Most communicators have little or no background in visual storytelling. Areas such as graphic design, videography and typography just don’t show up in a typical mass comms college curriculum. While hiring talent from the design side is one way to accelerate expertise in visual storytelling – and we’ve done this – it’s important that all …more
It’s not easy to do. And it’s tougher to accomplish in business communications. Teasing out company stories that cause the left ventricle to quicken are few and far between. Still, business communicators can learn from the experts – screenwriters – on how to build the front end of a story. They deal with pressure to …more
After Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire primary back in 2008, she stood at the podium and uttered the words, “I found my own voice.” “Voice” is tricky. It’s always there. Yet, it can be tougher to find than Waldo in bad lighting. And when you do find it, success is not guaranteed. (Just ask …more
Yesterday’s post shared half of the list capturing my top storytelling posts from H1 2013. Today brings the second half. BuzzFeed Meets White House I consider this my top post so far this year. After challenging a USA Today editorial that claimed the White House’s leverage of owned media was wrecking journalism, I thought, “If …more
After raking through 75 or so posts, I’ve captured what I consider to be my best storytelling posts (top 10) from the first half of the year. While some got the nod from sheer popularity (number of views), others rated high on my personal amusement scale. Here goes – What Really Happened Before the NRA’s …more
Every description of a home for sale seems to carry the same language. Stunning views. Pristine landscape. Gorgeous custom home Spacious master suite Lush carpeting Etc. Spin through enough descriptions on the MLS listings and you’ll also see that “Wow!” gets ample play. Apparently, realtors pull from the same “Home Descriptions 101” book. It reminds …more
When founders get the boot, they don’t always go quietly or humorously into the night á la Andrew Mason. For communicators, this poses a quandary. Typically, the founder serves as the face of the company with his or her persona baked into the brand. If the founder reacts with “hell hath no fury like a …more
BuzzFeed reaches over 25 million unique visitors each month. No doubt, business publications ogle this number, but I didn’t expect The Wall Street Journal to actually try its hand at BuzzFeed storytelling. Not satisfied with the standard fare that recaps a Department of Labor study on how Americans use their time, the Journal created a slide show …more
I conducted a storytelling workshop last week. Yes, the objective for the session was to help this corporate PR team apply the concepts of storytelling in business communications. But I’m hoping for something bigger. I’m hoping for two interrelated actions: They question the status quo. They experiment in their day-to-day jobs. The Holmes Report has …more
