How to Market in the “Digitoral” Era

“Doubt is not a pleasant state of mind, but certainty is absurd.”
– Voltaire

Marketing operates in the realm of doubt. While there are scientific metrics to test and assess the efficacy of positions, timing, language, and campaigns, marketing is ultimately about compelling your audience toward your brand. And in this, there is always some degree of doubt.

Jonah Sachs, in his excellent book Winning the Story Wars, describes today’s marketing environment as the “digitoral” era. In ancient times, any mass communication was transmitted through oral storytelling. Then, beginning with Gutenberg, came the broadcast era where a relatively small minority controlled mass distribution of content and advertising through books, periodicals, radio and TV. Today, the internet and social media bring a revival of oral influences, which Sachs calls “digitoral.”

Broadcast's influence remains substantial, but its monopoly is gone. And more importantly, companies can no longer just advertise or market from the top down. Instead, Sachs argues, successful marketing now comes from winning stories that tap core human yearning. He describes it thus:

Ideas today are never fixed: they’re owned and modified by everyone. They move through networks at the will of their members and without that activity, they die. To survive in this landscape, we can no longer treat our audiences as passive consumers of our marketing messages. They must be our partners. We’ve all by now gotten the message that we need to tell better stories, but after an initial burst of enthusiasm, most of us who try wind up bitterly disappointed. Dressing up old tactics in the superficial clothing of story—character, conflict, and plot—rarely delivers more than a yawn from jaded audiences. The stories that will succeed in the digitoral era will be held to the same survival-of-the-fittest standards all oral tradition stories have faced. They will be bruised and battered in transmission, so their core message must be powerful, resonant, and resilient. Stories that will prevail in the story wars won’t just entertain—they will matter.

So the big question is how do you develop entertaining stories that matter? Of course, this is the elusive billion dollar question. There are, however, trends and characteristics that point you in the right direction. Sachs offers five to avoid, and five to seek.

The five traits to avoid are:
Vanity – Don’t make it about you. Instead, start with your audiences and their needs. It’s their journey they care about. Your brand plays a role in overcoming their problems, which becomes the primary conflict for your story.
Authority – Don’t just put the facts out there, assuming they’ll speak for themselves. No one relates to facts, features, or jargon. People relate to stories.
Insincerity – Your stories have to reflect your brand genuinely. Insincerity is trying to convey the brand the way you think your audience wants.
Puffery – Don’t position yourself above your audiences and tell them what to think. Instead tell stories with a relatable human voice that inspires your audience toward a favorable conclusion.
Gimmickry – Cheap humor may get a laugh, but it doesn’t benefit your brand. Clever humor woven into a good story helps win the story wars.

The five characteristics to seek are:
Tangible – Stories present information that makes concepts visible and human scale. They make people feel that they can “touch” and “see” an idea. Does your communication provide a who, what, where, and when? 
Relatable – Stories matter to us because their characters carry values that we want to see either rewarded or punished. Do you find that you can identify with—or are in emotional opposition to—the characters in your communication because you understand what motivates them? 
Immersive – Stories allow people to feel that they have experienced things that they have only seen or heard. Can you learn something of clear value for your own life from the characters’ experiences? 
Memorable – Stories use rich scenes and metaphors that help us to remember their messages without conscious effort. Does your communication leave you with a lasting image—transmitted either in pictures or in text—that can be easily recalled and reminds you of the core message? 
Emotional – Stories elevate emotional engagement to the level of, and often beyond, intellectual understanding. Does your communication make you feel something rather than just think something?
(These five descriptions are Sachs’ words verbatim)

Conclusion
All legitimate businesses create value for their customers. In some way, you’re making your customers’ lives at least a little better. No matter how abstract or technical the product or service, somewhere, somehow, it can be tied back to a universal human element.

Incorporate that human element into your marketing by surrounding it with a great story. Your customers will identify with it and feel compelled to share it. Their sharing multiplies the reach and power of your own marketing efforts. That’s how you win the story wars.

My purpose in writing this article is to share some of the valuable ideas that influence my thinking and work. I’m not in any way associated with Sachs or Harvard Business Review Press. In my opinion, Sachs’ entire book is well worth the read, as there’s much not even referenced here. You can read more on his website, and get a flavor for his storytelling through this video.

I have also written a summary of 11 tips from William Zinsser’s outstanding guide On Writing Well.