Creating Stories from Customer Empathy with Carla Johnson
\u201cBrands that we look to, that are charismatic, know their audience. They know who they are.\u201d Stories, personality, and experiences are the building blocks of modern brands of all shapes and sizes. This week, Carla Johnson of Type A Communications and co-author of Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing stopped by the On Brand podcast to discuss all of this.\n\xa0About\xa0Carla Johnson\nCarla Johnson helps marketers unlock, nurture and strengthen their storytelling muscle so they can create delightful experiences for audiences. She works as a trusted advisor at the highest level of blue-chip brands to establish open conversations, instill creative confidence and inspire an environment of receptivity that develops highly prized teams and stellar business results. Carla has worked with companies that include American Express, Dell, Emerson, Motorola Solutions, VMware, Western Union and Smurfit Kappa on how to tap into a wellspring of ideas and unveil new ways to bring their brand stories alive in fun and captivating ways.\nNamed one of the top 20 most influential content marketers, one of top 25 business-to-business marketers, and one of the top 50 women in marketing, Carla is the co-author of Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing, which teaches marketers how to develop, manage and lead the creation of valuable experiences for their organizations. She serves on the Executive Committee and as the Vice Chair on the Board of Directors for the Association for National Advertisers Business Marketing Association, an instructor for the Content Marketing Institute and the Digital Analytics Association, is a frequent speaker and writes about creativity and innovation, the power of brand storytelling, and customer experience for numerous media outlets. Dig deeper at Type A Communications and follow her on Twitter.\nEpisode Highlights\n"When you tell a story driven by empathy, you\u2019ll always see results.\u201d\xa0Understanding your customers is a cornerstone of effective brand building. Yet with our focus on quantitative analysis and data, we often know too little about our customers and what they want. How can we fix this? Carla reminds us to \u201cJust talk with them.\u201d Conversations can yield powerful results.\nAfter talking with your customers, don\u2019t forget your employees. Internal brand communication\xa0is key. Carla cited a study from Gallup noting that less than 40% of employees understand what their company stands for. If properly educated, your employees can be a powerful marketing engine. \u201cIf you get the internal right, you can reallocate your external resources."\n\u201cExperience and story are tied together. Hand in hand.\u201d As Carla notes, you have to ask yourself, \u201cWhat are we going to be known for.\u201d She then shared a great example from Big Ass Fans on how a simple brand touch point can inform an entire brand experience.\nAs we head into the new year, what\u2019s one thing brand builders and marketers should do more of? Look for ways to be \u201cmore creative, interesting, and different. Look at brands from outside your bubble.\u201d What are they doing? How can you do more of that?\nWhat brand has made Carla smile recently? Carla pointed us to HP and their recent rebranding. \u201cThey spent us much time (communicating that) internally as they did externally."\nTo learn more, go to the Type A Communications website and check out the site for her book with past On Brand guest Robert Rose, Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices