Create a Customer Centric Plot Before Writing the Marketing Screenplay – Part 2
How do we ensure that our ad or product pitch is compelling and easily understandable, and that customers will stop and read/watch? In the previous installment of this post I talked about the importance of having a good written plot – called a “concept” – before embarking into the full screenplay and execution of a communication strategy.
If our product “story” is strong enough, we should be able to tell it in a few sentences, using plain customer’s language, even before developing a full communication plan involving advertisements, social media, content or any other tool. Also, in the process we will discover valuable keywords that will help customer find our offer.
Indeed, this writing discipline avoids wasting time later in the process and helps optimizing the money spent in marketing and communication - including SEO and content generation. A clear concept will ensure that customers immediately grasp “what’s in it for them” and find our communication relevant. Recall, the key element of the concept are: Protagonist, Context, Trigger issue, Challenge to overcome, Solution, Explanation, Call to action. (Details in the previous installment)
Let’s use this structure to write the concept of a hypothetical new product and then to see who the concept will drive most of the subsequent marketing and communication choices.
Let me take as an example one "job" that many amateur and professional photographers have to do: “having the images I care for easily retrievable, available across my many devices and safely backed-up”. Software and app’s that do parts of this job already exist. But it cannot yet be addressed with a single solution. Let’s see how the concept of such a solution might look like: :
| Protagonist |
Person engaged in photography, who shoots to capture the moment but also cares for the quality and the durability of the pictures she took |
| Context |
Pictures and videos are moments and expressions that you don’t want to lose. You have thousands of them that you care about and they are all dispersed in your smartphone, camera, hard drives and social media platforms |
| Trigger issue |
With so many images across different supports, it is increasingly difficult to retrieve a specific one and to be sure that all the images you care for are safe and backed up |
| Challenge |
Wouldn’t it be great if all your pictures, whichever device you captured them with, were easy to retrieve and safe on your devices of choice, without having to remember to do all those back-up’s and having to recall the file name and details? |
| Solution |
MyPic is a new app that pushes your pictures from whichever wireless device to a central cloud repository, where they are automatically organized, safely backed up and synchronized on your devices. Also, your subsequent edits from your devices of choice will be received and implemented across the platform. With MyPic, the images you care for are always updated, at your fingertips and safe |
| Explanation |
MyPic uses sophisticated image recognition software to organize your pictures into easy and reliable categories, automatically adding relevant tags to the image so you can retrieve what you want when you want. Synchronization is done through local wireless communication so it does not consume your data plan nor occupy your home or office wireless. Edits and new tags in your devices of choice will be detected and implemented in all the others |
| Call to action |
Check MyPic in the App stores, you can buy the basic plan starting at $6 per month: try it for free for 3 months, then the subscription will be renewed only of you are totally satisfied. |
A first advantage of a concept like this is that – being a story written in customer’s language – it is an great source of relevant keywords. But much more than that, each element offers specific guidance for specific parts of the marketing and communication plan:
- Protagonist: she’s the buying persona, she will help targeting on line advertising precisely and selecting the right influencers, the whole communication plan is designed around her
- Context: will be used as a “hook” in visual or written advertising in whichever media – targeted customers will recognize the issue and hence continue to listen/watch the communication
- Trigger issue and challenge to overcome: same as above, key for communication execution in video or writing. Both context and trigger will need to be treated creatively to make the communication not only relevant but also entertaining and inspiring
- Solution: this is the 30 seconds product pitch. It is the resolution to the climax created by the previous part of the story. Its creative treatment and the media used to convey it are critical to generate interest and desire. In addition, it can be great guidance for product design and development, and a benchmark against which to check the product
- Explanation: it helps choosing the product characteristics in the development phase, and also guides the visual part of the communication, showing the critical aspects of the product that support the overall benefit
- Call to action: obviously this is included in all communication that have one, like e-mails, banners, landing pages and so on
To appreciate the value of this method, the only way is to use it. So try it out in your next communication project, and let us know how it works!
Renzo Rizzo is Managing Partner of Marketing Blu, a branding, digital strategy and product design consulting firm. We team up with our clients to shape marketing and business ideas, and to bring them to the market successfully. Our projects start with the “why” of a product, brand or business as a solid foundation for the “how”: defining and executing the marketing plans that turn ideas into market success.
This post was originally published in Blog Blu, Marketing Blu's blog.