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November 7, 2013 by Mack Collier

Skype’s Focus on The Bigger Idea (It’s Not the Technology, It’s What The Technology Allows You to Do)

In Think Like a Rock Star I talk about the four ways that rock stars create fans and one of these ways is be tapping into The Bigger Idea behind their music.  Instead of focusing strictly on themselves, rock stars focus on bigger ideas and themes that resonate with fans.

Brands can do this by focusing less on its product and more on how and why customers are using its product.  What are they trying to accomplish, and what does the product allow them to do?

A perfect example of this is Skype’s new video Born Friends, embedded here:

This video already has close to a million views in its first week up.  It resonates with us because it tells a human story, not a product story.  The key to creating marketing that resonates with customers is to focus on how the customer will use the product and why they would use the product.  This video doesn’t focus on Skype, it focuses on an amazing friendship that Skype helped make possible.

Many brands can’t make a video like this because many brands can’t see letting its product take a backseat to its customers.  The reality is, your product is already secondary to your customer, so you might as well embrace it and give your customers the spotlight they deserve.

Hat tip to Ann Handley whose amazing post on the video inspired this post.

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Filed Under: Marketing, Think Like a Rockstar

About Mack Collier

My name is Mack Collier and I am a digital marketing and content strategist located in Alabama. Since 2006 I've helped companies of all sizes from startups to global brands such as Adobe, Dell and Ingersoll-Rand, create customer-centric programs, content and experiences. A long-time internet geek, I've been online since 1988 and began using social networking sites in 1991 when I joined Prodigy. Today, I help companies understand how new technologies like web3, crypto and artificial intelligence can integrate with existing marketing strategies to lead to exceptional customer experiences.

Comments

  1. Ann Handley says

    November 7, 2013 at 12:05 pm

    “Tell a human story, not a product story.” Amen, brother!!

    • Mack Collier says

      November 7, 2013 at 1:14 pm

      Hard for many brands to make themselves secondary to the customer. The smart ones realize they always have been.

  2. Mark Goodwin says

    April 1, 2014 at 9:27 pm

    Now that’s how you do it. Good thing they know that they are secondary to the customer and with them realizing this, they give us something that makes us feel we are special and that is what’s more important.

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