As technology becomes almost invisibly integrated into our daily lives — in our hands, our clothes, and even our eyes — tracking insane amounts of data and creating nearly infinite customer touch points, great storytelling is still the most powerful influencer of behavior. Learn how current and future technology trends are powering successful storytelling.

1. Technology Trends
Driving Digital Storytelling
@TylerDurbin

2. Marketing Manager of an
advertising innovation lab
Big fan of using social media to
meet new people
Proud to call Columbus, O home

3. TREND #1: THE ONLINE / OFFLINE
DIVIDE HAS CLOSED

5. How
past
genera-ons
shape
our
present

11. TREND #2: THE NEW NORM IS
NOT SO NORMAL

12. The new
normal is
up to the
individual.
From buying a house to
getting married, to starting a
career, there is no normal
anymore. One could say the
new normal is whatever the
individual says it is.

13. TREND #3: NICHE COMMUNITIES
PROVING BENEFICIAL FOR
MARKETERS

14. Niches offer
deeper, focused
experience.
Humans are turning to new and
smaller sites and communities to
interact with others on a hyper-
specific level

18. Activating your community
FOCUS
Map your audience
INSIGHT
Identify influencers
PERCEPTION
Use analysis to
identify target
areas
AUDIENCE
Distribute
content through
advocates

22. TREND #4: ALL COMPANIES ARE
NOW MEDIA COMPANIES

23. Today’s customer
journey is very
dynamic. Humans are
constantly checking
text messages,
Facebook notifications,
@replies, bank
transactions, emails,
and calendars.

24. Tell your story on
your own. It's more
authentic that way.
Engage in the dialogue that is occurring
around your niche. Produce compelling,
contextually relevant content. Delight.

25. WaŸbi SaŸbi [noun]
A comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of
transience and imperfection.
Be human.
What we don’t realize is
that all the traits we like in
humans is also attractive
in a brand.

27. Video is the
most powerful
way to connect.

28. How you can be a
media company
1) Produce massive amounts of content
2) Provide content that is relevant to their
audience at a particular moment of time
3) Deliver content that is fresh, recent, and
breaking
4) Are present everywhere and leverage
multiple channels
5) Move quickly and aren’t held back by
approvals and lawyers

29. The people behind
the logo come
forward.
Virgin.com/richard-­‐branson
The top 5% of executives in the next
few years will have full-time content
people around them.

30. TREND #5: GROWING IMPACT OF
COMMUNITY MANAGERS

31. Big brands are leveraging
niche communities.
Big brands are going small. And small business is
perfectly positioned to succeed in this world.

32. Understand the role of
a community manager.
Identify the need, define the role, and set
expectations.

33. • Personable. Friendly and can talk to anyone.
• Organized. Not overwhelmed by a constant stream of
customer inquiries and issues.
• Naturally curious. Innovative, extremely creative and
constantly looking for ways to improve upon tactics.
• Word savvy. Exceptional writing skills and can craft
everything from emails and blog posts to policies and
summaries, easily adjusting your tone/voice accordingly.

34. CRM strategy
Very few in the organization
have a better pulse on the
consumer than a community
manager. Provide them the
opportunity to recommend
CRM strategies.

35. Product
development &
road mapping
Community managers are
interacting with the consumer
every day. They hear the highs
and lows of every voiced
experience.

36. Media buying
Interacting with the
consumer across channels
gives community managers
a glimpse into how their
consumers are finding and
sharing information.

37. Messaging
The community manager
knows how the consumer
talks. Let them use that
knowledge to inform
messaging.

38. TREND #6: SOCIAL GOOD = GOOD
MARKETING

39. THE DRAGONFLY EFFECT

40. THE DRAGONFLY EFFECTFocus
A single concrete measurable
goal.

41. THE DRAGONFLY EFFECTFocus
A single concrete measurable
goal.
Attention
Authentic & memorable. Cuts
through the noise.

42. THE DRAGONFLY EFFECTFocus
A single concrete measurable
goal.
Attention
Authentic & memorable. Cuts
through the noise.
Engage
Creates a personal connection to
the focus. Accesses higher
emotions, compassion, empathy.

43. THE DRAGONFLY EFFECTFocus
A single concrete measurable
goal.
Attention
Authentic & memorable. Cuts
through the noise.
Engage
Creates a personal connection to
the focus. Accesses higher
emotions, compassion, empathy.
Take Action
Enables and empowers others
to take action

46. THE DRAGONFLY EFFECTFocus
Concentrated all resources &
attention on achieving a single
outcome.
Attention
Got people to pay attention and
set the foundation for engaging
them.
Engage
Told a story, mixed media, made
it personal.
Take Action
Made it easy, established
relationships, provided
immediate feedback.

47. TREND #2: CROWD > INDIVIDUALTREND #7: CROWDSOURCING
BREAKS DOWN ALL THE BARRIERS

48. May the crowd be with you.
From simple, task oriented projects to full out creative execution, the “crowd” has broke
down nearly every barrier for brands to connect directly with consumers.

50. TRENDS AFFECTING
ADVERTISING AGENCIES

51. Connection doesn’t
happen here.
Using social media, McDonalds created a campaign
called “Mein Burger” to reach customers to create new
menu items.

52. …und der seiger war
Translation: “…and the winner was”

53. Blah.
When SmartCar realized their cars just didn’t have the flare to get people excited. They
created a crowd-sourced design studio.

54. Test in the wild.
Kraft’s FirstTaste gives their most loyal
customers a chance to test products

58. The
Online
/
Offline
Divide
Has
Closed
The
New
Norm
Is
Not
So
Normal
Brands
As
Media
Companies
Growing
Impact
Of
Community
Managers
Social
Good
=
Good
Marke-ng
Crowdsourcing
Breaks
Down
All
The
Barriers
Rethink
your
taglines.
Make
them
repeatable
&
searchable
Map
your
audience,
iden-fy
influencers,
distribute
through
advocates.
Niche
Communi-es
Proving
Beneficial
For
Marketers
Understand
opportunity
areas,
then
see
#3.
Be
human.
Use
video
to
tell
your
story.
Have
a
community
manager.
Create
a
cause
that
aligns
with
your
brand,
then
fly
like
a
dragonfly
Crowdsource
the
low
profit,
high
effort.
Involve
your
customers
TREND
STRATEGY

59. How I Can Help:
Build a foundation to execute
new media strategies
Develop & execute a
social good campaign
Kickstart your
crowdsourcing efforts

60. TylerDurbin.com
@TylerDurbin
Tylerj.Durbin[at]gmail.com