3. Brand provided solution. 4. Person succeeded. A humbler, more authentic approach is inviting the customer (metaphorically) onto the journey. A potential story might look like: 1. Person had problem. 2. Looked for solution …3. Struggled with decision before finding us…4. Succeeded and did this…5. How person and brand achieved/experienced that success. 3. Build a platform for sharing and co-creation The shift also involves a less-controlling and more-platform outlook. The brand must co-create with audiences. Whether through social media, community building, or shared content among stakeholders, the brand must not only share content. You also must allow your audiences to influence the messages and participate in the story development. 4. Make your brand stories channels for the value of the audience Part of the trust-building process is how your brand becomes the audience’s favorite thing. The stories aren’t about you; they are about and for your audience. Becoming a brand that consistently provides access to knowledge or inspiration enhances your chances to be chosen. *** If we continue discussing the economic arguments, we will never meet in the middle. Let’s take that fact as a starting point and go from there. Let’s start with the agreement that generative AI’s exponential growth will open up derivative, available content. We also can agree that the value of this digitally accessible information will decline. Let’s agree, too, that customers will demand more personalized, not personal, content that solves the pain points they have at that moment. If you, the butter provider, want to be more than a commodity, you need to shift the conversation in this way: Find ways to facilitate deeply human conversation around the relaxed evening ritual. And, as I’ve written before, you must work to build emotional milestones in time. This shift means a massive rethinking of storytelling strategy. However, every organization is different, with different needs, different customers, and different permissions for content creators. Start small. Test. Learn. Lean in.***
