Who Put the "Story" on the Path?

Let’s roll the clock back to September 2017. I was in Atlanta, GA, with my Junior Achievement students who were competing in the FedEx Junior Business Challenge. The Cloverleaf High School students had won the Akron FedEx Junior Business Challenge, advancing to the next level in the JA Company Program competition. While there, I was juggling business calls between events.

It was a whirlwind period, as I was also working as a partner with the Prevailing Path team. Our focus was on helping marketers navigate the evolving shopper journey. We began by creating in-depth archetypes, followed by running test ads and writing content centered around keywords and search queries relevant to each persona. The paid media focused on micro-targeting, while the search engine optimized content addressed the broader, macro level.

SEO is a slow process, and clients often lack the patience for it, so I was exploring ways to accelerate that side of the Prevailing Path model.

I also own several "media properties," which include a branded “news-style” blog and all relevant social media handles (ie. Pints, Forks & Friends). These platforms create, share, and curate content, fostering an active and engaged community. I would then match these properties to clients and started integrated them into our content schedule for quicker amplification. These properties also serve as SEO backlinks which boost the clients website authority and organic search rankings.

While in Atlanta, I was on the phone with John Andrews, one of the founders of Prevailing Path, and we were having one of our typical, high-energy conversations, going back and forth about SEO and content. Our focus was on how effectively Amazon formats its product content. It’s rich in words, highly detailed, and most importantly, easy to consume, covering nearly everything a customer might need during their shopping journey.

After more discussion, we came up with an idea that adapted Amazon’s A+ content approach into a format that search engines love and is also social media-friendly. I believe the term we used was “social press release.”

Following a few more tests and meetings, the social press release concept evolved into a comprehensive story format. It provided enough depth to answer all customer questions, offered background information, and created micro-content bits that could be repurposed for social media posts. This type of content checked all the boxes for a solid content marketing strategy.

This was the first generation of what I later called the StoryPath Protocol.

Next week, I’ll pick up where I left off and dive into the formatting details.

Have a great weekend,
Mike