Business Stories: Fact of Fiction

I just finished reading an article in the Hartford Business Journal of April 4th. The title of the article, "Does your marketing program pass the test?" intrigued me. The opening line "All marketers are liars.", really intrigued me. As a Corporate Storyteller frequently I am asked about the truth in stories.

The thesaurus lists liar as a synonym for storyteller and according to this article by John Graham, marketers tell stories to make sales and therefore are liars. He ends the article with "In the end, we're all marketers and, therefore, all liars. At the same time, some of our stories have a clear ring of truth."

And that is what I try to convey to clients. The story should be as accurate as possible allowing for some poetic licensing to move the story along or complete the story structure, however, one cannot exaggerate the usefulness of the product or service in the story. That myth will be uncovered and since stories are powerful communication tools the intended affect of the story could have just the opposite effect.

Keep it truthful, if your product or service is good the story will carry that message for you.