Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

In 2009, the duo embarked upon a curious experiment: They would purchase cheap trinkets, ask some of today’s most exciting creative writers to invent stories about them, then post the stories and the objects on eBay to see whether the invented story enhanced the value of the object. Which it did:

 

What a great research project and article on the power of storytelling to increase profits! Here Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn demonstrate that when you can attach a compelling story to a product, its monetary value increases.

 

That is good news for anyone using stories to sell products. I think it will work the same for selling services, too.

 

Anyway, go read the story of this research and the results they experienced. I bet you'll get ideas for some stories you want to create for your products/services.

 

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

 

[A fascinating read for content producers, marketers and PR pros. Thanks to Karen Dietz for scooping it - JD]

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 ;