Brand Building Basics

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Create the Story
(Presented by Carmine Gallo) is the title of a Citrix Online Go-To-Meeting Webinar.

Carmine Gallo presented many good ideas on how to create an effective presentation.

His thoughts on how Steve Jobs builds the Apple brand every time he presents are worth reviewing and emulating.

First off, every presentation must inform, educate and entertain.  Do this in the form of a story. You need to create a story for your brand. Complete with a hero and a villain. The villain need not be a competitor, but could be a common problem that businesses face. The hero would naturally be your solution.

Every story has a beginning, middle and end. Setting up creative tension that must be resolved creates the drama. Describe the problem that your product or service solves, and thus becomes the hero.

But don’t sell the product. Sell the benefit, the customer will receive, of using the product. Sell the brand. People don’t care about your product. They care about themselves, their problems and any potential solutions to those problems that will make their lives better. Your product or service is simply a means to that end – their happiness and satisfaction.

Create meaning for them in the story – your brand story. You need to answer their instinctive reflex to ask themselves “Why should I care?” When you do, you draw them into the story, and your story becomes their story. You’ve placed them squarely in the role you want them to play – beneficiary of your product or service (hero).

Your story, and hero, only has value in the meaning it gives to other’s lives.

Inform, educate and entertain while telling your story and your brand will have meaning to those who matter most – your customers.