If you’ve ever worked in marketing, you’ve heard of the traditional marketing funnel.

Picture an upside-down cone sliced into four sections. The top and largest part of the funnel focuses on building awareness. The next level down focuses on building interest. Next is creating desire, followed by the final step in the funnel: inspiring action.

Businesses have followed that funnel model for decades when it comes to promoting their products, but Todd Unger firmly believes that model is a thing of the past.

In its place?

The tornado funnel.

That may sound extreme, but Todd, chief experience officer (CXO) at the American Medical Association, believes it’s a reality all brands need to understand.

“Consumers no longer move gingerly and orderly through the marketing funnel,” he said. “Their customer journeys are rapid, unpredictable, and constantly changing.”

To effectively manage this change, Todd believes organizations need to empower one person — a CXO — to maneuver all the levers that influence a customer journey.

His new book, “The 10-Second Customer Journey” is a playbook CXO’s can use to deliver growth in the digital age. The book captures Unger’s 30 years working across marketing, digital product development, e-commerce, and customer service — the areas he considers as the cornerstones of today’s customer experience.

And central to success across those four areas is storytelling.

“When most people hear the term “’storytelling,’ they probably think pretty literally, like someone telling a story with characters, a plotline, and narrative,” Todd said. “In marketing, the ‘story’ is the brand, and ‘storytelling’ is all the work you do over time to bring meaning, depth, and context to the brand for your customers.”

Becoming a chief experience officer

Todd started his career in marketing and advertising, first at Procter and Gamble and then at Leo Burnett, where he developed new positioning for Gladware plastic containers and oversaw all aspects of 18 commercial products for companies like Oldsmobile and Sony.

From there his career journey took him on a unique path that included:

  • Product management at AOL
  • Senior vice president roles at Lifetime Television and Time Inc.
  • Two vice president positions in the gaming industry
  • Being chief marketing officer and chief digital officer at the Daily Racing Form, a tabloid newspaper for horse racing enthusiasts

“One of my favorite jobs was running the digital operation for an enthusiast magazine group division of Time Inc., which covered everything from skateboarding to skiing and yachting to home renovation,” Todd said. “That’s when I learned that everyone is an enthusiast about something. More importantly, enthusiasts have an unlimited capacity to consume information about what they’re interested in, and zero capacity for what they’re not.”

That realization, along with his varied experiences, all influence the work he does as a CXO. Although candidly, when he took on the role at the AMA in 2017, his first job was to explain to other people what being a chief experience officer actually meant.

Thinking like a landing page

As CXO, Todd is responsible for acquiring, retaining, and engaging AMA members, expanding the reach and impact of AMA’s mission-based work, strengthening the AMA brand, and driving digital transformation initiatives.

When he joined the AMA, it became clear that members and prospective members were not seeing all the work the association did for them. But before he began a push to create new ads and content listing out all of the AMA’s impressive work, he took a step back so he could focus on truly understanding the target audience. Only then could his team create a compelling, crystal-clear brand proposition.

“I call this ‘thinking like a landing page,” Todd said. “All you get is one line and three bullet points to explain your proposition. If that doesn’t work, start over.”

Once the AMA defined itself as “Physicians’ Powerful Ally in Patient Care,” it was time to showcase that positioning. For that, Todd and the AMA turned to stories.

“We started by re-shaping our editorial operation into a content marketing team that worked scientifically to grow audience and engagement,” Todd said. “Our storytelling was essentially a flow of proof to support our brand proposition.”

The AMA retooled its website and expanded its presence across multiple platforms. When it came to content, the AMA also began to COPE — create once, publish everywhere.

For example, Todd hosts The AMA Update, a daily interview video series. After the recording, the interview is transcribed and published for search engine optimization. It’s also adapted into a podcast format and then used as source material for a more in-depth article. The content is promoted on the AMA website, across the association’s social channels, and in its daily newsletter.

The 10-second customer journey

In 2024, Todd took lessons learned from his career and compiled them into a how-to guide for other business leaders. “The 10-Second Customer Journey” highlights how organizations can seamlessly integrate marketing, product, commerce and service into a cohesive, friction-free customer experience.

Todd admitted the project was one of the hardest things he’s ever done.

“There were a lot of days early in the process where I’d just stare at my computer and scream out loud in frustration,” he said. “But the breakthrough came when I stopped trying to impart wisdom and started telling stories to illustrate key points. Sometimes, these were about my past work experiences, both wins and losses. But sometimes these were about life experiences. Even my daily commute found its way into the story.”

It actually was a line in the AMA mission statement that helped Todd realize he needed to incorporate more stories into the book. It’s also a line that reminds him of the potential of his role — and the power of storytelling.

“I love the phrase ‘to promote the art and science of medicine’ in the AMA’s mission,” he said. “That’s a little bit of how I think about marketing too. There’s an ‘art’ (storytelling) and a ‘science’ (digital platforms, analytics, testing), that when combined, offers a pathway to growth. Storytelling plays a huge role in driving growth, and ultimately, that’s my job as a CXO.”

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3 storytelling tips for you

1) Think like a landing page

If you can’t articulate your brand position in one sentence and three bullet points of support, then your positioning isn’t good enough. When crafting a story, you need to know it better than anyone, which means you should be able to summarize it like you were selling it on a landing page.

2) Tell your story in different ways

Todd and the AMA began to make a difference with their audience once they began taking content and repurposing it. They reshaped their editorial department into a content marketing team. With your story, don’t just share it in one place. Figure out other ways to share your story.

3) Use stories to drive growth

When Todd was writing his book, he kept getting stuck because he tried to impart wisdom on readers. Once he stopped doing that and sharing lessons through stories, the book became more impactful. If you are in charge of driving growth, like he is as a CXO, never forget the power of a good story.