No, the title of this article is not a line from a cheesy love story that took place in e-pizza (Cheesy…e-pizza??? Ibiza…Okay a stretch, but worth it). It’s literally how you, myself and every person is perceived by most marketing experts or influencers (and no, both terms are not equal, actually a Marketing expert is the best influencer… boom!). So, if you plan on becoming one of the latter two and revolt against this all-inclusive point of view, listen up:, I have modest advice: “Be a story, not an event”.

We can all agree that the internet is swamped with attention distorters as is. Your attention span is being purchased by chunks of 1.3 seconds with what I can only label as traditional marketing trying to migrate online. So don’t become a marketer to lower that chunk with the growth of these numbers.

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple through the ‘Next’ purchase, he still micromanaged the whole company, but he aggressively focused on two departments: R&D and Marketing. The first for obvious reasons, but the second because he understood that a great product should be able to be intuitive (R&D job) and “touch a person’s heart” (Marketing job).

He understood the emotional connections and loyalty from and to your consumer is the best growth catalyst and the most durable. You don’t think he’s right? Fly to New York three days before the launch date of an iPhone and try to get near the Apple store, only to see brand loyalty and enthusiasm in its most primitive form.

Be the story means to start from yourself. What is the worth of your life experience as a person, as a brand, as a marketing lover, as an influencer, or whatever you want to call it? What speaks volumes (my wife hates it when I use that term so… heads up, I might type it in down below just to annoy her) on your expertise, and what personifies your emotions?

Why would people invest their time, money etc. with you and not with someone else? What are your loyalty inducers? What would people take away as added value from your experience or your product?

Being an “event”, is literally what the term is. A specific occurrence of a live display, bound by a start and end date. If your marketing will be based off of people dabbing, or starting a chocolate craze, or a challenge or a song then you’ll be forgotten way faster than the trend itself, and trends have a really short shelf life.

You always remember quotes from books you’ve read, but never from a magazine article. Because? You guessed it right. Lots of magazines cover trends, events and “horrorscopes”, while books sell stories and emotions.

I am not claiming to have discovered the secret formula for great marketing, nor am I saying anything great marketers or film makers or influencers don’t know and do. I am just merely expressing what I believe is the basis of engagement. And it upsets me to see people join the fast track rather than build a durable effect. I recall Steve Jobs speaking to his marketing staff in a YouTube video on Nike, and how the brand doesn’t necessarily sell you the shoes, but they celebrate athletes and athleticism as a strong marketing tactic.

Emotions are a social currency. It gets you to the best places in people’s brains, and gives you freedom to decide the next emotional rollercoaster. And let’s be frank, everyone is in pursuit of gain from self-marketing, marketing campaigns, and even influencing.

Those who want to receive from you without a token of appreciation would be the hip, the in, the curators of today. They’ll sell their products and vanish like the trends they wrote. A better analogy that would speak volumes on this (hey, Celeste) would be that they disappear like bonds in Enron before they mature. Those who are great, and in return for you handing them the keys to your time, house, needs, would, in exchange for your time or money, give a piece of themselves that they think would contribute to your growth in a respective aspect.

Now let them stories roll… Am I considered trendy for saying “let them”? Relax, I’m joking. I thank you for investing your time to read my thoughts… I wrote this article with my heart… now give me your MONEY! Ok, bye.

George Tarabay is a local comedian and marketing expert. For his latest updates, follow him on Instagram @GeorgeTarabay. For more comic relief, check out George on Facebook.

Photo by Elijah Macleod on Unsplash.