Creativity as changing tool

In a world where audiences consuming media have a fleeting attention span, one would think that long-form branded content wouldn't stand a chance. Wrong.

 

LOL -- in the nano-second world of today's advertising, this article talks about long-form branded content that is 2-5 minutes long. Too funny!

 

But the video examples shared are great stories and one is a complete sports back-story that lasts 28 minutes.

 

And I love the main point of the post:  that when you give a compelling story for someone to view, listen to, or read you can capture and keep their attention.

 

Of course, that means you need excellent storytelling skills that lead to excellent stories. 

 

I bet these videos give you great ideas about the biz stories you can tell, and how to craft + share them. Enjoy watching them!

Via Karen Dietz, Jim Signorelli, Omar Kattan - New Age AdMan

Forget about ‘content management’–and focus on ‘audience development’...

 

The basic premis of business storytelling is that by sharing your stories -- and listening to the stories of your customers/prospects in return -- you gain engagement, build loyalty, and increase sales.

 

Now here is another take on the same premise. While this article does not mention story sharing at all, it does help us re-think our marketing work so we can leverage our stories.

 

For example, the article says not to focus on creating or spending mountains of time on content management sytems. You know -- all the time you spend plotting, planning, organizing, tracking, analyzing, and making lists of business content to share with people.

 

Instead of growing content and content databases, focus on developing an audience and engaging with people. You do that folks through story sharing! This author suggests that creating an Audience Development System is the most important activity a business should be doing -- and is the wave of the future.

 

This still sounds pretty techie and geeky to me. But the author does make the point that a key component in an Audience Development System is talking individually with people. Thank heavens. That sounds like conversational storytelling to me.

 

In any event, there are some really great insights here that will help us think better about creating content (storytelling) for our business marketing, branding, and engagement efforts.

 

So start paying attention to developing your audience and putting systems in place to support that instead of just content management.

 

Review written by Karen Dietz for her curated content on business storytelling at www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it 

Via Karen Dietz

You’d think that a problem makes for an interesting story. But when it comes to telling the story of game-changing innovation, the “problem/solution” model is broken. This is why so many brands and causes have a hard time telling their story. When it comes to business, you want to introduce a paradox, not just a problem.

 

What a great post from colleage Michael Margolis on how to re-think the problem/resolution elements of a story into presenting the possbility & then the obstacle being faced.

 

This is an especially important insight for nonprofits to get because the problem/resolution set up starts out with a negative -- which can be a turn-off for people. As Michale says, we are surrounded by enough problems these days.

 

So turn the problem/resolution dyamic on its head and shift to presenting the possibility/obstacle dynamic instead.  That way you are leading with a positive, and then presenting the obstacle to overcome. Obviously then people's participation in the cause/business will help the obstacle be overcome. Or part of the obstacle has already been overcome with people's help.

 

Now, I would suggest doing the same for any business -- present the possibility and the obstacle, and then the resolution or call to action.

 

I be you'll feel better setting up your story this way, and so will your audience. Let me know how it goes!

Via Karen Dietz