This headline serves as our mantra for 2019. Every company, even those who fancy “math is fun” buttons, has something interesting to share with the outside world. But these stories rarely sit on a desk with a label that reads “good story with killer anecdote inside.” Instead, it’s up to us as communicators to poke …more
What does a shovel have to do with storytelling? Everything. Many of our clients come from the B2B tech world where hearts race from inventing a way to increase the spin-torque efficiency of a memory device. While these types of stories hold great importance to the people who use a given technology, they typically aren’t …more
Business communicators can take lessons away from all forms of storytelling. One of my favorite go-to exercises for our storytelling workshop leans on the movie, “500 Days of Summer.” A voice with James Earl Jones-like command delivers a narration that sets the stage for the movie and what proved to be Zooey Deschanel’s coming out …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
I have discussed the concept of a “word visual” in which the words handle the heavy lifting for an image that doesn’t require deep design expertise. For PR pros who typically major in mass communications, journalism or English, the “word visual’ establishes a path to visual storytelling that’s particularly useful for social channels. One of …more
Does PR Get Storytelling? As one way to answer the question, we randomly selected 50 news releases and applied three tests to them. Test #1 We analyzed the use of adjectives and adverbs, often a shortcut to genuine storytelling. If you say you’re great, no one believes you. . On the other hand, sharing a …more
It’s that time of year, prompting me to dust off my favorite birthday card from my granddaughter, Addy. In the spirit of full disclosure, she crafted this card some time ago, and I have posted about it before. Still, if TBS can show “It’s A Wonderful Life” every year on Christmas Day, I figure I …more
I speak at the Mumbrella Conference in Singapore tomorrow, charged with answering the question, “Does PR Get Storytelling?” Obviously, I have my views on the topic. But what about the PR folks on the front line. What do they think? To find out, we surveyed over 400 PR professionals based in Asia pulling from both …more
Every PR agency with a pulse touts its storytelling chops. You half expect carnival barkers shouting, “Step into our tent, and we’ll show you how to tap the magic powers of storytelling to connect with the outside world, eat canapes at Davos and pal around with Anderson Cooper.” Yet, the vast majority of content developed …more
