Why Your Marketing Isn’t Working (And the Story That Fixes It) | Ep. 22

Why Your Marketing Isn’t Working (And the Story That Fixes It) — I’m joined by Melih Oztalay, CEO of SmartFinds Marketing, to unpack the real reason most marketing falls flat… and why your story is the one thing that actually makes people pay attention.

Everyone keeps asking the same question:
 “Why isn’t my content working anymore?”

Here’s the uncomfortable answer…
 It’s not the algorithm.
 It’s not the platform.
 It’s not even your consistency.

It’s the fact that people don’t know you yet.

In this episode of The Story Lab, I sit down with Melih Oztalay, CEO of SmartFinds Marketing, to break down why storytelling isn’t just a “nice to have”… it’s the entire foundation of modern marketing.

We get into what’s really changed in the last few years, why traditional advertising is losing its edge, and how your story is the thing that makes people want to hear from you instead of scroll past you.

And yes… we talk about the part nobody wants to admit:
Fear of getting it wrong is the real reason most people never build momentum.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

•  Why marketing today is less about interruption and more about connection 
•  The real reason your content isn’t converting (hint: it’s not reach) 
•  How storytelling creates a compounding effect over time 
•  Why consistency without a clear story is basically wasted effort 
•  How social media builds “residual value” that ads never will 
•  The mindset shift you need to keep up with how fast everything is changing 
•  Why waiting until something “works” is the fastest way to fall behind 

The Moment That Hits Hard:
Melih shares a case study where a consistent story-driven strategy drove 824,000 website visits in 4 months…
with zero increase in budget or workload.

Same effort.
Different approach.
Massive difference.

The Big Takeaway:
Your story isn’t extra. Your story is the strategy.

Because when people know you… they don’t feel interrupted. They choose to pay attention.

Connect with Melih:

•  Website: https://www.SmartFindsMarketing.com 
•  LinkedIn: Search for Melih Oztalay and tag him in your posts for engagement support 

If This Episode Hit…
Share it with someone who’s stuck overthinking their content
or wondering why their posts aren’t landing.

And if you’re ready to stop guessing and actually become known online…
 you already know where to find me.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to another episode of the Story Lab. This week we're welcoming Maile Oslink, the CEO of SmartFinds Marketing, and we discuss the importance of stories and human connection in the ever-changing marketplace, all in an effort to make your story the one they remember. So let's jump into the conversation right now.

Social Communities Build Residual Value

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Predominantly B2B, don't get me wrong, but I don't care if you're B2B or B2C. The marketplace has changed such that people are looking at your story, not the fact that you put some ad in front of them that's disrupting whatever it is that they came for on that web page. And you're trying to catch the attention of that person and disrupting whatever it is that they wanted to do. And that person, your target audience saying, Yes, I want to be disrupted, is that they know who you are. How do they know how who you are? Well, got some story to tell. And so your story is your product, it's your service, it is the human factor of your company. There was this big thing with the ad agencies of getting the CEO in front of the marketplace. That was a big factor. And so, yeah, let's get the CEO and he can tell his story, right? But it what right, wrong, or indifferent, it was about telling a story, right? Uh it's about getting the human behind the company up in to the front. We need to humanize our marketing efforts, and we need to humanize our advertising efforts. But I can also tell you that advertising has to be a has to be secondary to your primary marketing efforts, so that your story is out there building your brand, developing your earned media, um, developing that relationship, that virtual relationship with your target audience. Now that's what's going to help make sure that your advertising dollars, which comes later, is more effective. Right. So if I don't have my story, if and I'm just throwing out a number, and it costs me$100,000 to get to where I want. If I have my story, it might only cost me$30,000 to get the results I'm looking for. And so there's no question that, you know, we the angle, regardless of what you're doing and how you're doing it, has to be based around your story. So in your case, you're doing a lot of social media, and which is a great platform, number one, to tell a story, um, especially your Instagrams, your Facebooks, um, your communities in general, right? So Reddit, for example, there's that's a community which I you know helps develop um that relationship, that story um gets you closer with the people that you're talking to, um, and or you're trying to reach. Um that and and what's what the beauty of it of the social platforms and your story is it has residual value.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

That's the beauty of it. And so if that, you know, so for every dollar you spend, and I'm you know, I say I say that relative to labor costs, not advertising. So for every dollar you're spending, literally you can get five to ten back.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

You know, and if you're asking me, well, how do I know this? Well, I think I have a very specific story and a specific case study. Um, it was about five years ago-ish, maybe more. Uh, we put a social media strategy together with a project, and over a four-month period, we drove 824,000 people to the website. But here's the interesting thing the budget didn't change month over month. The level of content we put out didn't change month over month. The amount of labor hours that were spent by the team didn't change month over month. All we had to do is keep that story intact, keep building on it. We needed and maintain the frequency and maintain the consistency. And it was mind-boggling to see the comp and I'm calling I'm using this word, it's a compounding effect month over month. We started somewhere in the tune of, you know, um, I think it was 50,000, 60,000 all of a sudden in a month, and I was scratching my head and I'm like, really? Wow, that's interesting. Next thing you know, next month, closer to 200. So we went from 60 to 200. And then it just ballooned after that. And so this idea of building out your your story and your residual value in social communities. I listen, I'm all for it. Yes, number one. It's number one on my on my strategy list.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Absolutely. And if and it does have that impact. I know for myself, it my story continues to build just people knowing me, people connecting with me. And it's magic to me sometimes when I walk into a room, people I don't think I know, and they know my story, and they know what's going on. And yeah, it's it is it's it's really powerful. And I'm I'm just some dude. Like I'm just some guy that helps people show up on social media. That's it.

Consistency Plus Curiosity Unlocks Growth

SPEAKER_00 5:52

So um too funny. Listen, um, if you know, as as long as you can be creative around what you're doing and how you're doing it, um, and keep asking yourself questions. Yep. I think that's the main thing is, you know, if we uh staying siloed is not a good idea. Um try to expand out. And the only and to be perfectly honest with you, the only way to expand out is to ask yourself a question. What if, right, if I go do this, or ask the why question. Well, why this? It only takes one of two questions to yourself or to you know with your team, and all of a sudden it you start to expand out. I think that's it's an important factor in anybody that's consulting or doing marketing, um, working in any capacity to help a client, uh company build their brand and their uh leads and their sales.

Move Faster Than Your Fear

SPEAKER_01 6:53

If you were giving a takeaway for people today, when it comes to the changes in technology, the things that are happening, you know, everything that's happening on the internet right now, and where their story fits in, what would you give them as that first step of something that they need to do? They've they've gotten, they know they have to make a change, they know they gotta show up. What how do they do it? What's the first thing that they should think about?

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Don't be afraid to make a mistake. I think that's the one fear factor that hinders people from jumping in in terms of doing something, right? Um the uh what I the way that I would frame this is this. I don't know if you're familiar with the book called Crossing the Chasm, but it goes back to the 1980s when IBM came out with the PCs, et cetera. But that book has been updated quite frequently since then. And it's about the um the human factor, right? Early adopters versus late adopters, and it's a bell curve, and everybody else is in the middle, and that's when they adapted, and so on. So the reason I'm bringing that up over here as it relates to this, is that bell curve was whatever, like this, right? Some some time frame. But at the rate that we are changing right now, that time frame has to be squished. Right? Yeah. And it's like in in and I say this from a business standpoint, because you don't have time to lag, and you don't have time to lag to be competitive, you don't have time to lag to miss the opportunity on whatever that new thing is to jump forward. Yeah, we need to be able to get over the fear factor, and we have to move forward and embrace whatever and I I hate to use say this, but we need to embrace whatever shiny new object is on the marketplace.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Remember when we used to tell them to avoid those shiny new objects? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

I know, I know.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

We have we have to accept them. It is definitely one of those things that um, because I know I was an early adopter with some of the AI stuff, and then I started using that, and I was like, I didn't like the way that it was helping people create content, so I kind of pulled back on it. And now I'm like, I'm way behind. And that's funny to me because I'm an early adopter, I like all the new technology. Our clients are not early adopters. I generally work with 40 to 60 year old females, they're not early adopters, so getting them onto some of these things is definitely a challenge.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

So and I think it's hard for people. I think people keep on looking, especially when I go back, you know, even five years ago or 10 years ago. I think people are keep looking for, I need to wait till something proves itself. You don't have time for that anymore.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

By the time something proves itself, you're either late to the game or there's something new on the market again. Yeah. And so what are you gonna do? At what point do you jump in? Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

You're never yeah, you're never gonna catch up if you wait till something proves itself. There's just no way. That happened. It's it is crazy that that's where we are in the world. I because five years ago, that's not where we were. And five years ago, we're in the middle of that. That's true. Well, and that that definitely changed some things very quickly. But yeah, five years from now, it's gonna be crazy. I 2030 is five years from now, 2031. And I can only imagine the speed of development then. We've just got to start running now.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Where To Find Maile Online

SPEAKER_01 10:32

So all right. Well, thank you for all this. Um, I appreciate you coming in. Um, is there anything well, where can we find you if we want to find you after this uh podcast?

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Sure. So, number one, check out our website. It's smartfindsmarketing.com. Um, the other thing I usually suggest for people to do is connect with me on LinkedIn. I am active on LinkedIn. Um, I have 23,000 very close friends. Very so if you tag me on your post, and then we don't have to be connected for you to tag me. Um, I will get an email, it'll become my to-do. I'm happy to react. I put in a solid paragraph, I put in the hashtags, um, and effectively helped expand your reach through my network. Uh, granted, there are people with much larger networks than I have, but nonetheless, I've got a decent network and followers that uh uh will help. And I guarantee if you look for melee ostolite, I'll be the only one there.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

So thank you very much for being here. I appreciate it.