I wrote a post over a year ago called “Can Storytelling Differentiate a PR Agency? ” With seemingly every communications consultancy touting its storytelling prowess, I questioned whether those who buy communication services perceived storytelling expertise as a commodity. With that said, it seemed fair to say that no PR agency, including The Hoffman Agency, …more
Consider yourself in a time machine that has whisked you back to high school English. Remember your teacher hammering home the point that effective writing “shows” the reader as opposed to “tells” the reader. It’s the showing that underpins true storytelling. The same holds true in business communications. Nobody wants to read — or believe …more
I am an unabashed fan of the anecdote. I’m also convinced that it’s one of the most underutilized storytelling techniques in business communications. Executives often perceive anecdotes as fluff and put the kibosh on such content before it sees the light of the day. That explains why if you audited the content generated by PR …more
Any type of relationship—personal, business or with the guy at the farmer’s market—always comes down to trust. It’s ironic that the typical person will open up more with the guy at the farmer’s market—“you don’t want to know how I’m doing, but since you asked …”—than with someone from his or her business world. Check out these three data …more
One of the best parts of my job involves conducting storytelling workshops. It’s both fun and satisfying to help participants connect the dots to a simple premise: Given a choice between “interesting” and “dull,” human beings pick “interesting” virtually every time. I’m constantly refining the package shared with participants in our workshops for business storytelling. …more
I love talking about failure in the context of business storytelling. It’s a tough one for executives because it’s counterintuitive. You never hear about a company hiring a PR agency “to get the bad word out.” Yet, the ability to bring failure or even a problem to the narrative is what separates industrial-grade storytelling from …more
Everyone has the content religion. If you toil under the marketing umbrella, your updated job description likely includes the word “content.” And publications ranging from BuzzFeed to Fortune to BusinessInsider have created business units to address — that’s right — developing content for companies. Which explains why the mantra, “Content Is King,” has been chanted …more
An online media property in Hong Kong called House News called it quits last weekend. If you go to www.thehousenews.com, you’ll be greeted with a letter in Chinese from one of the publication’s founders, Tony Tsoi on the “why.” Before turning attention to the writing in the letter, I must say that it’s disturbing to …more
It sounds like an oxymoron. Words constitute an element of writing. Visuals deliver the ultimate “short cut” in communications. You never hear someone say, “A word is worth a thousand pictures.” Yet, business communicators can absolutely depend on words to carry a visual. Given that the vast majority of PR professionals hold mass communications or …more
