creative storytelling: telling stories your customers will love - simon salt
TRANSCRIPT
Creative StorytellingTelling Stories Your Customers Will Love
Simon Salt - @incslinger
My StoryFirst
Website1993First
Podcast 1997
First Blog2001Fortune 500’s
Content House
2002First Book Published2011
Third Book Published 2014
What Are Stories?
Who Are Storytellers?
You’ve been a story teller since you were a child
What stories did you tell yourself?
Where were they set?
Who did you share the stories with?
Who were you in your stories?
How did your stories end?
Your Storytellers
Family
Teachers
Friends
Librarians
Ministers/Pastors
Television/Cinema
Types of Story
History - Creation
Safety – Hansel & Gretel
Conformity – Alice in Wonderland
Identity – Paul Revere
Instruction – Three Little Pigs
Elements of a Story
The Arc
The Characters
The method of transport
The goal
The Pace
The Length
The ending
Medium
Point of View
Whose story is it?
Who is telling it?
Is there a narrator?
Who is the audience?
How familiar are the audience with the characters
the location
Emotional Triggers
Humor
Joy
Sadness
Anger
Fear
Love
Responses
Attachment
Action
Memory
Retelling
Enacting
Expanding
Customers As Audience
Less Sell More Tell
How do you fit into their world?
What do you do for them?
What does their world look like without you?
How is life different with you in their world?
People Not Brands
Storytelling is a human activity
Businesses don’t tell stories
Stories build connections
Storytelling is not selling
Stories In Marketing
Stories ARE Content Marketing
Stories ARE long-tail
Stories ARE hard to do right
Stories ARE increasingly important
Stories ARE NOT selling
Stories ARE NOT PR
Stories ARE NOT about you
Planning A Story
Why are you telling it?
How will it be delivered?
Who will create it?
Topic
Follow-up
Shelf-Life
Exclude time-based elementsUnless it’s seasonal
Stand-alone or episodic?
Simplex or Duplex?
Multiple channels
Story elements in other collateral
Abstract Partnerships
Using others stories
Collaboration
LEGO – bricks to Star Wars
Memories – past stories
Choose An Ending
Audience participation
Customer contribution
Customer guided
Customer character adoption
Character as Hero
Video
Stories & Social Media
Essential element of Social
All channels can be used
Lends itself to all forms of storytelling
Metrics
Allows for testing
Reviews
Everyone is a critic
Don’t respond
Reviews mean audience
Accept criticism
Death of a story
Plagiarism
Ridicule
Advertorial
“Sponsored” stories
Poor writing
A Happy Ending
Tell stories you love
Tell them often
Commit to the dialog
Accept criticism and learn to grow
A good story is art
Enjoy the experience
