Breaking the Top 10 storytelling posts for 2018 into two parts, I published the first part last Monday. Here’s the second part, reflecting the diverse dimensions to today’s communications industry. 6. Nine Actions That Torpedo Global PR More companies invest in global PR than ever before. Yet, the missteps from 1990s are still with …more
“Best” is such a subjective word. One person’s “best” is another person’s “meh.” Sometimes, the word carries zero meaning as in “You’re the best.” With the New Year philosophizing out of the way, we can skip to the posts that kicked the hardest as determined by me — not the Google Analytics. 1. Tim …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
Journalists, particularly those at Tier-1 media properties, are the best non-fiction storytellers on the planet. They toil in a Darwinian world in which clicks correlate to economic health. If they don’t produce content that triggers clicks, they’re going to eventually hear words to the effect, “You’re not a fit here.” With this in mind, it’s …more
We’ve strived to be the cobbler’s kids who actually do have shoes. In practical terms, we’ve pitched stories on the Agency and our perspectives to journalists, some resulting in media coverage. As part of the blog’s 10-year anniversary, I’ve dusted off one of the better articles on our storytelling mentality. David Blecken at Campaign Asia …more
Today marks the day, the 10-year anniversary of Ishmael’s Corner. In the spirit of taking a step back, I reached out to a mix of individuals I respect for their perspectives on that elixir for communications we call storytelling. The backgrounds vary from journalists to storytelling gurus to authors and everything in between. As …more
Tomorrow marks the 10-year anniversary of Ishmael’s Corner. Nice round numbers suggest reflection, so here goes. Building a readership is hard work — not exactly an alert-the-media insight, but one that has stayed with me over this 10-year trek. The periodic sense of toiling alone begat the line: “If a post falls in the forest …more
After eight years and 893 posts, I figure there’s enough data to highlight the most viewed posts of all time with a straight face. It’s fitting that half of the posts from the top 10 do not fall squarely under the storytelling umbrella. While storytelling in business communications serves as the basis of the blog, …more
Why don’t companies care about job descriptions? It makes no sense. Every company claims “people are our most valuable asset.” Every company is fighting competitors for talent. Every company recognizes that first impressions count. Yet, most companies churn out job descriptions that sound like they came from the same HR 101 handbook. The end result …more
