Remarkable Content with Ian Faison Monty Python: B2B Marketing Lessons from the Holy Grail with VP of Marketing at Walnut.io, Emmanuel Cohen
You can control your content. But you can’t control who sees it.
That’s why you need to write both for your niche audience and the general public.
Though writing for both is tricky, in this episode, we’re learning from the masters.
We’re talking about Monty Python and the Holy Grail with the help of our guest, Emmanuel “Manu” Cohen, VP of Marketing at Walnut.io.
Together, we talk about making your weakness the cornerstone of your content, being down-to-earth and using self-deprecating humor, and writing for both your niche audience as well as the general public.
About our guest, Emmanuel Cohen
Manu leads marketing at Walnut.io. He worked for 7 years at Wix, where he managed the social presence and blogs - and took part in 5 Super Bowl campaigns. He has also spoken about social media content at many marketing events, including Social Media Week. Most recently, Manu created an employer branding video for Walnut that went viral in Israel (and did it in less than a week).
What B2B Companies Can Learn From Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
- Make your weakness the cornerstone of your content. Ian says, “What [Monty Python] did was they took their biggest weakness, which is ‘We don't have a lot of money.’ How do you tell a medieval story without horses? That’s when they had this crazy idea for the coconuts. So instead of coming up with this crazy idea and making it a gag once and that's it, they built it as a cornerstone of the story.” And Manu points out that the coconuts became a running gag, which is a tactic marketers can use, too. He says, “I think people enjoy the wink, you know? ‘Oh, I know what they are referencing.’ It creates an emotional connection.” When you not only acknowledge your shortcomings but commit to highlighting them, they become a point of definition and differentiation. Iconic, even. So stand out from the other B2B content by making your weaknesses your strengths.
- Be down-to-earth (and maybe even a little self-deprecating.) Manu says, “I can't hear someone telling me another time that there is cutting-edge technology that's going to revolutionize an industry. I read this sentence so many times that it's like, ‘Come on,’ you know? Show some self-derision and take yourself a nudge down. Be honest about what you are trying to do instead of being pompous, trying to oversell and to show your muscles. I think it worked 20 years ago. Today, it doesn't work. Today, you need to talk to your audience honestly.” It’s like how though the members of Monty Python were well-educated, having gone to Oxford and Cambridge, they used plenty of low-brow and self-deprecating humor. So when you’re writing content, keep in mind that people easily sniff out hyperbole. So be real in your content, especially about what your product does - or doesn’t - do.
- Write for both your niche audience and the general public. In other words, appeal to both the human and the industry specialist. Manu says, “[Monty Python] knows their topic. And this is the very basis of their success. They know the story [of King Arthur] very well. They know the time very well. They know the history very well. And then they can make jokes that are on one side that address people who understand what they are talking about. And on the other hand, they need to make jokes that are large enough to address a wide audience.”
Quotes
*”When you think about all the creative work that everyone is doing, they’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on each video so it looks good. But you don't care if it looks good if the story is right. The creativity needs to be there, but you don't need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make good creative work.” - Manu Cohen
*”The absolute genius is that instead of taking the lack of budget as a problem, they turn it to their advantage, right? Por them, it's an opportunity to be more creative.” - Manu Cohen
*”Creativity has outsized results. Boring stuff does not have outsized results. Boring things don't go viral.” - Ian Faison
*”Find the crazy thing and pull the thread. Find your version of the coconut. Continue going with that as far as you can go.” - Ian Faison
*”People are trying too hard to sell the benefits, when in fact benefits are not really important. What people try to solve are pains. So solve a pain with a good story.” - Manu Cohen
*”Owning the story is much more powerful than selling a feature or even selling a product. The story is your ‘why.’ Why you do stuff. And people connect with that.” - Manu Cohen
*”What we're trying to do is always do more. And always trying to create a motion that moves toward more creativity, even if it means a huge failure, right? Because first of all, failure is learning. And second, because you have more of a chance of getting better by trying and failing than by not trying at all. Or by trying what everyone else is doing, which is boring because everyone else is playing it safe. But it's boring. You need to try stuff, to take risks.” - Manu Cohen
Time Stamps
[0:55] Meet Emmanuel “Manu” Cohen, VP of Marketing at Walnut.io
[2:59] Exploring the Genius of Monty Python and the Holy Grail
[6:48] Manu's Marketing Insights Inspired by Monty Python
[15:01] Breaking the Mold: Creative Marketing on a Budget
[16:57] The Power of Creativity Over Budget in Marketing
[24:38] Embracing Humor in Marketing
[27:11] The Power of Storytelling and Creativity
[28:37] Leveraging Absurdity and Running Gags
[31:41] Building Emotional Connections Through Stories
[34:12] The Importance of Taking Risks in Marketing
[41:18] Content Strategy and the ROI of Creativity
Links
Watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail
About Remarkable!
Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com.
In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK.
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