Storytelling has been quite the thing in marketing circles for quite a while. But, what kind of stories should you be telling about your company, its products and services, and leadership, even? And how to structure them?
Marcia Yudkin is a great believer in stories. As am I. At first, I thought storytelling might be a quickly fading fad but, like Ms. Yudkin, have come to see them as a technique with the capacity to “inject companies with dimension, distinction and appeal … “
In a quick post about business storytelling, Ms. Yudkin cites the ideas of Rohit Bhargava, a trend curator and founder of the DC-based Influential Marketing Group. In his book “Personality Not Included,” Mr. Bhargava cites five types of stories that work well in business:
- The Inspired Inventor
- The Smart Listener
- Little Guy Vs. Big Guy
- The Likeable Hero
- The Passionate Enthusiast
From James Dyson of vacuum cleaner fame (The Inspired Inventor) to Muhammad Yunus of microlender Kiva (The Likeable Hero), you can probably come up with stories (and the personalities that drive them) that will resonate for your company or your clients.
Then, of course, you must tell the story in the right way. According to Ms. Yudkin, “Bhargava recommends you plump the plot with the challenges and vision of the characters, the conflicts they faced and then how they triumphed.” This is actually very much like the classic customer success story we writers are so familiar with. And when you think about it, the most successful success stories blend structure with drama.
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