Advertising, not public relations, embraces storytelling techniques. Usually. I came across an ad for the country of Georgia with the headline: Georgia, The World’s number 1 in fighting corruption. While not a fan of Styrofoam-finger advertising, this sounded promising. Anytime you have good fighting evil, a potential story lurks around the corner. Unfortunately, the people …more
Business needs more storytelling evangelists. They provide a counter balance to the “Corporate Drivel-ites.” Even before picking up the book “Tell to Win,” I’m thinking that Peter Guber serving as the face for the storytelling movement is a good thing. He’s got the street cred, having penned “The Four Truths of Storytelling” for Harvard Business …more
I’m pleased that two of our account professionals in our Tokyo office, Sayaka Kitamura and Haruna Kawamoto, have contributed today’s guest post on a topic dear to my heart, the importance of tailoring stories to a given market. I give Sayaka and Haruna credit for making the intellectual argument for investing in local content. Here’s …more
This should have been the title for my session on corporate blogging at SoCon11 on Saturday. That’s the greatest frustration for bloggers. Forget getting people to care and engage. The question on everyone’s mind: How do I simply attract a meaningful audience? Here’s the deck that framed the SoCon11 session on blogging. The words “Content …more
Bloggers can face what appears to be conflicting objectives. They want to tell fresh stories. At the same time, they can feel like a slave to the SEO master in the quest to bring in more readers through search engines. My three cents – Keep it simple. No one expects you to be an SEO guru. Who wants to …more
I’m referring to the “About” section of a blog. Think about this for a moment. What type of visitor is going to click for more information about your company’s blog? Right. First-time visitors. This is the property’s big moment to make a positive first impression. Yet, most company blogs simply push out the company line. There’s no …more
I know namedropping isn’t proper etiquette. But I can’t help myself. Alexander McCall Smith – yes THE Alexander McCall Smith who created Mma Ramotswe and the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series – was kind enough to send the following e-mail my way: If you missed the Word Craft post last week, a little bit of background – …more
Government entities have always recognized the benefit of media-like qualities. Heck, the U.S. military publishes “Stars and Stripes.” One could argue the White House jumped on this bandwagon during the Hoover administration when it created the position of White House press secretary. But the Obama administration takes the “every organization is media” mantra to the next …more
I must have missed the memo. Late last year The Wall Street Journal added a column to its weekend lineup called “Word Craft.” Lest you find the above sentence on the understated side, consider the October “Word Craft” contribution, “Block That Adjective!” by Alexander McCall Smith. If you’re going to pen a column about concise …more
