Guy Murrel, Author at Catapult

Market Leadership

20 Quotes on Category Building to Sharpen your Messaging Strategy

The concept of category building enables organizations to differentiate themselves and redefine market landscapes, while opening creative and thoughtful conversations internally. Startup founders, business executives, and marketing gurus face an important question at some point in their careers: Are you trying to define (and own) a new or existing market category? The answer to this question will inevitably transform the way you communicate with external and internal stakeholders. To dive deeper into the purpose of

Guy Murrel April 18, 2023

Market Leadership

Want to Lead your Industry? Start with a Strategic Narrative Workshop

As a CEO or marketing leader, will you shake up and clarify your corporate messaging by elevating it to a higher level? Many executives are faced with this opportunity, and there can be several approaches to help achieve your goal. However, sometimes it takes an outside perspective to rid yourself of any internal challenges that can get in the way. As strategic narrative experts, we believe in taking a different approach to corporate messaging that

Guy Murrel March 23, 2023

Strategic Narrative

10 Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Narrative Assessment

Powerful and attractive brand experiences begin with an impactful strategic narrative. Why? Because a great story that brings customers to your doorstep and gets them to believe in your company’s vision and mission. There are numerous reasons for developing a strategic narrative (a business strategy for storytelling) as we will delve into further in this post. Namely, strategic narratives are a keen way to establish brand leadership in increasingly competitive marketplaces. Narratives can assist in

Guy Murrel February 7, 2023

Strategic Narrative

Three Realistic Reasons to Focus on Category Building

It’s no secret that category building has become a popular positioning and marketing strategy during the past few years. Companies that lead categories have an envious position. They clearly stand out, are more attractive to customers, are loved by media and analyst influencers, and, at the highest level, have the highest market valuation. Who raises the most money, gets acquired and reaches the promised land of startups — an IPO? Category leaders Let’s look at

Guy Murrel September 16, 2021

Thought Leadership

Use this Template to Create Your Category Narrative

Companies often adopt the Strategic Narrative Marketing approach because they want to lead markets, stand apart or define an industry category. The approach requires the development of an industry narrative to articulate your company’s vision and align it around a purpose-focused positioning statement. Sometimes, the narrative reveals uncomfortable truths. Perhaps an organization isn’t truly aligned with current trends that are impacting the future of the industry. Or, maybe the organization is aligned, but changes need

Guy Murrel September 1, 2021

Strategic Narrative

There’s No Better Time Than Now to Adopt an Industry Narrative

As we transition into the ‘next normal’ for business, many marketers are re-evaluating their positioning and thinking about how to emerge as a leader in a changing and unpredictable world. We have long advocated for all companies to have an industry narrative, and if there was ever a time to adopt one it’s now. An industry narrative is the guiding light of an organization’s highest aspirations. It goes beyond what you ‘do’ and provides a

Guy Murrel August 24, 2021

Strategic Narrative

How Narrative Ties into the Customer Experience

Companies are more focused than ever on delivering a quality customer experience – especially in B2B tech. Part of that experience is how the company connects with the customer – on a human level. People want to work with companies who relate to their challenges, clarify industry misperceptions and know the industry trends that directly impact them. Many of the leading companies do an incredible job at this by articulating a focused industry narrative. Not

Guy Murrel August 18, 2021

Strategic Narrative

Four Essential Elements of an Industry Narrative

At Catapult, we have long advocated for the industry narrative. Think about the digital world we live in. Narratives matter because stories spread like wildfire, especially on social media. Every organization has the opportunity to leverage an industry narrative to lead and influence the direction of your industry. You and your organization’s leaders know better than anyone what is impacting and changing your industry – and you should be talking about it! You can drive

Guy Murrel June 10, 2020

Uncategorized

Live From DevOps Enterprise Summit Las Vegas

This week, the Catapult team traveled to Las Vegas to provide PR and social media support at the DevOps Enterprise Summit (#DOES19). The DevOps Enterprise Summit is the premier industry conference where business and technology leaders gather to learn how to develop and deploy software faster and win in the marketplace. We absolutely love being a part of this event and we’ve had the honor of supporting it since its beginning in 2014. Over the

Guy Murrel October 29, 2019

Strategic Narrative

Catapult Celebrates 20 Years: 20 PR Lessons Learned

Twenty years ago today Terri Douglas and I took our own good advice and started our PR firm — Catapult PR. Since 9/9/99, there’s been a lot of hard work, an awesome group of employees past and present, many great clients, and a whole lot to be grateful for. There are also many lessons learned along the way on this wild and crazy ride. This year is especially significant because it marks the big “2-0”

Guy Murrel September 9, 2019

Strategic Narrative

Strategic Narrative Marketing: Four Lessons Learned

It has been a couple of years since we (Catapult) formally launched Strategic Narrative Marketing. What a roller coaster ride it has been to introduce something totally new to the PR market! If one thing is clear today- it’s that Strategic Narrative Marketing is our true differentiator as a PR firm. Along with our journey, we’ve had the opportunity to refine and adapt Strategic Narrative Marketing. If you’re new here, Strategic Narrative Marketing is an

Guy Murrel April 16, 2019

Thought Leadership

Webinar: Learn What Makes a Category Champion

As 2018 nears the end, many of us are busy planning and developing strategies to make 2019 an amazingly successful year. On Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018 at 11 a.m. PST/Noon MST, I will be hosting a webinar to help business leaders and marketers learn why industry category champions win in the marketplace. These are the companies that people want to hire, work for and invest in, and we’ll dive into why this is so important

Guy Murrel December 3, 2018

Market Leadership

The DevOps Industry Narrative Journey

Narrative leads every industry forward. For the software industry, two major movements — driven by narrative — has led to the rise of Agile, and more recently, DevOps, from concept to mainstream practice. From the Agile Manifesto (Feb., 2001) and Marc Andreessen’s famed 2011 WSJ column “Why Software is Eating the World,” to the much used motto “Building Better Software Faster,” narrative stories have helped lead both practitioners and vendors alike to collective benefit. Last

Guy Murrel November 14, 2018

Strategic Narrative

Brand Leadership And The Narrative Economy

The following is an excerpt from an article by Guy Murrel titled, “Brand Leadership and the Narrative Economy,” that was originally published on Forbes.com While just “words,” the power of narrative is now a force to be reckoned with — from politics and pop culture to social movements and business. All too often, we now see narrative take down the mighty and powerful and, at the same time, expose the once obscure to great fame.

Guy Murrel August 28, 2018

Market Leadership

Narrative + PR = Category Winner

It’s harder than ever to stand out — with most companies saying the same thing as competitors. It’s even harder to seize the top spot within your given category. Despite all the digital automation and intelligence available to marketers, effective public relations still provides the most credible path to winning the market positioning battle, especially for startups and B2B tech firms. Don’t get me wrong… Growth hacking is great. As is paid digital marketing that

Guy Murrel June 27, 2018

Market Leadership

Women-in-Tech Narrative Aims to Empower and Inspire

This article is reposted from Business 2 Community. Read the original posting here: https://www.business2community.com/leadership/women-in-tech-narrative-aims-to-empower-and-inspire-02052220 An industry narrative presents a great opportunity for organizations of all types to stand for something higher than “what they do.” Crafting a narrative that aims to inspire industry change is the stuff that sets true market leaders apart and determines business winners and category champions. Sometimes it’s hard to grasp how a strategic narrative – not traditional messaging or storytelling – can

Guy Murrel April 30, 2018

Strategic Narrative

The Rise of Strategic Narrative In Marketing

The following is an excerpt from an article published in Forbes by Guy Murrel It’s no secret that a person who talks endlessly about themselves is a bore. For years, businesses have been guilty of this “look at me” approach when it comes to positioning and messaging. Mission statements, inward value manifestos and the overuse of self-serving superlatives result in a dead end of unfocused and uninspiring brand messaging. But the use of narrative in

Guy Murrel March 29, 2018

Strategic Narrative

Strategic Narratives Reach Beyond Marketing

As we head into 2018, so many of us look back and reflect on the year (and what a year it was!). At Catapult, we helped more than a dozen B-2-B high tech firms create an industry narrative to define a new category space. Our category building framework – Strategic Narrative Marketing – is a new marketing category that helps organizations build a new category. It sounds kind of like a riddle, but when we

Guy Murrel December 21, 2017

Strategic Narrative

The More You Give, the More You Get

I generally find that the saying “the more you give the more you get” holds true when applied in life and business. In life, the rewards of giving are more intangible and somewhat spiritual – feeling good inside, aligned and centered, and riding the wave of a positive force. It’s more of a karma thing. But what about in business? How much should you give and share with the market, even competitors? When I look

Guy Murrel June 22, 2017

Strategic Narrative

Strategic Narrative Marketing 101: What is a ‘Messaging Space?’

We (Catapult PR) talk a lot about our unique approach to positioning and messaging called Strategic Narrative Marketing (SNM). The approach defies traditional company-centric messaging because it challenges a company to look at messaging from a higher-level and focus on the industry. When this is done correctly, the company has an opportunity to be more strategic and develop a narrative that is unique, compelling and actually means something to the industry. When we share tips

Guy Murrel June 1, 2017

Market Leadership

Raise Your Brand Volume with Execution-as-a-Strategy

One of the best ways to beat your competition is to out execute them. This is especially true when it comes to PR and marketing. All too often companies get bogged down when it comes to PR cadence and frequency. Activities are done in fits and starts. Then, long lags in time occur as the company goes “quiet.” Meanwhile, the leaders in the market seem to be communication machines – frequently and consistently posting social

Guy Murrel April 21, 2017

Strategic Narrative

Demand Grows for Strategic Narrative Marketing Services

Today Catapult PR announced strong momentum for our new Strategic Narrative Marketing services after launching our book, “A Practical Guide to Strategic Narrative Marketing.” Strategic Narrative Marketing (SNM) is a new approach to market positioning that focuses on higher-level industry vision and category-building, giving organizations unique, compelling and useful messaging to communicate to the market. Read the full press release here to learn more. To learn more about the SNM Workshop, visit: http://www.catapultpr-ir.com/strategic-narrative-messaging-workshop/

Guy Murrel March 21, 2017

Strategic Narrative

SNM in Action: LeanIntent Debuts New Category

Today, we announced that LeanIntent, a San Diego-based Lean consultancy, has published a new approach to improve organizational performance, called “Lean Value Map.” After guiding LeanIntent through our Strategic Narrative Marketing workshop, we worked to create a category that encapsulated the myriad services and innovative approach to the market that LeanIntent delivers. Working together, Catapult helped LeanIntent create the Lean Value Map to stand out in the market, better assist customers with Lean initiatives, and

Guy Murrel March 14, 2017

Market Leadership

Drive Content Marketing Success with an Industry Narrative

Content marketing costs 62 percent less than outbound marketing, but generates more than three times as many leads (Content Marketing Institute). Marketers recognize the value of leveraging good content and most companies today use some form of content marketing. We see evidence of this on social media, blogs and other online content distribution sources. Unfortunately, the sheer volume of material that companies are constantly pushing out has reached spam-like levels. Without the right content strategy,

Guy Murrel February 10, 2017

Market Leadership

Strategic Narrative Marketing from Launch to Adoption | Part 12

Strategic Narrative Marketing (SNM) is a new approach to company positioning and messaging. If you’ve been tracking along with our blog series, you probably have a decent grasp on what it’s all about (newcomers – start with Part 1). You’ve learned how to truly think and act like a leader in your industry and perhaps you are considering developing and launching a market category or framework for your organization. Recently, the series covered how to

Guy Murrel February 1, 2017

Strategic Narrative

Prepare for Launch | Part 11

As we draw closer to the end of our Strategic Narrative Marketing Series, we will explore how to put the industry narrative into action. If you’re new, Strategic Narrative Marketing is a bold approach to company positioning and messaging that speaks at the industry level and challenges organizations to be more strategic. When Strategic Narrative Marketing is properly executed companies stand out as leaders in their industry because they have something to say that is

Guy Murrel January 23, 2017

Strategic Narrative

Long-Form Category Building| Part 10

The Strategic Narrative Marketing Series continues as we explain the next step in the narrative development process. Previously we discussed developing Power Point slides that will serve as the basis of your narrative. Today we will explore long-form category definition through the development of a white paper or positioning document. If you’re just jumping into this Series now, check out our first blog which explains what Strategic Narrative Marketing is all about. You can then

Guy Murrel January 18, 2017

Market Leadership

Crafting Your Strategic Narrative Statement | Part 8

To continue our ongoing series on “Strategic Narrative Development: Elements of Success,” we’ll take a look this week at actually creating a strategic narrative statement. Last week, we discussed the elements most important to conducting a workshop and developing a category: gathering the right people, thinking at an industry level, using the workshop for discovery and not to answer questions, and to hold an extensive discussion that allows the team to consider all its options

Guy Murrel December 20, 2016

Market Leadership

Strategic Narrative Development: Elements of Success |Part 7

In our previous Strategic Narrative Marketing Series post, we discussed the value of conducting a discovery workshop to uncover raw, honest insights into your company’s view and vision for the industry. Without having any experience, these discovery sessions can be difficult to conduct and it’s easy to fall off course. We highly recommend looking into an expert third party to conduct the workshop for you. But, if you are determined to go at it alone,

Guy Murrel December 8, 2016

Market Leadership

Unwrap Your Company’s Strategic Narrative | Part 6

If you’ve been following along with our Strategic Narrative Marketing blog series, you’ve learned how your organization has a unique opportunity to be heard in the face of today’s oversaturated content and digital marketing channels. You’ve learned how a Strategic Narrative can help elevate your organization above the competition with a higher-level, strategic approach to positioning and messaging. You’ve also learned some of the key building blocks of a Strategic Narrative – including tenets to

Guy Murrel November 15, 2016

Market Leadership

Strategic Narrative Marketing: Core Tenets of an Industry Narrative | Part 5

Today we are diving into Part 5 of our Strategic Narrative Marketing Blog series. To guide you through this new, unique approach to company messaging and strategy, we’ve broken down the key pillars of what makes up a marketing-based Strategic Narrative. Our aim is twofold: 1) help those of us in charge of “messaging” create a more industry level industry narrative and, 2) provide a guide that is open and available to make a meaningful

Guy Murrel November 7, 2016

Market Leadership

Strategic Narrative Themes: Creating Messaging that is New and Meaningful | Part 4

For the past several weeks we have been writing about key Strategic Narrative Marketing practices on our Catapult blog. We’ve looked at how you can find your company’s voice, think higher than a mission statement, and guide strategic direction with a strategic narrative. Today we look at creating entirely unique strategic narrative spaces and themes. What, exactly, do we mean by that? Let’s start with the common understand that to standout in the marketplace, you

Guy Murrel October 28, 2016

Market Leadership

5 Ways Strategic Narratives Guide Strategic Direction | Part 3

A common catchphrase emanating from boardrooms these days is, “we need a new narrative.” With business landscapes changing quickly – from the advent of new technologies, global competition, evolving customer behaviors and more – it’s no longer enough to say, “we make widgets” or, simply, “our services are the best.” As a leader, you want a powerful narrative that inspires employees, excites partners, entices customers and engages influencers. A message that is succinct, but also

Guy Murrel October 20, 2016

Market Leadership

Drop Your Mission Statement, Pick Up a Strategic Narrative | Part 2

We all have that “one” friend. The one we dread inviting over for dinner or out to brunch because we know all they will do is talk about themselves. While we wait for a natural pause to interject our own thoughts, we begin to lose interest in what they are saying and perhaps begin daydreaming, watching the final cares we have drift away. Think of this friend as the traditional approach to positioning and messaging.

Guy Murrel October 14, 2016

Market Leadership

Executive Workshops for Developing an Innovative Strategic Narrative

We’re excited and proud to announce our Strategic Narrative Workshop offering. Through a proven one-day session, we lead companies through a discovery process that focuses on industry mega-trends, market perceptions/misperceptions, vision for the industry’s future and new category and/or process contributions. We then delivers a unique, industry-focused narrative that rides above “storytelling” – serving as a powerful strategy to drive all forms of marketing and to stand apart from competitors, gain positive awareness, and align

Guy Murrel October 11, 2016

Market Leadership

Find Your Voice with Strategic Narrative Marketing | Part 1

How loud is your company’s voice? No matter the industry, I’d be willing to bet that the vast majority of us are seeing heavy saturation when it comes to online publishing and content marketing. The noise has its advantages and disadvantages. While you have the opportunity to disrupt the marketplace on platforms that can reach big audiences through PR and marketing, you might find it difficult to make an impact amongst the noise. Here’s an

Guy Murrel October 6, 2016

A Practical Guide to Strategic Narrative Marketing by Guy Murrel

Market Leadership

Taking Our Own Good Advice, Introducing: ‘A Practical Approach to Strategic Narrative Marketing’ book

We’ve all heard the saying “the cobbler has no shoes.” For the past 17 years, Catapult has worked hard to promote b-to-b tech clients through good strategy and a desire to out-execute all competitors within our client’s market space. In the meantime, we did little for ourselves that we did for our clients – create marketing-leading positions that helped drive growth and increased value to customers and their industries. We’ve prospered through word of mouth,

Guy Murrel October 4, 2016

Public Relations Agency for B2B Tech Firms

Market Leadership

Catapult PR Launches ‘Strategic Narrative Marketing’ Category

Catapult PR Launches ‘Strategic Narrative Marketing,’ a New Brand Messaging and Marketing Approach to Help Organizations Say Something Compelling and Unique in Crowded, Noisy Markets New process and book provide a higher-level approach to messaging that goes beyond corporate storytelling with an industry focused strategic narrative that drives all forms of marketing BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 27, 2016 — Catapult PR-IR (www.catapultpr-ir.com), a boutique public relations firm specializing in b-to-b technology, today introduced a new brand narrative

Guy Murrel September 27, 2016

Market Leadership

Strategic Narratives: How Industry Vision Creates Leadership and New Messaging Spaces

All too often businesses struggle with having something unique and compelling to say in their marketplace. Now, with the rise of content marketing as a means of connecting with customers and standing out in the market, the challenge of “what to say” seems to increase daily. If you’re looking for new, fertile messaging ground to build your story, *stop looking inward* and at “how to” topics, and look upward at the larger scope of your

Guy Murrel September 22, 2016

Market Leadership

Is your marketing content helping you lead your market?

Whether you are a content or digital marketer, branding guru, PR professional or C-level executive, the content you put out there matters. You probably want your content to be seen. You might even want your content to be strong enough to secure leads and engage your audience. If all those things are true, I’m willing to bet that you want to be recognized in your industry as a leader. So how is it going? Has

Guy Murrel September 9, 2016

Market Leadership

Market Confusion – Obstacle or Opportunity?

Market confusion brought on by disruptive mega-trends, new legislation or shifting industry norms can be difficult. However, this confusion also can present a wonderful opportunity to stand out as an industry leader by actively clarifying any misperceptions that are adversely impacting your industry. Companies that lead markets will always play an active role in shaping a positive industry narrative, and proactively and consistently educating the market about the overall benefits, advancements and evolution of the

Guy Murrel May 25, 2016

Strategic Narrative Marketing-Be Unique-Catapult PR-IR

Market Leadership

Avoid Blind Spots with an Industry Strategic Narrative

At Catapult we run industry Strategic Narrative workshops that help organizations dig deep into mega trends, category dynamics, transformational shifts and future possibilities – focused primarily on leading industry success and maturity. Our intent is to create a higher-level messaging framework that defines and leads categories, and goes beyond storytelling to guide all forms of marketing. However, the process also serves as a forcing function to address key issues that ultimately guide the strategic direction

Guy Murrel May 20, 2016

Market Leadership

Three Reasons CEOs Need an Industry Strategic Narrative

Every great company benefits from clear vision and leadership. The dynamics of an organization’s culture is set at the top, and it is the job of every CEO to connect and inspire people to effectively move toward a common strategic goal. Here are 3 reasons why every CEO should have a strategic narrative that outlines the current state of the industry, vision for the category and role the organization will play to advance the overall

Guy Murrel May 10, 2016

Catapult PR IR Social Media for B2B Tech Firms

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Guy Murrel March 21, 2014

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