See Ardath’s bio, photo, and Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Q&A with Ardath Albee (Question 7):

Q: Can you talk a bit about how story generates active relationships with customers?

A: People want to have relationships with people “like” them. To generate active relationships, stories must be told from an almost peer-to-peer perspective. That said, the other ingredient is value. Stories must first be relatable and then add value that’s relevant to the person you’re telling the story to.

This is the biggest argument for segmentation and getting to know your customers. People are interested in different aspects of the story based on their relationship to the subject matter. For example, a CIO will have different interests than a VP of Sales. Telling the same story to both of them is not likely to have the impact you want. You’ll either make your story so general it doesn’t interest either of them, or it will focus more heavily on the interests of one or the other.

Additionally, it’s important to remember that to remain relevant your stories must evolve over time. Just as versions of fairytales have been updated to resonate in today’s world, your stories must do so. Changes happen fast, priorities are shuffled with the latest quarterly results, so you must pay attention and continuously adjust and tune your stories to build engagement with existing and potential customers.