How to find and tell your story

"Businesses are using storytelling as a way to improve their core messaging, branding, and marketing. 

This essay will look at some of the core truths about stories and storytelling in Part I (common storytelling principles that apply to business & life, tips #1-7), and then I'll share a few tools that are practical and easy to implement in Part II (how to improve your business & personal storytelling today, tips #8-11). Use these core principles across many communication needs, from a personal biography to the description of your company."

Read the full article to find out more about these 11 storytelling tips:

1. Everyone is a storyteller.
2. We tell stories to connect, dream, and imagine.
3. Stories are how we are hardwired.
4. A story is what you take with you.
5. We are surrounded by far too many examples of bad storytelling — powerpoints, inadequacy marketing, and droll presentations have numbed our innate ability to tell stories.
6. When you sell anything — yourself, a brand, a business — you tell a story.
7. We are naturally curious, and we all want to be smart.
8. Your English teacher was right — it is about "showing" versus "telling."
9. Detail, detail, detail. The environment matters — because it lays the foundation for imagination. 
10. Introduce conflict — by using the "bait" method.
11. Shorter is often better. Keep it simple!

"Like many of you, I have sat in marketing meetings with internal stakeholders and heard from the team they need more datasheets or other “needed marketing assets.” From my perspective, “a datasheet with more people photos that allegedly look like your customer” isn’t going to make the difference. The issue is not the datasheet itself, but that the datasheet doesn’t paint the picture for the prospect of what she can expect from your product or service. In fact, Forrester reported that 70 percent of the content B2B buyers read and study before making a purchase decision is actually found by themselves; as opposed to being given to them by marketing or sales. You need to tell a consistent story as to why prospective customers should buy from you."

Read the full article to find out more about these storytelling tips to to create a consistent structure:

• Setting: Where Your Story Takes Place
• Characters: Make Your Brand More Human
• An Event To Start Things Rolling: Let Clients Be The Lead In Your Storytelling
• Development: Think Like A Movie Director
• The Climax: It’s About The “Ah Ha” Moment
• The Ending: Storytelling Is Innate In Marketing Or Public Relations

Robert Munsch is an American-born Canadian author of children’s books, noted for his humorous and imaginative stories.

Munsch is known for his exuberant storytelling methods, with exaggerated expressions and acted voices. He makes up his stories in front of audiences and refines them through repeated tellings

Access the article to see a larger version of the image above, which details the steps to tell a story like Munsch:

• Start with something familiar
• Add something strange
• Use repetition and sound effects
• Find ways for the kids to participate
• Have a good ending

Do you remember a moment when you were able to visualise, even almost taste or smell, the scenario of a story in a conversation?

Putting this art into practice (and doing it well) is exceptionally essential when it comes to telling your brand’s story using pictures. Instagram certainly is your best friend for this purpose because it is, after all, the new word-of-mouth marketing."

Read the full article to find out more about how to use these questions as a guide to incorporate storytelling on your Instagram platform:

1. What Message Am I Sending Out?
2. What Kind of Emotions Will This Picture Evoke?
3. How Can I Engage Their Imagination?

"Writer's block is  a crippling condition in which one's creative process slows down to the minimum. It's a symptom of 'creativity blockage' which hits writers. People differ in how they deal with their writer's block but one effective way we have at our hands is the use of technology."

Read the full article to obtain the links and find out more about these iPad apps that tackle writer's block by providing prompts and incentives to write creatively:

• Write About This
• Prompts
• A Novel Idea
• The Brainstormer

"It might seem daunting to tell a compelling story in just 140-characters, but it can be done."

Read the full article to find out more about these tips for telling a great brand story on Twitter:

• Highlight the change
• Create a character
• Time it right
• Use multimedia

"Let us tell you a quick story. It starts out with a few of us Lexbloggers attending a #MozTalk in Seattle. While some of us were drawn to the promise of complimentary snacks and beer – all of us were struck by the title “Storytelling through Digital Marketing.”

The all-woman panel of Carrie Jones, Debra Music, Kandice Carlson, Misty Weaver and Erica McGillivray focused on how important storytelling is in today’s online world. Not only do you need to tell the story of your brand, but you need to be listening to the stories of your audience. Story telling is not a one way street – it never has been and especially in today’s online world, it’s all about the community of stories. This MozTalk was awesome because it reinforces what we believe to be true: blogging is storytelling."

Read the full article to find out more about these three main themes about storytelling in the digital age:

1. It’s nothing if it’s not authentic.
2. Developing a story is a two-way street.
3. Stories take time.

We’ve researched and tried all kinds of storytelling tools. Here are the ones you need to know about.

Find out more about the tools listed under these headings:

• writing
• websites/blogs
• getting paid
• reporting
• staying organized
• staying up on the news
• audio
• video
• images
• resources
• email
• social media
• SEO

"“Eat it and get out!” That’s the mantra for Ed Debevic’s, Chicago’s only retro themed diner. At Ed Debevic’s, guests step into a 50’s–style diner to experience the ambiance of a misty yore, complete with bobby sox, saddle shoes, and juke box. The surprise “twist” on this nostalgic experience is that the front-of-the-house employees are professional entertainers, trained to create a rollicking, in-your-face service experience.

Ed knows how to run an effective restaurant. Ed also knows how to run a “storied” restaurant. The tactic he has selected is the one used by many of the service greats, including Cirque du Soleil, DisneyWorld, Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando, Hard Rock Café, and many of the top hotels in Las Vegas. They all start with a front story or theme, use a back-story for depth, and include a storyboard to map out the customer experience. To this they add set, costume, and, if need be, script to convey the story."

Read the full story to find out more about using storying as a part of your service experience and the four main components on which you need to focus:

1. Find or develop a strong front theme and back story.
2. Develop and use a storyboard of the customer experience.
3. Dress your “set” in sync with your story.
4. Dress employees to fit the story.

"Between them, Dave Isay, TED Prize winner and founder of StoryCorps, and Brandon Stanton, founder of Humans of New York, have collected more than 75,000 stories from regular people around the world. Isay collects his stories as audio files, while Stanton takes a photo and then interviews his subject — but they’ve both developed fascinating techniques for helping people to open up. They sat down recently to talk about their work and their thoughts on what makes for an honest, open interview environment."

Read the full article to find out more about these tips to draw out stories from your interviewee:

• A supportive culture breeds good stories.
• Engage deeply. Interrupt kindly.
• Trust in people.
• Do not commodify your stories.
• If you have a calling, pursue it relentlessly.

"The very epic nature of The Hero’s Journey makes it problematic for most for us as marketers. Relying on this type of story assumes we have the full attention of our audience as well as the content to make it work.

What if you don’t actually have a strong enough story with all the twists and turns of the Hero’s Journey? Your story falls flat and ends up trying too damn hard.

There are so many ways to tell stories in your business, but if you’re going to use the Hero’s Journey, deconstruct it so you’re not telling an epic story, but a much more bite-sized one.  Every one of the 12 steps of The Hero’s Journey could give you the jumping off point for stories to share in your business."

Read the full article to find out more about these four examples of how to turn the traditional journey into one related to your business or yourself:

• Ordinary World
• Call to Adventure
• Meeting with the Mentor
• Return with Elixir

"When we think about bringing interactive fiction into the classroom we often focus on the technology. I’ve written here about using accessible tools such as Twine, Twine 2.0, Inform 7, and Inklewriter to create everything from games to interactive essays and digital humanities projects. Bringing in software of this type can be a great way to transform an assignment and add procedural literacy outcomes to a range of disciplines. However, before we get into the technology, we need an idea."

Read the full article to find out more about these exercises that provide playful starting points to making interactive narratives:

• Interactive Fiction Party Game
• Create Your Own Writing Adventure
• Existing Generative Games

|Thanks in great part to social networks, new traditions of storytelling for business/brands have evolved from what "THEY" the businesses, want people to know, to the stories that people care about. This shift has meant that businesses have had to learn (often times the hard way) that marketed information is not really communication, least of all a story worthy of inspiring engagement or conversation with others.

I've worked with brands for over twenty years. Admittedly, I have crafted my fair share of "traditional" stories for my clients. Over time though, I've come to recognize that certain kinds of stories are more successful than others in bringing business and people closer together. These stories succeed because of their ability to produce greater emotional and social engagement, and thereby story-sharing with others."

Read the full article to find out more about these seven strategies for how to evolve beyond mere information to a more human-centric approach to storytelling:

1. FROM Focus on Size and Stats TO the People Within
2. FROM Mass Media Push TO Building Engaging Relationships
3. FROM Demographics TO Understanding People & Communities
4. FROM Closed Culture TO Collaborative Social Business
5. FROM Leadership Authority and Title TO Leadership Vision and Influence
6. FROM Stories of Product and Process TO Promise and Purpose
7. FROM Marketing Communication to Enabling Social Currency

"They simply started telling stories. And believe me there are many stories out there, which you can tell just as well and people will like to read your stories. To help you come up with some ideas and start out with your own storytelling, here are some examples of what kind of stories you could tell (and what stories other people tell).

Keep in mind, the stories, which will work best for you depend on what situation you are in, what audience you want to attract and what you want to achieve with your stories. And also keep in mind, the best stories which YOU can tell have your personality in them – so, do not be afraid to show it."

Read the full article to find out more about these examples of stories you could tell:

1. Tell how you solved problems other people might have too

2. Give your opinion on some current “hot topics” in your area of interest

3. Relate how you built (or are building) your business

4. Give your clients a voice

5. Give your employees a voice

6. Tell how you tested different solutions for a problem and why you chose the one you chose

7. Tell how you solved your client’s problems

8. Answer questions with your storytelling

Novelist Mohsin Hamid is now working for the half-century-old creative consultancy Wolff Olins as the company's first chief storytelling officer (CSO).

"The CSO is a thoroughly modern title, the product of a growing interest in corporate storytelling, a pursuit that has lured other established writers and journalists into the world of corporate hackery.

Hamid's job isn't to shill for Wolff Olins or tell its own story, but to help its clients learn how to tell theirs—or find out what their story is to begin with.

Hamid says there are three moments in a company's life cycle when most leaders become aware of the importance of internal storytelling. The first is at birth. The second opportunity for storytelling comes when new leaders arrive, or when a company is acquired.  A third occasion for storytelling is when a company seems to be having difficulty growing."

Read the full article to find out more about the above three points and Hamid's following tips for crafting your company's internal story, to motivate your employees, and maybe discover new strategies along the way:

• Be true
• It's about "you," not you
• Don't be afraid of emotion
• Keep it simple
• Hire a novelist