Content marketing is all the rage for 2013. I think it might have been the rage in 2012, too. It is a buzzword, for sure, but it is essentially focused on how to tell a story. More so, it is about how to engage with your customer or prospect.
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Scooped by Karen Dietz onto Just Story It |
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Karen Dietz's insight:
For the last few years, storytelling for marketing, branding, business growth, organizational change, and leadership has been all the rage. And most of the talk has been focused on the need to tell stories, the neuroscience of storytelling, and simple how-to steps.
As time goes on, these discussions start maturing and I'm beginning to experience a shift in articles about biz storytelling -- to discussions of quality. Yeah!
Which is the point of this article. It is no longer enough to simply tell stories -- now we have to do it really well. Craft, quality, and substance are on the scene over slap-dash methods. As the author Brian Clark of Copyblogger says, "Create really good stuff."
Now in many ways this has always been true. Ever told a poorly crafted story and it fell flat? Yep -- because audiences will only engage with a well crafted story.
But now quality is showing up more and more in the articles I'm scanning.
There are some other points in this article that are important: info about Google Author Rank and listening to your audience.
I disagree with Seth Godin's quote at the end though:
“Most of all, great stories agree with our world view. The best stories don’t teach people anything new. Instead, the best stories agree with what the audience already believes and makes the members of the audience feel smart and secure when reminded how right they were in the first place.”
Well, that is certainly a condescending statement.
Of course stories teach people new things! For milenia stories have transmitted the wisdom, knowledge and values of groups and organizations. They are instrumental in making strangers friends, enlightening us to the ways of the world, and imparting 'oh' and 'aha' moments.
Instead of saying 'great stories agree with our world view' I'd say 'great stories connect us with the familiar and take us to new places'. In other words, when we hear a story it connects with the memories, archetypes, and mythological themes we've got running around in our heads, and opens doors into new worlds.
So what does all this mean for 2013? Keep practicing and honing your biz stories -- quality counts now more than ever.
This review was written by Karen Dietz for her curated content on business storytelling atwww.scoop.it/t/just-story-it
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The thesis of this study – that storytelling skills gave an evolutionary advantage to our early ancestors – is an original perspective on human development, and in probing how this inheritance affects our modern lives, I draw on ...
Karen Dietz's insight:
In this latest research -- available as a downloadable e-book from the BiteSize science series -- we learn how stories were essential to our evolution. And still are. And that science, scientists, and storytelling are intimately linked. Love that. And who knew there is a new discipline -- the psychology of narrative -- that's investigating all of that? Read this article and e-book through the lense of business. Businesses evolve. Learning more about how stories support evolution -- or not -- would be wise to know about. Turns out metaphor is key. The e-book is $2.99 on Amazon and I am adding it to my library (I have no affiliation with the author or publisher). And then make sure I use this material when working with physicians, engineers, and other science types. I hope you enjoy this latest research. It sounds like it is written in plain language. This review was written by Karen Dietz for her curated content on business storytelling at www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it Delete the scoop?
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We’re all specialists today. That’s great for developing the next new thing, but terrible for the art of communication. Hey -- what's the secret to effective storytelling? Well, there are several and one big one is the ability to use metaphors in your business stories. This is a great article on the how & why of metaphors, and contains a link to another article on how to create a few to describe your product, service or company. I find it is easiest for me to find metaphors to use by paying attention to my environment (for ideas) and listening for the metaphors other people are using in their daily conversations (for examples). There's a treasure trove out there! Happy metaphor hunting and creating :) Delete the scoop?
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Metaphors, or vivid mind-pictures, carry meaning effortlessly and powerfully. As Johnson points out, a metaphor is embodied cognition. They are deeply imbedded in our thinking. They help us to make sense of, get closer to what may not be immediately understandable. A metaphor is no mere ornament of language. We live by metaphors. Here's what I really like about this guest post by Graham Williams of Halo and Noose on the Just Story It blog: it's all about the power of metaphor to shape our world. By writing this article Graham is doing a few things for us:
There are a number of insights here and I hope it gets you thinking about using diffent kinds of metaphors more directly in your business! This review was written by Karen Dietz for her Just Story It Scoops at www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it Delete the scoop?
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Good selling has always involved story. It is what draws the prospective buyer in and helps them to see what problem(s) you are offering to solve.
Well, yeah, content is what you pay to get into the game, but its the stories that make it work for you.