THE SKELETON DANCE AND THE SOUNDS OF A THOUSAND DRUMS

In my climes, folklore and storytelling time for most of us who grew up with our grandparents were the best of times and the best ways of learning – about our culture, morals, and general way of life. Folklore was the medium of educating and communicating needed correction, warning, and straightening a child’s behavior with less corporal punishment (and it was very effective). Beyond these, it also serves to present (as well as preserve) our unique attributes and values as a people (be it family or community). The values were desirable and attractive to the listener (audience) with an innate desire to imbibe them going forward as we grew up then. It made us feel special, knowing who we are.

How be it folklore very unique indeed. It always held the listener spellbound throughout the storytelling time. It is a captivating title. In the same light, marketing communications should be. This also one reason some marketing campaigns fail to deliver excellent results or achieve the set objective(s).

My maternal grandma was one excellent storyteller. An interesting observation I made earlier in life, although the stories appeared the same, she has learned the craft of making each folklore unique. Tantamount to the unique selling point (USP) each marketing communication campaign should possess.

For marketing communications to be successful, it must always contain the USP of the product (service). The USP should be well captured, stated with the reason(s) why you should be the preferred option. By the unique selling point (USP), I mean what makes you (product or service) uniquely different from competitors. Note that this is more than a compelling statement but a demonstration, with reasons or facts, why a person or company should buy from you. It states the tangible results – features and benefits – your target customers will derive from using your product or services. The following aspects best illustrate my point.

(a)?Title: the first aspect to develop is the title. This enough should capture the audience’s attention. Titles such as "How the vulture became bald" or "How the tortoise won the Rabbit in a Race" are some titles in folklore.

(b) Clear, specific, and single-minded message: most times company wants to mumble lot of product (service) attributes in a marketing communication ends up confusing the target instead of getting their attention.

(c)?Compelling: it was also interesting how our grandparents could weave compelling stories making them learning tools for day-to-day life. Note that the message should be devoid of embellishment just for the sake of the target market. The compellingness should be born from the product's specialty, guarantee(s), or methodology (process).

(d) Differentiation: another skill of the storyteller is the ability to communicate the same moral in a uniquely different message without losing the content of the message in the process. Such that anytime we hear these stories, it addresses a unique situation – especially one that has to deal with an urgent situation.

(e)?Sustainable: a great storyteller knows that as long as the audience’s attention is rapt to them, the tendency for the listener to recall the lesson (benefits and features) in the story or message can be reproduced anytime the audience is faced (opportune) with the same situation. These should be in the mind of the marketing communication team from the unset.

(f)??Believable: just because you are interested in the impact the message should have on the audience, do avoid the pitfall of overly embellished communication jargon or Ludacris nonsense. Note that an opportunity lost might be hard to get back to another.

As my grandma (lets’ me forget to mention that she’s late) will usually end the story by highlighting the attributes, a captivating marketing communication must;

i.??????????????????Be clear and specific to its target,

ii.????????????????Have compelling words that best describe the features and benefits derived from using the product (service),

iii.?????????????Stand out (differentiated itself),

iv.?????????????Sustainable or reproducible no matter the clime or situation (since it's the attributes of the product or service)

v.????????????????Be believable (avoid the temptation of over-embellishment).

In conclusion, the storyteller titled this article “Skeleton Dance and The Sound of a Thousand Drums” hoping his audience understand that ‘skeleton’ here represents a well-researched work, with a detailed explanation presented and framed by the strategic marketing team and will be effective (dance) as the sounds (attributes of the marketing communication) hits the right (effective) notes.

A good example is, "At Benjamin Marcel Consultants, we are excellent at working with SMEs considering the sub-Sahara African tech market space to launch their products and are thinking the best strategy that will guarantee at least 80% success rate in meeting their set sales objectives. One of our long-term objectives is to help clients with product (service) conceptualization, market strategy, and sales, ensuring a sustained business relationship to meet sales objectives and timely profitability, all achieved within budget.

At Benjamin Marcel Consultants (BMCs), we furnish businesses with tools to develop the structural competence required to harness and maximize scarce resources to achieve set goals (objectives).

Contact Details:?[email protected]; Instagram @benjaminmarconsultantz; twitter @Benjamin?Marcel; 08122875002 & 08034486681.