out how to talk about it. That's why in the series we wanted to talk shop about tech companies specifically and talk about how to help people who are in the tech space, the software space, really talk about their products and services in a way that connects with customers. So you had an Incredible conversation with StoryBrand certified guide Kelly Scholl.

[April Sunshine Hawkins]

I sure did. This was one of my favorite talking shop conversations. We just got down to brass tacks.

[Kelly Scholl]

Right away because this is what she.

[April Sunshine Hawkins]

Does all the time. She's constantly helping tech companies clarify their message using the story brand framework. And whenever you see things happen Again and again and again. In each of those companies, you're just really able to figure out how to have that delicate balance between sharing details around what the product or solution actually is, but not handing people so much information that it just feels overwhelming to them. So if this is you or somebody that you know, you're going to love this conversation with. Kelly Scholl, Storybrand Certified Guide.

[Kelly Scholl]

All right, Kelly, you have been a story Brand Certified Guide with us since 2018. Just a few years. I know. Can you believe it? Like, you just, like, opened your mouth like, I can't believe it.

[Unknown]

Surprise emoji. I know. I'm so excited just to be here.

[Kelly Scholl]

Fun. I'm so glad that you're here. And we want to get down to Brass Tax. If anybody still says that we want to get down to brass tax and talk specifically about utilizing the story brand framework for tech companies. So, of course, everybody that's listening to this might not be in a tech company or working for one, but all of the things that you're going to share, I know when they hear these specific examples, they're going to go, oh, yeah, that. That's also applicable to me because of xyz. So I'm excited you're here to share your tech expertise. I'm curious if there is a specific tech realm that you are working with most clients in. Like, is there, is it cybersecurity or, you know, some other kind of engineering product or where. Where are you hanging out in the tech world?

[Unknown]

I appreciate that question because tech is so broad and so I do tend to focus primarily with enterprise SaaS. So that's a key distinction. I work with B2B tech companies specifically, but enterprise SaaS as well as the flip side of that, the ones developing the software. So the software development agencies, design dev agencies, as platform agencies, things like that. So kind of on both sides of the SaaS space. But I've, I've worked with robotics companies and data companies and, you know, platform. So it's just. Yeah, it's. I love just the variety of companies that I get to work with, but those are the ones that I tend to focus on specifically.

[Kelly Scholl]

Okay. And for our hero maker listening today, who's like, I've heard that term sass. I've seen some of those letters capitalized and some of them lowercase, and I'm not quite sure exactly what it is. Can you put it in very simple terms for us?

[Unknown]

Yes. So software as a service. So one of the kind of buzzy things that was happening was people were Trying to insert all sorts of things into that first word. So HR as a service and operations as a service, but software as a service, they're the ones that came up with it first.

[Kelly Scholl]

Got it. Okay, so Hero maker, now you're, you've got it. You understand that term. And we are probably going to stop along the way and describe some of, some of the terms that are thrown around in the tec. So don't worry, Hero Maker, you are in a good spot. And if you're very familiar with SaaS, you're also in the right spot because Kelly's going to talk to us all about it. So when a tech company comes to you, Kelly, how are you treating them? The same as anybody who comes to you for story brand messaging. And then how are you treating them differently?

[Unknown]

So I honestly, I wouldn't say I would treat them any differently from anyone else who would come in the door. And the wonderful thing is that I've noticed over the past especially few years is that there has been an upward trend in the tech companies that are contacting me through StoryBrand. They are story brand aware and they are honestly some of the most rabid fans of the book, of the framework. These are obviously, they're engineers. A lot of my tech founders, they're highly technical, so this is not typically a book they would pull off the shelf, but for them it makes sense. And so most of my founders tend to devour the book and then come to me. So, yeah, I would not treat them honestly any differently. And typically if they're not story brand aware and I might need to kind of approach it a little bit differently, we still always start with the story.

[Kelly Scholl]

Amazing. So you're starting with the story and what are the things that you see when working with tech companies that really kind of trip them up as they are trying to wrap their minds around the concepts and help you understand the story and the customer and all of those things.

[Unknown]

Yeah. So it depends for my technical founders, my highly technical, they're frustrated with their marketing. They might just be frustrated with their marketing. So they've discovered storybrand, they try to implement it and they just throw everything in there. They all the words, all the ideas, they throw everything in there. And honestly, the thing that I hear the most is we need to make this still sound smart. Like we need to have enough words in here that we still sound smart and we still sound complex. Because what we do is complex. Our product is complex, our service is complex. So we need to make sure that translates to our customer and they don't think that we're not smart. And so that's why we need all these words in here. And it's not until we have the conversation that I, I 100% agree. Like, yes, you are smart, and you want your customers to see you as smart, especially in this particular area of expertise in your domain. And I agree with you that your customers are also very smart. The thing that they aren't is they're not people who have a lot of time to digest your message and all of the technical language that's in it. So that's honestly the number one place that they get tripped up is just thinking that they have to have still include a lot of complexity in the story in order to sound smart. And that's a lot of times why they stop short of pursuing story brand as a framework. Because they think, no, our business is too complex, our product is too complex, our industry is too complex. This is not going to work for us. It is absolutely not true. Your customer is very smart, but they're also very busy. And so we need a clear message that really translates to them that you are the solution to their problem. That's, I would say, number one.

[Kelly Scholl]

Absolutely. I was just in last week in Tampa, Florida, working with a cybersecurity company, and they kind of had these same issues, and it's like, hey, hey, hey. Let me just remind you, we've got to meet people at the very beginning of the story. We've got to, like, drill it down to like a level one and two kind of level so that people go, okay, I understand what you are right now. And then they're primed and ready to be educated more along the customer journey. But I do, I, I could feel the pressure that these people in this room while we were doing this private workshop, put on themselves.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Kelly Scholl]

To be like, I've got to put all of our expert. I gotta make sure, I gotta make sure that they know we're experts on this. And I get it. Like, I get that, why they want that. Because they've spent millions, sometimes billions of dollars figuring out this solution. It does feel very important to, to weave it into the story. We've just got to meet clients where they're at, customers, where they're at at the beginning of the story.

[Unknown]

100%. And honestly, the idea of taking their character, of building a story that their character is going to want to enter into it makes sense to a lot of tech founders. That idea makes sense because they're used to creating user journeys, they're used to creating software products for a user. Someone is going to use your software. What is the job that they're trying to do? What is the function that they're trying to complete? What's the problem your software is solving for them? They're used to the idea of a user journey when they're creating the user experience, but what they're not used to is talking to the person who's writing the check for the software. In an enterprise situation, that's going to be a different person. It's a different character. They've got a different story. And so we need to tell that story. And that is also It's a big challenge for a tech company that has put all of their resources into developing an outstanding user experience. And now all of a sudden, we've got to sell this product. We've got to come up with a compelling story and reason for our buyer to be interested in the product.

[April Sunshine Hawkins]

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[Kelly Scholl]

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[April Sunshine Hawkins]

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[Dr. J.J. Peterson]

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[Kelly Scholl]

Kelly, I want to hear about some companies you've been working with, but I was working with a blockchain company for a private workshop one time and it was just so helpful. We actually created four different brand scripts during the workshop. One was two the developers. These are the people who are actually going to build using the specific blockchain technology. One of the brand scripts was for the user, one of them was for the enterprise level like going out and getting investors. And so breaking down these different brand scripts and giving people a place for, hey, the user story is really important. We still need that. All of that information goes over here. We create a specific brand script for it, but the person that's writing the check or the person who's signing up for the service, or the person who's building on the thing, they. We need a brand script for them specifically. And then we've got to create our messaging and marketing around getting them to understand what it is you do first so they can do business with you. So, yeah, talk to us a little bit about some of the companies. You don't have to say the names, but some of the companies you've worked with, and as you were working with them, what were some of the things that were really helpful that you were kind of pulling out of them?

[Unknown]

No, April, you're exactly right. I mean, that is the more you kind of get, like, dive deep, you get deeper and deeper deep, and you realize, oh, my goodness, we need a brand script for this buyer. We need a brand script for this partner. And so I actually was noticing the same thing. I had several clients who came to me. One was an enterprise SaaS platform. They serve retail chains, grocery stores, and kind of help them. They have built this all in one platform that connects all of the little pieces. So you've got your point of sale system, and you've got your CRM, your customer relationship software, and you've got your erp, your enterprise resource, whatever, planning. There's so many acronyms.

[Kelly Scholl]

I know so many.

[Unknown]

All the acronym things that have to work together, they all have to communicate together to keep your store running smoothly. That all the way through to the. To the register to that individual person who's checking out at your store. All of a sudden there's an outage and you can't check that person out. So there you've got your frontline worker at the register who's like, oh, no, what do I do? And then that gets, you know, they call their manager over, who then calls the manager's manager's manager. And it goes like several levels up. And you're still trying to figure out what is exactly the problem because you don't have visibility. So this company helps provide that visibility. And they came to me, just huge fans of storybrand. We need to get a clear story for just our buyers, our grocery store buyers. So we talked to them, we did a whole story for them. And then, yeah, it's like, all right, well, now we've got to think about the partner who's going to help sell our solution because they were an Oracle partner. So we've got the person at Oracle who's got to sell this solution. We'll okay, what's their version of success here? It's a lot different from the manager at the store level who's just trying to. This is a completely different story. And so we've done, now we've gone through each product, then we've looked at the product lines and how the product lines really kind of speak to a different buyer, a different problem. So we did messaging for all of those. And so I'm to the point where I've had the same experience where it was happening so often that we needed those first, second, third, fourth, almost level messaging done. And so that's something that I include with my initial package is, don't worry, we're going to tackle all of those individual stories because that can really trip people up too. It's like, who am I talking to? At the end of the day, the user is the one I know best. Now I've got to talk to all these other people. And so we tackle that together. And it's at the end of, end of that we have such a complete picture of how everything works together. And that shows the power of that core company story. Because we go back to that at the end we're like, you know what? It still resonates, it still works together with all of these different pieces and it's just, it's great.

[Kelly Scholl]

So once there's this clarity, because you've teased out the messaging for each of the customer or client type and, or the people that you're trying to communicate to, you've got this clear messaging. Amazing. Then what's next? Like, you know, I know a lot of people are going, okay, that's great that we've got this clear message, but now what do I do with it as a tech company. Yeah. For you to talk a little bit about specifically this, this grocery store client that you're talking about or this, you know, this SaaS enterprise, SaaS level company that's selling to grocery stores.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Kelly Scholl]

What were some of the deliverables that you helped them create after going through the brand scripting process?

[Unknown]

Absolutely. So we started out, their whole team actually was on, on board with the messaging piece. So we walked through that with our whole team, which I found was having the CEO, the founder involved from the beginning was really important with this client. So we all went through that messaging piece together within a couple of weeks. We had the messaging done, we had the one liner, which was obviously in a situation where you are selling to businesses as well as my startup listeners, anyone who has a startup, a tech startup, investors, you think, how am I going to talk to an investor? That one liner is really key for not only just serving as an elevator pitch, but also getting that alignment amongst the entire leadership team because then they had to roll it out to their team. Getting everyone on the same page clear. That really impacts the strategic direction, honestly, of everything after that. But our first piece specifically with this client was the website. So we tackled the homepage immediately. That was something that we were able to have done very quickly. And then because we had done those second order messages, those became landing pages. So those are our sales landing pages were already written at that point because we had done the work, we had done the upfront work to really dig in to those different product lines and come up with that story that would form the basis for those landing pages. So we had the entire website completely rewritten. They actually is the case with a lot of my tech clients are like, I have a guy who tears the development obviously sometimes they have an entire team of developers on staff. So in a lot of cases they're like, you know, we, we understand the importance that the words are. Can you just, can we do the word, redo the words on the website? We've got a team that can take care of the design, the development of the website. So that was the case with this client. So it was done really fast. Within a few weeks we had that, the website was completely revamped and they saw immediate results from redoing the site.

[Kelly Scholl]

So exciting. I mean, I know there's a lot of tech companies and people listening out there that go, oh my gosh, this just feels like an overwhelming thing to do. But as I'm hearing Kelly talk, and in my personal experience, there's just so you can get so much clarity really, really quickly and then turn around the copy because you've, you've clarified the message in the brand scripting process. The copy is so much easier after that about what you need to put on the homepage of the website and then building the other landing pages. And I can kind of hear and feel the hero maker kind of, you know, the, the wheels are turning and spinning and going, oh yeah, like, like once I pull it all out and I'm able to see where all of my customers fit into this puzzle, right, it's like, I don't have to jam everything onto one page. Or one piece of marketing, it's like, no, there's going to be a spot. There's always going to be a spot for it.

[Unknown]

Absolutely. And that's really where our shared language, mine and my clients, comes into play. Because I understand the user journey as well. I understand that experience that we take our buyers on as they get into our website, as they experience our website. And so yes, we take them on a journey, we take them where they need to go, we facilitate them navigating through the site, and at each point along the way, we're giving them exactly what they want.

[Kelly Scholl]

So are there any specific things as it relates to a website for a tech company or for a B2B company that you always want to make sure to include?

[Unknown]

Very, very good question. So honestly, I think it comes back to just all of us being consumers and anytime we've been a consumer on behalf of maybe a company that we've worked for, you know, what are those high level tasks that we have? And so we have to think about the first person who might be coming to the site, maybe their management, maybe not. Maybe they're like a lower level person who's just been assigned to research a, a couple of products, compare them with each other. So what is the sort of that high level information, those high level tasks we want to make sure that we always include. Obviously we're going to be on that homepage, we're going to be utilizing just that opportunity to really lay out the story of the product or service. And we're including all of the elements that we would find on any other kind of a best practice website that follows the story brand framework. So we're going to have a process plan for how to work with us. We're going to have testimonials from our clients, we're going to have, you know, all of those things on the homepage. But we also want to make sure that we have a page that outlines maybe our services or our product lines in more detail. That might be a solutions page. That's what a lot of, in a lot of cases a B2B buyer might be looking for. And it depends on whether they're problem aware or they're solution aware. But sometimes they're going to be looking for a solutions page, sometimes they're going to be looking, looking for an industries page. Do they serve my industry? Sometimes they're going to be looking for that pricing page. If it's a product that it makes sense to kind of include. If it's kind of a lower level, maybe SaaS product in an enterprise situation, probably we don't need that page. But yeah, in an about page. And honestly, at the end of the day, we have those pages. Case studies are just something that I always include. If you don't have those yet, it's okay. We'll work in some testimonials and we'll look to add those case studies later. But yeah, just making sure that we have that about page. Something that goes into our product or services or solutions, you know, in addition to the homepage, some way to get that, get into that demo with you or to get connected with you. And that's it. We've got our site.

[Kelly Scholl]

What's your favorite page to put together for somebody out of all of those?

[Unknown]

Oh, wow. I would say, I mean the homepage. But I would say I do enjoy putting about pages together for my tech clients because it's really sort of their opportunity to showcase the human side of their business. You know, in tech, like, that tends to be really. In B2B, I think, you know, we tend to forget this, that human element because we're so focused on showing off our product, showing off our tech, getting into the intricacies of the tech and the services that we offer. But it's really showing off the people behind the product. And I love just being able to do that for my clients because I get to know them and I get to know what, just what incredible people are behind these products. And as founders, it's like, you know how amazing your people are. This is your chance, this is your chance to sort of show a human side. And obviously we're going to still focus on our character and letting you know, communicating that mission, that vision, you know, the things that set us apart, the differentiators that set us apart when it comes to serving our clients. But we also get to show off ourselves and our culture. And yes, there are people behind the products. When you get, when you call us, when you call support, you're going to talk to a person who's going to be able to connect with you and solve your problems.

[Kelly Scholl]

Yeah, you're using the About Us page to talk about how they're a really great guide. And of course, this is your hero that you're serving. And so since you get to know them on such a fun level, you're just like, oh, let me toot your horn for you a little bit and, and set you up as this really great guide because people need that as well. They, they want to do business with people that are like them and people that are Legit in their space. And so you getting kind of tee them up in that way and. And provide that space on that About Us page. I mean, I could just see your face is lighting up and you get so excited because you love what you do for your clients.

[Unknown]

Yes. Yes.

[Kelly Scholl]

Well, all right, Kelly, we just got a few moments left. I know our. Our tech friends out there are going, please talk more. I want to hear more.

[Unknown]

I can talk about this all day.

[Kelly Scholl]

I know. I feel like we really could, but we want to challenge them to get out there and do something. So what. What would your challenge be to these people who are pumped about storybrand? They're in the tech space, and they are kind of at the beginning or maybe middle of clarifying their message. What's your challenge to them today?

[Unknown]

Okay, well, I want to speak to two different character heroes. One would be if you are a founder, a CEO, you, as a CEO, your first challenge is to really own the story, to really fully own the story. So if your marketing director has come to you to tell you about StoryBrand, maybe you're listening to the podcast just to see. Just to consume a little bit more about what is this story brand. My challenge would be, yes, 100%. Read the book or in some way learn about the framework, but then you really own the process of telling your company story. You're the one that's going to get the entire rest of the team on board and start to change those hearts and minds through story. So for you, really embrace the storytelling aspect of this and don't worry about all of the other, you know, sort of details at any. Really, at any point in the process. Talk to your clients. Talk to your customers. Get on the phone with. Just. Just pick up that phone and call, you know, one of your best clients, one of your best customers, and just talk to them and just really kind of get into their head. You know, you're. You're involved in this process, and you're probably doing a lot of brainstorming inside meeting rooms and inside zoom calls. Get out of that for a second and just talk to your client. Talk to your customer, reconnect with why you're doing this, and hear from them in their own words, how your product, how your solution specifically, has really changed their life. And that will re energize you, and it will also give you a lot of really good fuel for the brand script that we're going to put together. Together.

[Kelly Scholl]

Let's freaking go.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Kelly Scholl]

That's how I feel right now. So, Kelly, thank you so, so much for coming and talking specifics talking shop about, you know, using story brand for tech companies of of all different sizes and whatnot and Hero Maker, I hope that you got so many great ideas from Kelly today. Thanks Kelly for being on.

[Unknown]

Thanks so much for having me. April.

[Dr. J.J. Peterson]

What an incredible conversation. And I know all of us could learn from that. To figure out how to talk to our customers in a way that shows them how we clearly solve their problem. Doesn't matter if it's simple or if it's technical, you have the ability to do this. And if you're still feeling stuck trying to figure out how to apply the story brand framework into your marketing, you can hire a Story Brand certified guide last Like Kelly Scholl, just go to marketingmadesimple.com to hire a guide that will show you how to clarify your message and create marketing that works well. Hero Maker, it's time to apply everything you learned with this week's Actionable Step. A practical step from today's conversation you can immediately use to shape your marketing and clarify your message. Today's Actionable Step is very simple and you heard Kelly talk about it in the interview. What you want to do is call one of your customers on the phone, actually pick up the phone and call them and hear from them directly in their own words what problems they had before working with you. Get them to use clear, simple language. If you have to even follow up a little bit and go, what does that mean? To get a little bit more clarity, get more clarity. Get it very simple so that then you can take those words and immediately put them into your marketing. On your website, in your emails, in your lead generators, on your social media to talk to potential customers about how you solve a problem for them. This is, we always talk about it. The key to the story brand framework and really to creating a great story in your marketing. Identify the problem that you solve for your customers. You think you might have a platform or an innovative solution, but what did that mean to your customer? Call them, find out, get it in their words and then don't just use that for a testimony, but use that as a way to craft your message so you can reach other customers just like them. When you're able to articulate the problem that you solve for your customers, more people are going to find you and hire you and buy your product and service and they are then going to actually be able to solve that problem. That is what's going to make them the hero of their own story. That's what makes you a great guide and that's what makes you a hero maker. Well, that's all for this week's episode of Marketing Made Simple. Thanks so much for listening and believing, like us, that your marketing should be easy and it should work. Follow Marketing Made simple wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you found this episode valuable, please rate and review the show, letting us know how these tips are clarifying your message and growing your business. We'll see you next week.