See Ardath’s bio, photo, and Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, and Part 3.

Q&A with Ardath Albee (Question 6):

Q: How did you discover that story-based marketing tools, such as B2B Website Stories and Email Story Campaigns were effective?

A: Trial and error. What I learned was that the better I knew my audience, the more relevant my stories were for them. I started seeing response rates climb and stay high. And I started seeing more people “raise their hands” to learn more. The best way to monitor online stories is with analytics and watching the ways your stories influence the behavior of your audience in relation to the outcome you wanted.

When I first started using stories for websites and emails, it was like pulling teeth to get companies to give up their staunch focus on products and “feeds and speeds.” (I do a lot of work with technology companies.) Then commoditization happened on a larger scale and companies started learning that their customers could buy a similar product from a number of vendors. They also found that exposing how they add value to their products became an important differentiator. That shift requires an entirely different story.

Companies will adopt stories a bit at a time. The best way I’ve found is to get them to try one campaign, prove the concept and then expand. “Story” is hard to sell because it conjures up memories of the Three Little Bears, Wuthering Heights or a personal anecdote. The fiction writer in me can relate, but essentially story is really about engaging your audience, regardless of format.