Great products solve problems. And great brand storytelling sells them. It’s a no-brainer: when you can market in such a way that customers quickly and easily see the problems your product or service solves, the chances of selling them are exponentially increased. It really is as easy as that.
This is a conversation we have time and time again with our clients and prospects, and easily 8 times in 10, their website doesn’t do a great job of telling their brand story and quickly articulating exactly what problems their product or service solves. And if you can’t tell from visiting a company’s website exactly what it is they do and why you need them, what do you think the chances are that you’ll dig further? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way: we already know the answer.
I’m working on a presentation I’m giving for the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s Annual Stakeholder Summit entitled Real Farmers, Real Food: Celebrating Tradition and Technology and ran across a company called Crop Ventures as I was doing a little research.
It started when I read an article about Crop Ventures closing a $1M seed round in Silicon Prairie’s blog. Silicon Prairie’s mission is to highlight and support entrepreneurs and creatives in the Midwest (a.k.a The Silicon Prairie) and their content routinely makes it to my “must read” list.
Then I stalked Crop Ventures’ website to learn more (funny how that works). And, because they do a great job of exactly what I’m talking about from a brand storytelling standpoint, they inspired this post.
Now you might already know how I feel about video that starts playing the moment I hit your site (hate it) (with a passion), but I’m going to give them a break on that one. However, if you hate it as much as I do, please leave that information in the comments section here and maybe we can gently persuade them to change that. But notice how they tell you, right up front, exactly what they do?
And when you dig a little deeper into their site (which is what we all want people to do, right?), they do an even better job of articulating, both with content and with visuals, exactly what they do and how they can help farmers.
Two things they can immediately do to improve their website: Change the autoplay on that video, because in my experience, a huge number of people are like me – and loathe videos that autoplay. Secondly, they need to fix their “Contact Us” functionality … because it doesn’t work. Had it, I would’ve connected with them via their contact form and gotten a quote from them about this post.
Now, we’ll see if they’re using Google Alerts and picking up brand mentions.
What do you think about they way Crop Ventures tells their brand story? Would it compel you to want to know more and perhaps be a part of their beta test? I know it does me.
I hope that when you’re writing the content for your website or landing page that you’re thinking about your content marketing efforts and how it is that you’re telling your brand story. Think about, then tell them, in easy to understand language, what problems it is you solve. Do the homework. Understand what consumers – and your prospects and customers – are looking for, and then tell them. Without fluff. Without formality. Just the facts. That’s brand storytelling. If you do, I’ll bet it will make a huge difference in not only the amount of web traffic you get, but in the amount of leads you receive … and in the number of those leads that you’re ultimately able to convert to sales. And after all, isn’t that what we’re all in the business of doing? Selling more stuff to more people.
And if you’re headed to the Stakeholders’ Summit in Arlington next week, be sure and say hello!
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”