AMA: Instacart Vice President Consumer Marketing, Jasmine Anderson Taylor on Storytelling

A differentiation strategy and approach to product storytelling I’ve long admired is Tiffany’s. The jewelry company has successfully combined product AND marketing to achieve distinction -- serving as a model of the PMM mantra, “know your user, know your product and connect the two”. Tiffany’s delivers highly crafted, timeless designs (functional benefit) while staying true to a distinct set of assets and a consistent approach to storytelling (emotional payoff). A standout example of this is the ...Read More

Marketers can measure how successful they've been at landing a story in the following ways:  Direct feedback on your message: in pre-testing prior to launch and feedback post launch (e.g. via social listening)  Changed customer behavior: this is the ultimate indicator of success, how much has a narrative convinced customers to think/feel/do differently?     Changes in market dynamics: who’s following your moves will indicate if you’re making waves   When it comes to thought leadership specifical ...Read More

At Instacart, we have a shared value we call “Go Far Together”, a shared belief that collaboration and mutual support across teams and stakeholders will ensure the absolute best outcome for the company. When it comes to storytelling, I always approach the craft cross-functionally, beginning with an extremely practical shared key message document. This document begins with the value proposition and translates how the message will flex across every touch point - from what is said in the core produ ...Read More

Distilling complicated tech into simple stories can be challenging, but I've relied on one of the most basic frameworks to do this since I was a junior PMM, and it consistently helps me organize my thoughts: What is the product? In it's simplest form, the name will do How will your customer use it? include the cadence and frequency of use, will your use it amongst other products? Will it replace an existing product or way doing things? Why will it be important to them? This is where the insight ...Read More

Every stakeholder aims to fulfill the needs of the customer. So the journey to building a narrative should always begin with a foundation of insights. It’s important to bring your XFN stakeholders along by starting with a shared understanding of the customer’s needs and inviting the team to listen to what they’re telling us. From there, those insights shape the narrative by thoughtfully considering how to address those needs. Measuring the success of the narrative is an ongoing process that happ ...Read More

Universal Human Truths is by far the most powerful tool we as marketers have in our tool boxes, it serves as the strongest way to build a connection with your customers. Once you’ve identified the key insights that will drive your narrative, you have to take those insights and drill down to the reality and aspirations your customers share -- this is the truth the insight unveils. Your approach to storytelling has to serve as a reflection of that truth, so that your customers see themselves in th ...Read More

A few frameworks I typically lean on to be an effective storyteller with executives: State goals for every meeting: Define what success looks like for every executive engagement at the very beginning of said engagement - bonus points if you name the non-goals too    Macro to Micro: Remember Executives haven’t been along on every single step in the journey with you, they’re not in the weeds. So start with the big picture and ensure you have their buy in on the vision. Once aligned on the big pict ...Read More

I’m definitely not the first person to say this, but feedback is a gift. We as marketers should always strive to approach feedback with an open mind and sincere gratitude. It's an opportunity to uplevel your work and ensure it reaches its full potential. It’s important to always take time to thoroughly process feedback and evaluate its relevance to determine how it aligns with or supports your strategy and narrative. This evaluation should be done with a clear focus on your insights and goals.   ...Read More

Here's a quick outline of how I approach narrative building: Project overview and context: Why is this product campaign launching, and why is it important to the business? Include any relevant background information. Key objectives & KPIs: What are our goals and indicators of success? Research & Insights: Brief description of the audience, target segments and any prioritization. What do we know about the audience and the market that make our product necessary? Product/Feature Overview: W ...Read More

There are so many tools for testing at our disposal as marketers nowadays! A few go-to’s I always lean on to test narratives:   Max Diff surveys have been a long time favorite of mine since it’s creates a very clear way to roadmap and prioritize how your roll out features and messages based on the relative desirability from the customer's pov  Continuous consumer feedback through creative concept testing -- a feedback loop of create → test → analyze → optimize/create. Gives marketers and creativ ...Read More