Today's show features insights into what consumers care about in the for-profit and non-profit spaces.

• How do consumers view charity today, and what inspires them to give?
• How is our post-pandemic and inflation-focused world influencing consumer behavior?
• How did a customer experience tweet go viral, and what is the whole story behind it?
• Why do companies share news that nobody cares about?
• What dogs do I have, and what are their names?

Okay, you may or may not care about that last one, but those questions and more are showcased in today's episode.

This Is the Key to Good Nonprofit Marketing - Entrepreneur 
How US consumers are feeling, shopping, and spending—and what it means for companies - McKinsey
This Company's Customer Service Is So Insanely Good, It Went Viral - Jason Feifer
Nobody Cares About Your Company News. Here’s How to Make Them - Shama Hyder

As more and more marketing trends point to consumers wanting to have a personal connection to a brand, it's easy to understand how storytelling strategies can achieve that goal. However, as brands hear about the power of story, it can generate questions like:
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• I can't tell an epic narrative, so what do I do?
• What's a simple formula I can use in multiple areas of marketing?
• How do I apply that to my industry?

Author and Storytelling Coach Park Howell joins me today to discuss specific approaches businesses can take to infuse storytelling into their marketing. We'll discuss how to evolve existing content into a compelling story structure and how to create stories that make meaningful connections to your audience.

Park's website:
BusinessofStory.com

Park's books:
Brand Bewitchery: How to Wield the Story Cycle System to Craft Spellbinding Stories for Your Brand

The Narrative Gym for Business

Park's Courses:
And, But, Therefore Short Courses

Park on Social Media:
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

In a recent episode of Message Points, I shared an in-depth article discussing the reduced impact of SEO. Well, I found another one - only this one was written in 2017!

If people were beginning to see SEO go from "everything" to "some things" six years ago - what other unnoticed changes are hurting their content strategies?

If SEO is losing some stream, then what does Google care about?

Think about how long gated content has been a strategy. If you were to examine all of the gated content that's been produced in the last several years, how much of it do you think consumers found to be incredibly valuable?

If you're like me and you believe that number is low, how likely are those consumers going to open your gated content? Is there something you can do to help inspire them to fill out that form, or should you just take gated content out of your content strategy?

Finally, in the era of The Great Resignation and a renewed focus on happiness in the workplace, companies have to incorporate a communication strategy into their job posts. Otherwise, job seekers wanting marketing jobs may not apply due to a few red flags.

We discuss all of this and more on this week's Message Points.

JeffBullas.com - 5 Reasons Why Your Business Shouldn’t Just Focus On SEO
Mina Mesbahi - Gated content usually disappoints people
Mary Keough - Red Flags for marketing job seekers
Guy Kawasaki - ​Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions