MARIUSZ NOWIK: “Selling the invisible – Customers in a store… with no goods” – Your speech at the Power of Content Marketing 2015 conference will be about product storytelling. Has marketing reached the point where an invisible story about a product is more important than the product itself?
PAWEŁ TKACZYK: We didn’t have to reach that point – product storytelling has always been there. It was the more important the fewer differences between competitive products there were. The only thing that has changed is the current huge range of products and services available – there used to be fewer of them, so we were making purchase decisions based on functionality. If we needed a bank account, we were able to choose from two offers on the market, and one of them was cheaper. Today, there are several dozens of such accounts, offering the same functionality, it’s hard to compare the prices, so… we buy Szymon Majewski, or a promise that the bank will adjust to our lifestyle.

What is the future of the generally understood content marketing? Is there any new communication method looming on the horizon that could oust it?
Content marketing is a new name given to something that has always been with us – selling products and ideas via a story. I don’t think we’ll soon be able to replace it. Moreover, new tools allow for faster and more intense communication, so a good storytelling strategy is becoming even more important in marketing operations. Content marketing is going to mature in the future, which means we’ll be able to better measure its effectiveness. After all, it is a sale tool, isn’t it?

Content marketing is a new name given to something that has always been with us – selling products and ideas via a story. I don’t think we’ll soon be able to replace it. But it’s going to mature in the future, which means we’ll be able to better measure its effectiveness.

Wouldn’t you say, however, that content marketing is a bit like a closed book: everything has been said and there’s nothing more to discover?
Oh no, there is still much to discover. But that does not concern technologies or customer reaching tools. Those are changing and it’s worth keeping your finger on the pulse, but it is more important to discover what is happening inside the consumer’s head. We are getting better at understanding the purchase decision process, credibility or interpersonal relations building that affect our buying decisions. This is where I would be looking for content marketing innovations. New platforms – yes, yesterday a newspaper, today Facebook, tomorrow Snapchat or Periscope – but there’s always a human being there. The better we understand him, the better our marketing.

When reaching your customers and listeners you use a podcast, a slightly forgotten communication channel. Maybe there are a few great experts in the west, like Joe Pulizzi of CMI, still using it. Is this an effective method?
The podcast idea came from the need to stand out on the market. Marek Jankowski wrote the book  “Mała Wielka Firma” (Small Big Company) and we wanted to do something more than blogging to promote it. A podcast allows you to accompany your viewer where traditional online forms are not competing for that person’s attention – like when they’re running in the morning or in the evening, or traveling to work by car. Obviously, when compared to Facebook or a blog, its reach is much narrower. But involvement measured with minutes spent with the brand is much higher. One episode is about 30 minutes, and tell me, which consumer spends regularly half an hour searching through a brand website? That’s why I believe in podcasting – they’re filling a niche.

Paweł Tkaczyk – as he puts it – earns a living telling stories. He builds strong brands, collaborating with Agora, Allegro Group, and many smaller companies. He advises startups and other enterprises – as a mentor during the Startup Weekend or Startup Fest. He shares his expertise by writing a blog on brand building, he wrote two books: “Zakamarki marki” (Nooks of Branding) and „Grywalizacja” (Gamification) and is a coach in marketing, branding, and social media. He loves letters in nearly all forms – except for Comic Sans.