Earlier this year, Tim Washer gave an inspiring address at Content Marketing World in Sydney. It gave hope to all corporate, cubicle-bound B2B marketers: it really is OK to add a dash of humour to your storytelling. Today, we bring you a round up of Washer’s speech, but first, an interview with the man himself.
Tim Washer is a Webby-nominated producer, event emcee and social media keynote speaker. He served a vice president of IPG’s NFO Interactive division, and as head of social video for IBM where he helped to launch the Smarter Planet campaign. Today, he is the Social Media Senior Manager at Cisco System. His comedy credits include Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Conan O’Brien, SNL and The Onion Sports Network. Tim’s work has been featured in Ad Age, ADWEEK, FastCompany, and The New York Times.
An Interview with Tim Washer
1. How has the value of content changed over the last 10 years?
For content, not much has changed in the last 10 years except that in February 2004, ‘The Facebook’ was launched. Then in April 2005, the first video was uploaded to YouTube. The modern day marketer now has to think like a TV Network executive, and focus on developing programming that will captivate viewers.
My hope is that we’ll return to the golden era of branded content. Deep down inside, we all long for more classic industrial musicals, like GE appliance’s “I’ve Got a Wide Range of Features.”
2. What is the most important factor for content marketing success?
Content should compel the audience to take the next step. It might simply be watching a video that creates awareness. Or registering for a webcast. I’m also a big fan of dedicating a small portion of the content mix to showing appreciation to customers. Share a small gift of entertainment without pushing a “call to action.”
3. What do you think are some of the most effective uses of content marketing? What is it that makes these examples effective?
Jay Baer pointed me to Lowe’s #FixInSix Vine series. It’s a perfect example of what Jay calls ‘Youtility’, answering customers’ questions with a fun-to-watch six second video.
I loved Volvo’s Epic Split video, although I didn’t ‘click to buy’ a diesel truck. But the full series demonstrates that if you don’t have an interesting story to tell, go with spectacle.
We experimented by improvising a short scene with our CIO customers in a restaurant. It was a chance to create something different than the typical executive interview.
Simplicity and humour can create content brilliance and impressive metrics, but don’t expect to earn 180,000 Facebook ‘likes’ with a three-word post.
A touch of humour, a touch of humanity
By his own admission, Washer has worked the majority of his life in B2B. So, he is acutely aware of the prevailing viewpoint of most B2B marketers. The much higher price points lead to a longer, more complex sales cycle run by committees. We feel that our marketing must match that complexity and be serious. Boring.
Before we go any further, stifle that sigh of despair. There is a shining beacon of hope. According to Washer, in marketing for non-consumer brands (just as in marketing for consumer brands), we are really just communicating with people. So, there is no need for boredom. It’s OK, in fact, it’s better than OK, to make your audience laugh.
“If you can make someone laugh, that’s the best, the closest, kind of relationship that you can forge with someone, without getting a call from HR,” says Washer.
We should all be telling stories with a touch of humour, a touch of humanity.
The Cisco Case Study
Case in point: Cisco was set to launch a brand new, whizz bang industrial router, sold only to large service providers like Telstra. It’s price tag started around USD 80,000. The team wanted an interesting, entertaining marketing campaign, pushed out via YouTube. With a launch date of February 9, they cleverly positioned the router as the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your lover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8MWl9UGwQo
And that was it. An amusing YouTube video. And yet, the response was amazing. The New York Times wrote it up, and then it filtered down into the technology trade magazines; where Cisco’s core audience and core buyers picked up on it.
Making someone laugh is a powerful thing.
“If you can entertain someone and if you can make them laugh, they’ll share your story for you,” says Washer. Laughter helps you recruit a team of marketers along the way.
This was certainly true in the case of Cisco’s video. David Meerman Scott included the case study in his bestselling book, Real Time Marketing. This got Cisco’s video in front of a much wider audience and, as a result, CC Chapman presented it as a case study at a bloggers conference. Cisco got even more airtime.
The IBM Case Study
IBM also told its story with a touch of humour, and a touch of humanity, in the Smarter Planet Campaign. When the campaign was launched, IBM was still developing solutions. The team focused on the problem that IBM wanted to solve: challenges around food transportation, and the fact that we don’t really know what’s going on from food to fork.
The result was this hilarious, captivating video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DAR5wW19Eg
A hot tip from Washer: sometimes when he starts with a script, he thinks about what factoid is fascinating, and most likely to be tweeted. And then he builds the script around that. In the case of IBM’s video, it was the statistic that food loss and wastage between field and fork can be as high as 50%.
Drivers of Boring
Complexity and Redundancy
The first driver of boring is complexity. Washer contends that there is an inverse correlation between the number of PowerPoint slides you have in your presentation, and the knowledge you have about your topic. Editing is tough.
But one of the biggest contributors to being boring is redundancy. So, Washer suggests that marketers should be writing every day. Write at least one blog post every day. Even if you don’t publish it. Then go back and edit it, removing all information that isn’t absolutely necessary, that is even mildly redundant. It will go a long way towards making you more interesting.
The Committee
The second driver of boring is the committee. Washer points out that this is not a blanket statement, not all committees foster boring. Sometimes though, a committee can take a marketing team in the wrong direction.
“While committees are supposed to be about creativity and collaboration, sometimes they end up being about taking credit, placing blame, and reducing risk. That’s not where you want your creative idea to live,” says Washer.
Overanalysis
While Washer believes that analysis is important, and that you need to know your audience, he does not think that writing specifically for them is the best approach. An audience shouldn’t completely drive an idea. Rather, marketers need to come up with their own stuff, develop their own voice.
Fear
Be careful not to let fear get in the way of a good story. We all have this inner critic, this little voice in our head that tells you that your idea is rubbish, that it’s not funny, that it won’t work.
Instead of hiding under the covers, Washer encourages marketers to run after the idea that petrifies them most. “The idea that scares you the most, that’s the one you’ve got to take. And part of it is it’s just because that’s going to lead you to an experience that you’ve never explored before in your life. And that’s why it scares you. When you come up with an idea that you fear, listen to it and write down immediately. Pay attention to it and stay with it,” says Washer.
Story Telling Inspiration
Failure
The proverbial writers block should not be a barrier to storytelling in marketing. Washer suggests that we look for stories of invention as well as stories of failure. The emotion of failure is incredibly powerful, according to Washer. It is right up there with humour. Everyone has failed at some time in their lives, so if you tell your story well, people will be able to connect with it on a personal level. Of course, as a company, you can’t just leave it there. You need to demonstrate how you’ve learnt from the mistake, how it has helped you create the new, improved model. You need to end on a high note.
Washer’s Rugged Router story for Cisco does this well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVZE-UkQZx8
History
Every company, and every industry, has a history. A history brimming with people, and characters, all with their own stories. Look at using some of these for the basis of your next storytelling campaign. Washer produced a documentary series, “The Network Effect,” partnering with a top industry influencer, Steven Shepard, as narrator. It was recognized as a Webby Honoree last year, and broadcast on television.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHaQY2MlHV8
The Suits
In a B2B environment, getting the suits involved in blogging, content marketing, and social media can be tough. Washer reckons that the easiest way to get the suits on-board is get them to stop thinking about work. Instead, ask them what they like to do on the weekend, what their hobbies are, and get them blogging about that. “Let them find what they love to do and what they have opinions on and teach them in that – lead them in that direction,” says Washer.
For instance, when one of Cisco’s executives was planning a road show to visit customers in Asia Pacific, one of Washer’s teammates, Deb Strickland, suggested a video series. This particular executive is a foodie. So, the team suggested that she begin each video with the restaurant she was eating at for dinner. She explained the local culture, customs, and what sights she’d seen that day. Then she talked about what she learned from her meetings, the business challenges the clients were facing, and how Cisco was going to help them. Washer’s biggest piece of advice to this executive, “It will be easier to keep the video conversational if you don’t mention Cisco, or our products. Avoid saying words like ‘collaboration’ or ‘innovation’ or anything that rhymes with those. If the tone is the same as your phone call home to your family, the video will be very inviting, and bring in a new audience. We can use the blog to link back to more solution-specific information.” The video series was a hit on the Service Provider online community. One TED speaker shared the video on his Facebook page, commenting “She talks about her food adventures and Malaysian hip-hip. What a great way to engage with customers, partners and employees”
Washer’s Simple Tips for Professional Videos
- Convert your smart phone into a video production studio. Buy a tripod for your smartphone. That way, you can use it to do quick, impromptu interviews, with reduced shaking.
- Turn your phone horizontally. Take photos and videos in landscape view. They look better on Facebook, and when you convert the video to HD, it is already in 16:9 ratio.
- Download YouTube Capture. The app makes shooting and editing videos simple.
- A lavalier microphone (a lapel mic) that plugs directly into your phone will vastly improve the sound and reduce background noise. Your audience will put up with less than perfect video, but not poor quality audio.
Sally Wood
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