Storytelling

In The Box Podcast

Episode 37: Cutting Corners, Storytelling, Reasons And More

Garth Beyer

On this episode of In The Box Podcast, we chat about what it means to cut corners, the change in the live chat scene, controlling your story that public focuses on telling, if everything happens for a reason and we participate in a quick riff on traditional education.

Episode 37: Cutting Corners, Storytelling, Reasons And More

Cutting corners – What’s one way to prevent yourself from cutting corners?

Live chat – What do you think of the chat scene taking podcasts, meetings and even conferences?

Storytelling – How much should one worry about controlling the public narrative of their life?

Reason – Does everything happen for a reason?

Bonus – Is it better to go through a traditional education of learning then spend adulthood unlearning or is it better to grow up with a non traditional / alternative education?

 

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Using Facts To Sell

Using Facts To Sell

Garth Beyer

Some businesses are still stuck on facts.

They think if they throw more facts at their target audience, they’ll see more profit. They believe few are buying their product because they don’t understand the facts about things like filtered water.

These businesses are leaders of power point. They want their bullet points. They believe stats are the most persuasive form of proof, of conversion.

All these folks are really story killers. They’re producers of analysis paralysis.

They strip the voice, the passion, and the emotions of a campaign because that content covers up the facts. For them, it’s rational over intuition.

The solution to working with them isn’t to get upset because they don’t understand marketing. Nor is the solution to just do it the way they want. (That degrades the credibility of marketing.)

Better to work on a second story: the one your telling the business for the target audience.

It’s more work. It’s harder to convince a business to change their mindset about their product than it is to convert a stranger into a friend who buys. Ultimately worth it to be part of a business that begins using marketing to its full potential and a real highlight to be part of the reason people listen to the business.

 

Stay Positive & Rest Easy Knowing You Upped The Marketing Bar In The World

The Only Story That’s Important…

The Only Story That’s Important…

Garth Beyer

is the one we tell ourselves about ourselves.

Maybe your story is listening to others’ stories and writing about them. Maybe your story is becoming the greatest marketer of your age. Maybe your story is to be part of the major baseball league in any shape or form. What are you telling yourself?

We know depth and frequency works in advertising, we use it when telling stories all the time. Why not apply the same concept to ourselves?

I’m writing staff bios for the agency I work at. The bios are for upper-management people who’ve made it clear they’ll be sticking around (why waste time writing a bio for someone who isn’t?).

I’m currently low on the totem pole, but I’m writing my bio too. Why? Because it’s the story I’m telling myself about myself. Garth Beyer, Public Relations & Social Media Strategy Director. It looks and feels uncomfortable, but it’s where I want to be. Why tell myself anything different?

Last bit on this: those who a marketer tells a story to can easily hit the power off button, turn down the volume, change the station, exit the site, and basically ignore their promotion, their advertising, their story.

Unlike them, you have no choice but to listen to the story you’re telling yourself about yourself.

 

Stay Positive & I Hope It’s A Good One

In The Box Podcast

Episode 4: Transparency, Exhaustion, Storytelling And More – Podcast

Garth Beyer

On this episode of In The Box Podcast, we talked about customization, citizen journalism, storytelling in business, humanities desire to conquer more, video games, and transparency.

Episode 4: Transparency, Exhaustion, Storytelling And More

Customization — Do you think for a product or service it has to have a completely customizable option?

Citizen Journalism — What is the point of citizen journalism? Big ideas will get out to the public anyway, right? (do we need to define citizen journalism?)

Storytelling In Business – Would you say it’s essential to tell a compelling story if you’re a business? Why or why not?

Conquering more and more and more… — What piece of the human condition triggers the desire to continually conquer land?

Video games – What is the appeal?

Transparency – When is it a problem?

 

Stay Positive & See My Q&A For Transparency

Storytelling, Transparency and Relatability

Garth Beyer

I know what my story is.

Correction: I thought I knew what my story was until I got an email a couple of days ago.

Emails open eyes

Gary Vaynerchuck is the man. I loved his book Jab Jab Jab Right Hook and I took his Skillshare class about a week ago. During the class he told his students (me) to email a few others and ask them what they think our story is.

I’ve written that the best way to know what you’re great at is to ask people you’ve worked with what they think you’re great at. Same concept, but this time I’m asking about my story, not my skills. I sent four emails out and got one reply yesterday. Here it is.

What's My Story

TL;DR I might have the knowledge of a 30-year-old, but I don’t have the experience, and you must have the experience to have a story.

I love Tim. His bluntness is what I look for in people who I surround myself with. Just tell me how it is, be forward, that’s how I can best learn and process what my next move will be.

When I sent the email asking about my story, I was expecting positive responses, perhaps flat-out praise. I didn’t think it would turn out like this. I sat and talked to my girlfriend about it. Here. Listen. It starts with Briana asking me about my blog stats to try to make the point that my writing has gotten less relatable… fear not, my stats haven’t changed, but that’s not really a good thing either, is it?

The recording has been removed. It messed up the podcast RSS feed I have. Apologies. You can still find it here.

(Listening to this recording reminds me of the StartUp podcast, and how Alex Blumberg’s wife is the one with real wisdom. Women. They have an act for knowing when we’re wrong.)

I hope this post is transparent enough. It’s my life… doing these things that make me uncomfortable is how I’ve expanded my comfort zone as far as I have.

For those who are interested, the interview went smoothly because I walked in there knowing I have done all I could to get the job, it was comforting enough knowing that. It made things easier.

I still choked on my saliva, spoke too fast at moments, and sweated a lot – all inevitable.

I got the job. When you truly try your best, you’ll get what you want – that’s inevitable too.

 

Stay Positive & It Always Works Out (If You Work For It)

Usefulness Is What’s Remarkable, Not Constant Content

Garth Beyer

Remarkably Useful

Content isn’t king, usefulness is.

You can tell an amazing childhood story, and it might be great content, but it might not be useful.

Analyzing all the reasons iscream is better on a cone than in a bowl might be interesting, but it’s not useful.

You may think social media is the most important part of your business, but the truth of it lies in how you use it in a way that is useful for others, that solves their problems.

After all, that’s why anyone puts anything in a search bar: to find an answer to a problem.

Showcasing usefulness is where a lot of businesses, bloggers and PR pros miss out on their opportunity to connect with a new customer or client.

The web is definitely not short of storytellers, but is short of teachers, and even shorter of teachers who put their readers, their clients, their customers, their students first.

Is what you’re doing, creating, writing useful to others? Or is it just fluff, buzz and other stuff?

Something to ask before you create something or hit “publish”: what’s in it for them?

 

Stay Positive & Rank High In Search By Usefulness, Not Content

Photo credit

You Are Not Your Target

Garth Beyer

One of the largest setbacks I’ve seen marketers face is they believe they are their own target market. They treat their audience the way they would want to be treated. But…

The social media sites you use might not be the ones where people want to follow you on.

What makes you laugh and share and give, may not make others do the same.

Marketers have to remove themselves from their target audience. After all, if you’re part of the audience, who will the rest of the followers see as the face behind the product or business? Who will they go after for advice?

Rest assured, you don’t have to be part of the audience to form a bond. In fact, relationships are often stronger between marketer and consumer than consumer and consumer.

Your audience needs a storyteller, not a story-relayer.

 

Stay Positive & Be The Marketer, Not The Marketed-To