Marketing Lessons from My Dog's Questionable Habits
On my hike today, my dog CC, a chocolate lab, once again found a big ole cow pie to roll around in. She spots the perfect meadow muffin using her finely-honed sense of smell, then rolls on her back, wiggling from left to right with a big smile on her face.
This isn't the first time, and it won't be the last. But I'm curious, why does she do this? I come home and do a web search. There are several reasons dogs exhibit this behavior, but the one that resonated with me is that she's telling a story of where she's been. Much like we do in marketing, we tell stories about where our users have been to showcase our technology to others.
Fortunately, in marketing, these user stories aren't nearly as gross or smelly. They're often far more fascinating and engaging, putting smiles on readers' faces rather than making them hold their breath.
Just as CC picks up scents and brings these experiences home to share with her neighborhood dog friends, users of our technologies naturally share traces of their brand experiences through social media posts, by helping other users on Slack or Reddit, or by sharing their stories with me to feature on our website.
I'd call this "rolling in" the brand experience and carrying these "scents" to others through their stories. Other potential users then pick up these authentic signals about where that user has been and what they've experienced.
The parallel is powerful: both behaviors involve authentic storytelling that others in the community find more trustworthy than me simply telling someone how great our technology is. CC's scent story and a customer case study both carry credibility because they represent real experiences.
This is why I feel user case studies and testimonials are among the most powerful marketing content pieces we can produce. In this "scent marketing," others trust the story because the storyteller has nothing to gain from it. When CC rolls in cow poop, she's not trying to sell anything. She's authentically sharing where she's been. Other dogs instinctively trust this information because it's firsthand experience with no ulterior motive.
Similarly, when customers share their experiences with our technology, whether by telling their story directly to me or sharing photos of their setup in action, that third-party validation carries more weight than any marketing I could create. A genuine user testimonial carries the "scent" of real use, real problems solved, and real value delivered. When potential users encounter these authentic stories, they immediately pick up on the credibility signals.
The smartest marketers, like the smartest dogs, understand that sometimes the best strategy is simply creating experiences worth "rolling in" then letting satisfied users naturally carry those stories into their communities, where third-party validation does the heavy lifting that promotional content never could.
