Good question.
I was around 16 when I realized I wanted to be a writer. At the time, I was reading a lot of horror novels, and writing was perhaps the only subject in school I found engaging and that I seemed to be able to pull off rather easily. Chemistry, Algebra, just about everything else triggered some bad ADD juju in me. But not reading and writing. Those two let me in, big time.
I was also working part-time at Exotic Aquatics, a tropical fish store in Boulder, Colorado. My boss decided we needed to run a radio commercial and, knowing I wanted to be a writer, told me to take a shot. So I wrote a radio spot of sorts, as I imagined it, hearing it in my mind. The guy at the station helped me finesse it. And then it aired on Colorado’s beloved KBCO.
My first paying gig as a writer. I was making $5 an hour selling angel fish, now I was making $5 an hour writing radio!
Since then, some 30 years on, I have written in almost every form and for every media available. I’ve managed bookstores, imported reptiles from around the world, sold software on Wall Street, sold yellow pages in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and managed the busiest Barnes & Noble in the nation.
I also worked as a copywriter for 15 of those 30 years, in-house, for agencies and as a freelancer. I’ve written for retail, e-tail, footwear, apparel, technology, entertainment, publishing, household, healthcare and real estate and a lot else I can’t remember now.
I’ve worked on global campaigns, loyalty programs, national radio and TV, print, direct, email, for B2B and B2C sites, social platforms, mobile apps, magazines, Hollywood producers, Chinese herbal remedies, CEO presentations and more.
Along the way, after accruing approximately 400 rejection letters, I also managed to publish six novels, three of which became international bestsellers.
So where does that leave us? Am I a copywriter or a novelist? Are my strengths in business or art?
To B2B or B2C or not to be? That is the question.
But why would you want to work with me? What can I do for you?
What kind of writer am I?
How about just… storyteller.
Because that really is what it all comes down to, I believe. In advertising, in art, in life. People want a good story. People respond to stories that resonate with them. That move them deeply or just distract them between basketball games. Stories have been the primary mechanism by which humans connect and learn and feel and share and empathize for thousands of years. Stories will always be the fabric that binds and helps explain our existence. From the earliest cave paintings to the new Star Wars in 3-D IMAX, story is a projection that helps others look inside.
And yes, I am still talking about marketing. Trust me.
Doesn’t matter if it’s a novel, a promotional email about flip-flops, a self-shot cooking video that goes viral, a 1-800 quit smoking ad on the back of a matchbook cover, the endless Energizer Bunny campaign, Forrest Gump (telling stories within the story) or War & Peace.
It’s all just messaging around… until someone tells a story.
I’ll give you an example. What if I said, “Hey, read this text I just received.”
I want you to be happy.
Nice sentiment, sure. But it’s flat, banal, cliche. It reveals nothing.
But what if I told you that same text message was the last message I received from my fiancé, right before she disappeared, on the day of our wedding?
Now we have a hook, a pull of curiosity, emotions come into play. We sense there is a much larger story at hand, maybe one worth hearing.
In marketing, the equivalent might be:
Low prices, great customer service!
Or, World’s Greatest Chicken
Yawn. Standard claims your average consumer has fallen deaf to long ago.
But what if we toyed with the audience a bit. Created a sort of backstory or mythology, as yet unveiled, about this amazing chicken.
Chicken Starting Riots Nationwide
Meet the Man Who Married a Chicken Sandwich
Scientists Alarmed by Chicken Infiltration
Chicken addiction? You’re not alone. Call 1-800-BOK-BOCK.
OK, so nothing award-winning there, but it’s a start. Point being, whether we’re talking about the world’s greatest romantic tragedy or the world’s newest chicken chain, there’s always an angle, a way in, a hook.
As a copywriter, my job is to take the message and wrap it in a story that will resonate with the target audience, some way, somehow. Once you know how to tell stories and understand what motivates your audience, it’s really no more difficult to tell a global brand story than a one-time product story than a three-word tagline. Sometimes it takes more time to find the kernel of truth that will sprout into a tree (or lasting campaign), but the process and craft of storytelling applies across all disciplines.
The medium and technologies will always evolve, of course. Today’s shoppable Instagram may be tomorrow’s shoppable heart rate monitor (Under cardiac arrest? Download The Shocker now!). But the platforms don’t mean a thing if the messages don’t work in context, find their audience and connect.
We need to move people.
Move them to tears, move them to laughter, move them to feel less lonely, to feel hope, to feel heard, understood, welcome, inspired, in love, ready to change, ready to taste, to try, to buy, buy again, recommend, share, click “like”, write a review, tell their friends, to RAVE about this new lotion, this pair of heels, this cheeseburger, this service, this book, this movie, this person, this brand, this candidate, this whatever this is, because now they have had an experience and that experience is now part of their identity and their story to tell.
A marketer’s dream.
Before I write anything, for anyone or to anyone, the first thing I ask is, What’s the story?
Is it a product or an emotion? An experience or a solution? Is it an opportunity or a calling? An inquiry, a plea or a celebration? How do we differentiate our chicken from all the other chicken?
I recently saw an effective Chick-fil-A ad that featured some Chick-fil-A employees who brought some nuggets to the hospital for a customer-family who’d just had a baby. Does this really happen? Maybe! At any rate, Chick-fil-A was telling a story (our employees go the extra mile to bring you the delicious nuggets you crave) to reinforce their message: our chicken is different because our people are different. Our service is amazing and we care. And maybe, as a secondary message, our nuggets are so good, you’re going to be craving them even as you deliver a child into the world.
That’s story. The human connection and insight that turns a message into a moment. Turns a fast food brand and its workers into a sort of good-natured, life-infiltrating-but-welcome presence that has your back.
At Crocs, we sold millions of pairs of shoes, to people in 90+ countries around the world. But that’s not what we reminded our fans and customers. At every opportunity, we reminded them that we weren’t just selling shoes. Or even that we sold comfortable, colorful, often irreverent shoes. We shouted out that we were on a mission to help everyone be comfortable in their own shoes.
And there’s a big difference.
Because anyone can sell shoes. But not everyone can help you — you strange and beautiful individual who happens to be uniquely you and not always what the world projects as ideal or desirable — feel totally comfortable with who you really are, comfortable in your own shoes.
Crocs can, and does. In literature, we call that a theme. A seasonal sale might be the plot, or a chapter. Our celebrity ambassadors and consumer personas, the cast. The internet is giant stage and, we can agree, Shakespeares and Spielbergs are hard to find. But competent story goes a long way.
In marketing, “theme” is a mission statement, a grand insight, a unique sales proposition. The beacon of power all other marketing activities should spring from and echo and preach and serve.
Once we have that, the next question I ask is, Who are we trying to reach?
Teens? Single moms? Dads? Cobblers in Norway? Amateur golfers? People with arthritis, or people with arthritis who are afraid to take their medication? We need to know the desired audience, and the actual audience, to tailor the message and craft stories that connect them to the brand.
After that, What’s the best way to tell this story? Which platforms should we use? How will the story differ on a website vs. on Instagram vs. a text alert vs. video vs. an interview with the CEO, and so on? Should we tell the story in a video, a paragraph or six words or none?
After that, What do we have to work with? How do we leverage and maximize our people, budget, resources? No use trying to make Gone With The Wind with $5,000 and some hand puppets. But… what if we told the greatest 15-second puppet saga in the history of pepperoni pizza web ads?!?!
We can figure it out. Taken together, all of this is a strategy. Eventually a plan is formed. Briefs are submitted. Designers design. Writers write. Programmers program. QA assures quality.
Everything gets a lot of eyeballs on it, the bosses sign off, and it goes out the door.
Writers are good at making something from nothing, fetching content from the void, ideation. As a marketing team, we execute the creative to tell the story.
If the story touches people, we sell more product, earn more customers, create fans. Lather, rinse, repeat, and along the way you hope to build something.
A better product, a better quarter, a better skillset, a better career, a better life. A better life for others. The ones we love.
Stories can do all of that, and give it all meaning. Stories can turn a moisturizing bar of soap into a rallying cry for women to celebrate their own bodies regardless of shape, color or size. Stories can help prevent millions of people from killing whales with their grocery bags. Stories can turn a fifth-grader’s new pair of shoes on the first day of school into an occasion to hold his head up a little higher and make new friends that might just last a lifetime.
Stories are tools for living, it has been said. I fell in love with stories and storytelling because they helped me escape my tumultuous teens and made me feel things beyond my limited world. Stories brought me to writing. Writing helped me find myself and become useful.
I’m fortunate to have found my groove, my talent, a role in this strange and wonderful world. I’m always looking forward to putting my talent to use for good companies, with good people, for good reasons.
If you have a story that needs help in the telling, I would love to hear from you.
And thanks for reading one of mine.
Chris Ransom