"The market for something to believe in is unlimited..." (Hugh McLeod) And guess what, that new fangled thing - the internet and its social media offspring - just lowered the threshold on entry to that market! The power of story-telling and the conveying of belief are critical to the survival and growth of businesses. Well, that's what I believe. And getting involved in the blogosphere only convinces me more that there is an insatiable demand for stories to believe in. In Seth Godins "All Marketers Are Liars - The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World" outlines five steps or assumptions that underlie successful marketing. Step 1: Their (the customer's) worldview and frames got there before you did; people clump together into common worldviews and your job is to find a previously undiscovered clump and frame a story for those people Step 2: People notice only the new and then make a guess Step 3: First impressions start the story; the challenge being that in today's attention scarce marketplace - you never know when that first impression will occur! Step 4: Great marketers tell stories we believe Step 5: Marketers with authenticity thrive - the sting in the tail for those who think they can scam the system Story telling impacts us at a very personal (perhaps even physiological) level. And for anyone involved in sales, these assumptions have an uncanny truth about them - particularly that people start their purchasing journeys with a worldview and and a predisposition to believe in something... In our work with brands and online communities, the overarching story of the brand and the framing of the conversation are critical - but so too is listening. Our experience is that customers visit user-generated (ie their own) content way more than (3 to 4 times more) they visit brand generated content. And it is this feedback that will suggest the worldviews and the many refined sub-stories that are required to engage and inspire the various tribes within your brand community. What's your brand story?