Story

Build Talkability Into Your Design

Build Talkability Into Your Design

Garth Beyer

MillerCoors Rooftop View

Pumpkin patches and apple orchards do a wonderful job of adding talkability factors into their design. They have the picture of a farming couple that you can put your head into and take a photo or the turkey that’s begging you to stand behind and show your face where its face should be. They add simply interactive designs that a majority use to share and talk about their experience.

I went on a three and a half hour private tour of the MillerCoors facility in Milwaukee today with a friend. I was too busy listening to the guide and chatting about how to brew beer to take dozens of photos, but there was a moment that was irresistible. As seen above, we’re on the roof of a 12+ story building and it’s clear they’ve designed this rooftop experience as a talking point. You have the shipping carriers, miller park, the brewing facility and the giant Miller sign all in one photo. MillerCoors figured out a way they could add talkability into their design.

I’ve been guilty of trying to make an entire experience worth talking about instead of focusing on a few little points that tell the larger story, that are easily talked about, and that people can’t help but share.

Consider how you can design talkability points into the experience you’re providing people.

 

Stay Positive & Better To Guide The Points Than Have Others Decide What’s Worth Sharing

because in most instances, they’ll choose not to share.

The Great Discourager

The Great Discourager

Garth Beyer

Better Than You

Here’s the sitch when it comes to going down the path of your passion: you’re not the only one, and nearly all the others down the same path are much, much better than you.

Want to be a beer writer? There are so many others better than you, more experienced. Steve Hindy, Maytag, Heather Vandenengel, Robin Shepard, this list could run a thousand.

Want to be a graphic designer for fortune 500 companies? The slots are already filled by someone bigger, taller, stronger, faster, and with a better stretched and exercised imagination than you.

Even something extremely specific, like a crêpe artist. There’s someone already more artistic with crepes who others will choose over you.

Unless.

Unless you tell a better story. Your story is the leverage you can have over someone more excelled than you. Your story is how you not only get a bite out of the stranger pool, but you turn the strangers into friends. Your story is your competitive advantage.

The decision you need to realize you’re making when you start following your heart and putting your passion to practice is that there will always be someone better than you, more skilled, more talented. You can’t let that be the great discourager.

The world can never have too many stories nor too many artists.

 

Stay Positive & Those Who You Feel Discouraged Be Can Be The Most Encouraging

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What Do You Want To Do?

Garth Beyer

Answer that question in as few words as possible.

Do you want to surprise people?

Coordinate a dinner?

Save trees?

People may resonate with your work, but they will resonate much more if they know what your goal is.

Not to mention, people generally want to help you accomplish it. All work is a teamwork sort of thing as long as the team knows your goal.

 

Stay Positive & Go Share Your Story

This Is My Story

Garth Beyer

If you’re reading this post to read about my story, sorry to disappoint you, you won’t exactly find it spelled out for you.

Actually, you won’t find anyones story by reading a pamphlet, viewing a page or reading a blog post titled “our story.” At least, not the whole story. Only half.

Johnny, founder of Johnny Cupcakes has a phenomenal story presented through Q&A, well worth the read. Yet, his story about dropping out of college to create Johnny Cupcakes is just half of the story. The other half is what you tell yourself his story is. So it goes with businesses and brands, if enough people tell themselves the same other half of the story, that’s when you have a successful brand or business.

It just so happens, for Johnny, enough people tell themselves the story that if they wear his shirts and get asked about them, they might feel as if they, not just Johnny, are inspired to chase their dreams.

That’s what branding and stories are all about isn’t it. It’s about how you make people feel.

 

Stay Positive & Life Is Good

A New Edge To The Publishing Industry

Garth Beyer

What I’m about to tell you is a fallout for publishing companies, sure. But the change occurring results in the thriving  publishing industry.

Brands are now publishers.

And for the sake of those who don’t consider themselves a brand: businesses, services, inventors, creators are now publishers too.

A product won’t sell well unless you provide a copy of the story of it.

A business won’t gather as many clients unless they first share their story with them.

A freelancer won’t get as many bids unless they pitch their story, not their service.

Stories are driving the economy, and the only way to get your story out there is to publish it*

 

Stay Positive & If You Don’t Know Your Story, You’re Behind (here)

Garth E. Beyer

*word of mouth storytelling, I’ve always considered a form of publishing too.

Like Clockwork

Garth Beyer

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You can correctly assume an action some will take based on what you know about them. They have a routine, a personalized search engine, and a tight group of actual friends on Facebook that you can discover simply by looking at their activity.

[Likes, shares, and wall posts occur because one person’s status shows up on another’s feed because that person has visited the other’s profile to see what they have been up to. The system recognizes this and gives you more of what you want.]

The trouble is that it’s difficult to become part of someone’s clockwork. You have to tell a story that involves them, that excites them, and get’s them to participate in the long tale [pun intended]. You have to have something original to offer. You have to care, deeply. In fact, there’s so much you have to do to become part of someones clockwork, that I actually don’t suggest it.

People ask how many views I get on my blog, who my audience is, and if I get hurt when someone close to me doesn’t read what I write. My response is that I write to be here when they want to know something, when they need a push, when they finally have a question that their clockwork friends can’t answer. When someone interacts with a single post of mine. That’s a story that resonates more than the one I would be forcing them to want to hear.

It’s difficult analyzing and incepting people to accept you as part of their clockwork. It’s more socially profitable to keep working on your art and being available for those who are searching for you. [Just one more reason why I can’t stand when people hold back their art.]

 

Stay Positive & Tick Tock, What Have You Created Lately?

Garth E. Beyer

Photo credit

What’s Your Story

Garth Beyer

It’s a common question with a difficult answer.

I have met those that tell their story in under a minute and I have met those that tell their story in 10 minutes.

The former is never enough. The former is a copout – “I grew up in Rockford, went to UW Madison, got cheated on, and travelled around America. Now, here I am working for the State.”

People will tell me something similar and they honestly believe that is their story.

The 10 minute stories are the passionate ones, the ones you learn about the person’s character rather than where they were or where they are at now. Their story consists of multiple short stories. Most importantly, their story encompasses you the moment they start sharing it.

The good stories are the ones that connect you with the person you’re telling it to.

 

Stay Positive & Work On Your Story*

Garth E. Beyer

*Really, if there is one thing you want to be able to conjure without moments notice, to completely tell, it’s your story. Forget the one minute elevator speech and forget about analyzing your major decisions that changed the course of your life. Your story that you share with people is invaluable. So valuable that I will be posting mine within the next few days, opening it up to criticism. I encourage you to share yours in the comments section. I will choose one person to debut in a new interview series I will be doing. The beauty about a story is that there is always more to tell.