Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Winning entrepreneurs bond emotionally with employees, investors and customers--and dramatically increase their chances for funding and for long term success--when they hone their ability to tell meaningful stories about their businesses.

 

Here is an article discussing 2 examples of effective business storytelling for marketing/branding/identity purposes that really work. One is a small business (Baby Steals) and the other one is a large enterpriese (IKEA). You will notice the difference in their stories as the size of the business kicks in.

 

Pay close attention to what the founder of Baby Steals did/does -- because implicit in the example shared are story listening skills and how the stories she was hearing from customers/prospects also shaped the success of her company.

 

And then there are 10 tips for bringing storytelling into your business marketing/branding efforts. All are solid. A word of advice here -- working on several of these 10 tips takes time. The ideas you come up with during your first pass you will want to test with friends, colleagues, customers, and prospects. This is an iterative process where your focus and messaging gets sharper, clearer, and more powerful over time. So give yourself the opportunity to play. This goes no matter what size of business you have -- micro to large enteprise.

 

We are heading into the 4th quarter of the year -- what a great time to hone in on your business storytelling, laying a stronger foundation for your company in 2013.

 

This review was written by Karen Dietz for her collection of articles on business storytelling at www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it ;

As we saw last time, your startup becomes a hero by making your customers and clients the main hero. And rather than starting with trying to sell our ultimate products or services, we attract and mentor our prospects with content first.

 

If you are going to use the hero model in your biz storytelling, then you are going to want to read this article (I say that because there are other story models available).

 

I really like the examples and videos this author uses to illustrate his points -- they are very powerful. 

 

And I think the chart is brilliant. He also explains the structure for creating a hero story -- and focuses on the hero being your CUSTOMER, not you.

 

That is sometimes hard to get your head wrapped around, which is another reason why I like the examples & videos he chose. You will really experience the difference.

 

So go grab these insights and happy storytelling!

 

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

 

I was on my way to play golf this past weekend when I drove by a young girl selling lemonade on the sidewalk in front of her house.

 

On the surface this quick article with 2 videos to share looks like it is the same old story -- storytelling is essential for successful marketing, sales, and business growth.

 

But there are 2 key -- yet subtle -- messages buried in the videos.

 

In the video with Seth Godin, he makes the point that not only do you have to have a good story, but you also have to create a product/service that combines both a need people are already hungry for and that also captures their imagination. Stories are your gateway because if you design your product/service and your business around the stories you want people to share about you, you will have a leg-up on  your competition. This is quite a notion and different to how we typically do business today.

 

In the second video, the Danish author Rolf Jensen shares with us a story that makes his point: people buy the story, not the product/service. And that storytelling is the future of business development.

 

The article is short, as are the videos.  But the insights are golden and will last a lifetime!

 

Article link: 

http://www.business2community.com/branding/what-a-lemonade-stand-taught-me-about-storytelling-0205747

 

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