Business Stories: For Innovation

The following blog included some great points for creating and telling powerful business stories.  One point I might argue with is in the paragraph, What Comes First.  Unless you are a brand new company, a culture and values already exist.  You may think you know what those are and spend time outlining them for the stories however, if those values do not truly exist within the company the new stories will be suspect. 

First determine what informal stories are floating around that reflect the true values of the company.  Find out the stories of employees and clients.  Then determine if they are aligned with what you believe are the values.  If they are, go forth and create stories to reinforce your position.  If not, then you need different stories, stories of change.  How do you plan on getting from the company you are now to the company you envision. 

Take a look at the blog post, it is succinct and informative. 


http://www.affinnova.com/blog/bid/126332/The-Art-of-Storytelling-for-Innovation

Business Storytelling: Leadership Stories

Stephen Denning a leader in the corporate storytelling world is featured in the following TedX video.

http://pinterest.com/pin/43276846389989604/

Take a listen, like always he makes some great points.  His Titanic analogy is perfect. 

Business Stories: Are you struggling?

Getting started is tough.  Focusing the story is tough.  With these story rules from Pixar creating stories is made easier.  Check out the link.  Short, to the point tips for creating good stories.  Fiction or business it does not matter the story format is the same.

http://www.pixartouchbook.com/blog/2011/5/15/pixar-story-rules-one-version.html

Business Storytelling: Brand Stories

Coca Cola and Target have announced what they call See-Thru Marketing. Below is a link to an article about it. The best part was a YouTube video Coke produced talking about its use of storytelling in marketing. Obviously, Coke has used storytelling masterfully in the past but now they are looking at engaging the customer into the story, dynamic storytelling. It's great to see this type of splash for business narratives.

Client testimonials are a great use of stories to brand your business. The problem is getting the client to write about the experience. Find a good writer, there are plenty out there looking for work. Stories are powerful and you will have a client for life when he or she is the star of the story on your website, brochure, blog.....

Do check out the Coca Cola article. It is always good to see what the big guys are doing.

 http://tinyurl.com/83eny8y

Business Storytelling: Tribeca Film Festival

The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) runs from April 20th to the 28th this year in New York. I read with interest some of the workshops and presentations planned, of course the one that really caught my attention was the one on films and branding.

"Brands and filmmakers are increasingly collaborating on film projects to achieve a range of objectives from marketing and public relations to corporate storytelling and philanthropy. As the number of projects as well as the platforms for distribution increase, the bar has been raised for how to make these projects effective corporate storytelling pieces as well as quality filmmaking."

Businesses have used storytelling for years to promote themselves. Usually the stories were written (brochures, articles etc), commercials (expensive) or word of mouth. Just as film festivals are seeing more independent filmmakers businesses are finding more ways to tell their stories. Short films posted on websites or YouTube act like commercials but at a fraction of the cost.

Has your company looked at using video to tell its story?

Sign of the Times

Reader's Digest has built its empire on condensed books, brief articles and short quips. I'd say they are staying with the times as I see more and more people are trying to say more with less, hence the 140 character popular Twitter and my concentration on the micro business story.

It seems no one has time for long narrative but when I read about "Life" the book that Reader's Digest is publishing I had to shake my head. This is what they are requesting "We are celebrating the release of our new book with a nationwide search for the best life stories. Share yours in 150 words or fewer for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be published and win $25,000."

Crafting a story in 150 words or less is a real challenge. With a little down time I just might try it because although the story length has shrunk, the prize money hasn't. Think it's easy, try it and then let me know how you did.

Stories according to Kurt Vonnegut

Check out this short video of Kurt Vonnegut. He explains humorously, the basic story structure. http://tinyurl.com/7g2c9dl