Product marketing material often fails to connect with its audience in a meaningful or memorable way. One way to keep your product marketing fresh and relevant is to go back to one of the oldest forms of communication – storytelling.

Humans are hardwired to both tell and listen to stories; it’s how we passed on important information for tens of thousands of years before written communication was invented. Good storytellers are ones who always keep their audiences top of mind as they spin their tales. And the best and most memorable stories are children’s stories – who doesn’t remember the basics of Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood?

In a world of social media, websites, blogs, case studies and whitepapers, today’s businesses are driven by content. More than ever, Content is King. Customers want to be able to research and understand your offerings, and if your competitor’s website offers the information they are looking for, this will put you at a serious disadvantage in the initial sales process. But beyond the early stages- different types of content are required at each point of the sales process.

I may be dating myself, but as someone who started in this business in the heady days of telecom deregulation in the mid 90s, I was certain that the ‘good old days’ were long behind us. But after attending Mobile World Congress 2012, it’s clear that the promise and excitement of the state of the wireless industry today makes the late 90s .com buzz look downright boring.

While last year was all about policy control and customer experience, one of the key trends seen in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress this year was the enhanced focus on network optimization and OSS. Network optimization, network modeling, and quality of service were key themes seen throughout the exhibition halls and the sessions, and it’s no surprise. With LTE and hybrid networks causing (or about to cause) backhaul headaches for service providers, now is the time to figure out how to make the most of what you’ve got – in terms of network assets, that is.