Last week we held our monthly Thought Leadership webinar titled Boost Your Association’s Brand Through Storytelling: 6 Hacks to Improve Your Marketing, with Willis Turner, CAE, CME, CSE, the President & CEO of Sales and Marketing Executives International, and a widely recognized thought leader, keynote speaker and author of the new book 42 Rules for Engaging Members Through Gamification: Unlock the Secrets of Motivation, Community and Fun.
During his presentation Willis spoke about the way storytelling has become a valuable and necessary tool for associations. The explosive growth of social media and content marketing has provided the ability for any organization to use stories in direct and indirect brand marketing initiatives. He explained that associations should be using storytelling to create a strategic marketing advantage to drive brand awareness with members, prospects and the public at large.
Willis shared six hacks that will help your organization become a brand storyteller to intrigue, engage, and connect emotionally with your members. The six hacks were:
- The Big Idea
- Members are Desperate (for stories)
- Create a Memory
- Connect with an Emotion
- Know Your Audience
- Turn Taunts into Tales
Willis and I met up again this week for Ask the Thought Leader – Episode 12, to revisit the questions asked during the webinar, and to discuss other points of interest generated by his presentation. An example was how the technology available to associations today can help with brand storytelling; and, where associations often come up short when attempting to tell their story.
I also invite you to sign up for our next thought leader webinar, Creating Meetings with Impact: The Move Towards Strategic Conversations, as Jeff Hurt, Executive Vice President, Education and Engagement with Velvet Chainsaw Consulting, shares the information all meeting planners need to know on how to design meetings with impact. Jeff believes these important skills are not taught at universities or anywhere else, but they have the power to change your meeting from a “been there done that” affair, into a gathering that few will forget. We hope you can attend.
