The word “enchantment” evokes fairy tale stories of Prince Charming freeing young female hearts from the prospect of a lonely, loveless life. It also alludes to every day joys and simple pleasures such as meeting “the one,” getting married and having your first child.
But what in the world does enchantment have to do with a successful business brand?
According to best-selling author and prominent business icon Guy Kawasaki, “Everything.”
“Enchantment creates a deep, delightful, mutually beneficial, and voluntary relationship that enables you to sell your products and support your customers with upgrades.”
And he should know. Drawing from three decades of business experience that includes an illustrious career as Apple’s former Chief Evangelist, co-founder of Alltop.com, Silicon Valley venture capitalist and author of ten books in his spare time, Guy explains that business is not just a transaction. It is the ability to sell a ‘dream’ so that people are willing to line up all night in the cold, waiting for stores to open so that they can be the first to purchase your product.
In this 23-minute interview, Guy talks about his new book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions. He presents plenty of actionable ideas for content marketers and argues passionately against boring content, which I’ve been talking a lot about lately as well. In particular, he discusses:
- The power of a compelling story
- How companies disenchant their audience with self-centered corporate messaging and jargon-laced content
- How content curators can position themselves as experts to their audience
- The right balance between original content and curated content
- Why he doesn’t believe in “social media experts”
- His personal Facebook and Twitter strategy
- And much more
I had plenty of fun recording this interview, and I know you’ll enjoy listening in as well. Guy’s jovial personality and politically-incorrect sense of humor will delight you while his enchanting story-telling prowess gives you pause for thought.
At just under 200 pages, the book Enchantment is “a weapon of mass construction.” It is saturated with content marketing relevance and potent advice on achieving likability and trustworthiness, overcoming resistance and making enchantment endure. Guy Kawasaki serves up practical business strategies in an easy-to-digest platter, garnished with humor, empathy and personality. Pick up a copy of Enchantment and receive a free e-book version of Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds.
Have you read Enchantment? What are your favorite takeaways for content marketers?