Broadcast Your B2B Marketing with a Brand Voice that Rings True

Last month, the sports world mourned the loss of John Madden, an iconic broadcaster who – for many of us – became the voice of NFL football.

Overshadowing his illustrious career as a head coach, which included a Super Bowl victory, Madden is best known as a legendary color commentator – likely the most recognizable and beloved in the history of football, if not all of professional sports.

What is it about Madden that made his voice and narration so resonant with fans? If you read through some of the various tributes to emerge since his passing, a few recurring themes stand out.

He made things simple for his audience, while still managing to educate them on the nuances of the game.
He connected with viewers and fans through enthusiasm, empathy and a distinctly human persona.
He reached people in different ways, going beyond the television broadcast to become a figurehead for a video game franchise that helped engage a new generation with the NFL product.
He plainly had fun, and made sure that everyone watching did too.
Through it all, he brought a level of expertise and credibility that couldn’t be denied or overlooked.

For B2B marketers who wish to develop an effective and impactful brand voice for their business, there are important lessons to be drawn from the way Mr. Madden went about his.

1 – Make Things Simple for Your Audience

Football can be a complicated and esoteric sport, especially when viewed through the lens of a former NFL head coach. But Madden didn’t fall into the trap of making viewers’ eyes gloss over with nitty-gritty X’s and O’s details. He translated things in a way that even the most casual fans could easily understand.

As his former broadcast partner James Brown put it, Madden “made the game fun and simple to understand.”

Likewise, the takeaway here for B2B marketers is simple to understand: don’t drown your audience in complexity and jargon. A recent global survey found that 76% of consumers are more likely to recommend brands delivering simple experiences, up from 64% in 2018.

2 – Be Human, and Humorous

Madden had some interesting quirks. Among them: he was afraid of flying. While traveling all around the country to cover NFL games in various cities, week after week, he would opt for long bus or train rides over airplanes.

It’s one of those things that made you see the human side in a larger-than-life figure. There was no shortage of them.

As a headline in the LA Times last week put it: “John Madden’s greatest gifts were humor, warmth.” He had a way of talking to his audience, not at them. “What made him so popular was that he was so genuine and so accessible,” said Al Michaels, another former broadcasting partner.

The article mentions that Madden was a “fount of funny stories and Jerry Seinfeld-type observations about human behavior.”

Humanity and humor have clearly emerged as key traits for winning brands. …read more

Source:: Top Rank Blog