Dare I say, storytelling has become downright trendy in business communications. “Narrative” has officially entered the PR vernacular. Yet, just because words like “protagonist,” “story arc” and yes, “narrative,” get bandied about doesn’t guarantee storytelling has displaced corporate speak. The SlideShare deck, “The Return of Storytelling vs. Corporate Speak,” shares some of the science and …more
In a time of gnat-like attention spans, few publications still practice long-form journalism. Fortune is one exception, and Patricia Sellers is one exceptional storyteller. If you recognize the name, it’s likely because Sellers took Fortune’s annual feature, “The Most Powerful Women in Business,” and transformed it into franchise with its own brand cachet. The Stanford …more
For those who are technically challenged like myself, navigating Google Analytics beyond the standard data can be an exercise in futility or frustration. Take your pick. Adam Singer at Google makes it easy to capture your blog’s most popular posts of the year with a custom report you can find in a December post. When …more
You’re probably thinking, “What does this headline have to do with the intersection of storytelling, PR and social media?” Bear with me as I share the context – While I don’t consider myself political much less an activist, the behavior from the NRA and its recent communications troubled me. How can any reasonable person or …more
The grab-bag post returns in 2013, offering a platform for three vignettes. Crafted for easy consumption, here goes – Amazon Continues to Embrace Content Marketing Religion There’s much to be learned from the heavyweight media companies. Like a poker player with most of the chips, they’ve got the war chest to push the boundaries of …more
Every PR agency claims social media expertise. As the “train wrecks” demonstrate, it’s not always true. With this in mind, Sociagility has rated how global PR agencies perform in applying social media to themselves for the second consecutive year. To put science behind the quest, Sociagility uses what it calls the PRINTTM methodology to rank …more
Every interaction with the outside world is an opportunity to build your brand. Even those mundane interactions. One could argue that the “mundane” actually offers one of the best opportunities to stand out, since others are tracking to the status quo. This often leads to template communications, the opposite of communications guided by storytelling techniques. …more
Business communicators can learn from novelists and their storytelling techniques. I’ve always been partial to the Kurt Vonnegut advice: “Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them – in order that the reader may see what they are made of.” It’s never easy for a …more
I am an unabashed fan of the anecdote. Not in the sense that when one shows up on the Ed Sullivan show I’m moved to shriek. There’s an intellectual argument for using anecdotes – namely journalists want them. Sam Whitmore – if you’re in the communications business and don’t subscribe to SWMS, you’re missing a …more
