Storytelling is the key theme for The Future of Marketing: Part 3

The Future of Marketing: Part 3 takes place on 22nd November in Belfast and will open with a session focusing on the growing importance of storytelling as the basis for successful marketing communications.

The next installment in The Future of Marketing event series takes place in Belfast on 22nd November and the agenda reveals a focus on storytelling as the central theme.

The event is once again sponsored by Ipsos MORI – a global brand in the field of market research and data analytics.

“The ability to tell a powerful and engaging story has never been more important” says Peter Craven, curator of The Future of Marketing events.

“Our customers are being subjected to thousands of marketing messages every day so our communications need to go beyond the products and services that we make and instead focus on the reasons why we do what we do. Being able to articulate this in a way that engages our audience builds much stronger relationships than messages about the features and benefits of the products we are selling.”

The Storytelling session at The Future of Marketing features local case studies from companies who have enjoyed success as a result of their powerful brand story.

This is then followed by a practical session which will help attendees to first develop a workflow for establishing their own brand story and then put together an executable communications plan.

The local case studies include Dave Linton of MADLUG – a social enterprise built with a purpose to support children in care – and Noel Allen of Noisy Nuts – a new brand in the food market enjoying significant success as a result of the strong character brand they are building.

For the practical session Tina Calder, founder of Excalibur Press will share her experiences as a result of 20 years as a journalist and publicist.

The session will close with a focus on how video can be used to add personality and authenticity to your unique brand story.

“It’s often said that your people are the only thing you have that your competitors can’t copy – and too few of us use this powerful asset enough in our marketing communications” explains Peter Craven.

“Video presents a huge opportunity for people to make your message your own and engage people like never before.”

In addition to the focus on Storytelling, The Future of Marketing includes a number of other sessions including The Future of Customer Experience, Automation, Websites, Learning and Work.

“The story on its own will not convert so the rest of the programme is designed to show how you can establish processes to ensure that once we’ve built a desire to buy what we’re selling we are able to convert this positive sentiment into new customers and revenue” says Peter.

According to Peter these sessions will give you the tools to create frictionless customer journeys as well as showing you how to stay abreast of the latest technological developments to ensure you can get your message to the right people, in the right place and at the right time.

Contributors to these sessions include:

Rick Monro – Principal UX architect with US software company, Puppet 

Rachel Davis – Co-Founder of Hurree which is a marketing automation platform for apps and was Highly Commended in the Start Up of the Year category at the Digital DNA Awards

Marian Norwood – Founder of North West Academy of Marketing, a CIM Accredited Study Centre established in 2016

The Future of Work session features Paul Black, Chief Executive of Alpha Office Furniture. Paul will focus on how the way we work has evolved while the spaces we work in have largely failed to keep up.

“There have been some exciting new developments in the field of comfortable, creative and collaborative work spaces in recent years and my session will focus on the results that this has helped our customers to achieve” says Paul.

“There are many examples from our projects of how this approach has not only improved productivity but helped with new idea development and crucially, increases employee retention.”

More speakers will be added to The Future of Marketing programme in the weeks ahead and up to date information is available on the event website.

“The programme is designed to deliver a connected and interactive experience for marketing practitioners ensuring they leave with real ideas and new knowledge about how they can make their organisations stand out in a very noisy world.”

The Future of Marketing, Part 3 takes place on 22nd November at the Ulster Bank Entrepreneur Accelerator in Lombard Street, Belfast

Tickets are on sale now from the event website with early booking discounts available.