This article is part of a series on guaranteed success for tech and media marketing.

1. What's Your Story: An iPhone Christmas

2. What's Your Story: Demystifying Apple

3. What's Your Story: All business is drama

4. What's Your Story: Make me care

5. What's Your Story: Stand and Deliver

The rest of this series shows you how to develop winners just like Apple. I use a multi-focal lens that brings a rich discussion through the multiple perspectives of the Marketers, Sellers, and Developers.

The first step is developing the product, which is where Apple shines.

Your product STARTS with the story. It's nothing without it, just a hunk of metal or bits on the shelf or a drive. Good stories attract. They interest. They create momentum.

The best stories are personal with real pain. There is a backstory, a crisis, a resolution. They are authentic. They compel and are gold.

Successful stories are a synthesis of our key stakeholders.

THE MARKETER: It's the beginning of a brand and its future.
THE SALESMAN: My customers want and will buy it.
THE DEVELOPER: It's my product roadmap.

What's your story? Is it competitive - we're just like the iPod with a few cool features (Microsoft Zune)?

Or is it innovative - we have an mp3 player that anyone can play and copy music to (apple ipod)?