When I intereviewed Jonathan Grzbowski from Penji about “How to tell your brand story & ecommerce storytelling” I did have a plan to talk about the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) because I knew he was a fan and I thought we could throw a twist into todays cast. So I asked him, what the WWE tought him about eCommerce.
The WWE is a creative outlet. If you really watch it; you will see the artistry and the orchistration of great story telling, and for Jonathan “Thats the beauty of business in general, is just proper story telling. How to tell your brand story is perhaps one of the most important aspects of successful eCommerce.
When you peel back the layers of the the WWE you see Good vs Evil, at the heart of most events. Its a true entertainment specticle, you have the battles in the ring and the interviews and overall energy of the crowd. When you have a stadium packed with people cheering and ewwwwing and ahhhing two grown adults wearing tights and play fighting you know that there is GREAT storytelling at work. If you can tap into this level of story telling to tell your brand story, especially as it applies to eCommerce imagine the followers your brand would be able to activly engage with and build a business around.
How to tell your brand story?
Entertainment, you go somewhere to be entertained. You watch things you listen to things you read things to be entertained. Jonathan argues that for the most part people are not necessarily watching things in order to obtain value. So what if you were to take that and make it interesting? What if you were to add some sort of educational element, but also some FUN element to it to make it fun as well.
How this move product and how it actually sells, the enterainment value is what people care the most about.
Make your marketing content fun, make it relevant, make it exciting. When you go beyond the brand, and make it bold, make it UGLY! The entertainment value, makes people feel that they are no longer being sold to, but they feel that they are finding a release from the day to day activities. Gary Vaynerchuk says that people under estimate the value of their message, so just go make it! To me that makes for a much more authentic feel, and as stated, strips away the feeling of being sold to.
Find a way to bring education, relevancy and entertainment to your eCommerce storytelling.
Usually the things you don’t want to work, WORK! So dare to underwhelm, stop trying to make things sexy and make things simple.
People don’t want to be sold to, they would rather be entertained and if they are being entertained and its relevant to them then they start to get pulled in and in the end they end up buying the product that you are selling because they feel they came to that decision, of course you have helped lead them there but ultimatley they came here on thier own equating to is less buyers remorse, and more happy customers. What works best for your business is more about simplicity and thinking outside the box, then TESTING.
The market and numbers don’t lie. Its not about being right or wrong about something its about what works and the data will help you determine what works and what doesn’t.
And just like in the WWE, its not about being right they make mistakes too, I dare you to ask the 350lbs wrestler who fell and broke his arm if its real or not 😉
More often than not, people make decisions based on thier intuition, and when you are able to jott your numbers down and see the numbers. The sooner you start testing EVERYTHING the better off and easier you will make your LIFE.
So in summasis, create your story, be bold, be creative, be you, and then test whats getting traction and working and double down on that!
A special thanks to Jonathan Grzbowski for his thoughts and time on this interview. To learn more about Penji check them out at Penji.co If you need help as it relates to your eCommerce needs, just reach out to us here.
