branding

So, here’s Thought Experiment #9

/ Editrix Steph / Leave a comment
Time for a Thought Experiment

There’s always time for lateral thinking.

Last time we experimented thoughtfully, I let you in on the secret method behind my madness for these challenges — lateral thinking. Since then, I’ve been thinking about thinking, in a recursive kinda way. I’ve decided there’s a Patron Saint of Lateral Thinking. And he’s got a mullet.

Yes, ladies and gentlebeings, I’m talking about Agent Angus MacGyver. (Didn’t know he had a first name, didja? Well he did, and it was Scottish. And awesome.)

So here’s your Saint MacGyver Challenge.

Look around you right this instant. At your desk or on your phone or when and where ever you’re reading this. What’s in sight? Paper clips? Coffee stirrers? The answer to the mystery of the Mary Celeste? Whatever you see is all that you have for this experiment.

Now. Construct something. Even just an image or a logo or a still life. But here’s the catch. That something has to represent your brand.

Bonus points if it blows up. Because MacGyver.

Why would I ask this?

Because you, buddy, should be flexing those lateral thinking muscles.

Go on. Get cracking. Make Mac proud.

So, what’s all this about character types?

/ Editrix Steph / Leave a comment

Storytelling for Success Logo

There are a lot of different ways to talk about the characters that make storytelling work. You can get your Jung on and talk about archetypes. You can go theatrical and delve into the masked roles from commedia dell’arte, which involves amazing masks and will make you hungry (No? Just me? I can’t be the only person who gets hungry just reading Italian). But today I’d like to look at characters through the lens of change: Do they or don’t they?

Continue reading →

So, let’s talk about perception and engagement

/ Editrix Steph / 4 Comments

Storytelling for Success Logo

Storytelling is a specialized subset of communication. And communication requires two parts to complete a circuit of meaning — you need a speaker (writer, artist, Martha Graham-type interpretive dancer, etc.) and a perceiver. Then those two halves switch sides so information flows both ways. Then and only then do you get engagement.

You, my darling little alpaca, only have control of one half of that circuit. What do I mean? Gather ‘round and let Auntie Steph tell y’all a tale.  Continue reading →

So, should my biz blog?

/ Editrix Steph / Leave a comment

Storytelling for Success Logo

Oh, you fabulous little crumpet. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! A blog is wholly yours, a place where your branding can be polished as shiny as a new dime.

Blogging is a brilliant way to improve your SEO. Blogging is a brilliant way to establish your expertise. Blogging is an extra-crunchy brilliant way of connecting with your customers. Don’t believe me? Check out this infographic from the fine folks over at Social Media Today. Starting with this statistic:

61% of US consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post.  Continue reading →

So, here’s Thought Experiment #8

/ Editrix Steph / 2 Comments
Time for a Thought Experiment

There’s always time for lateral thinking.

“Hey, Stephanie — what’s with the Thought Experiments, anyway?” you didn’t ask. But I’m going to answer anyway. I’m nice like that.

There’s this clever gent named Dr. Edward de Bono who wrote “The Use of Lateral Thinking” in 1967. And it is. Useful, I mean. It’s become sort of trendy and buzzword-y since then, and the original meaning has sometimes been lost in a haze of vague approximation, but in essence, lateral thinking is using creative, indirect approaches to solving problems.

That is what each of these little experiments is designed to do. Make you think about your branding in a different way. Shake up your assumptions. Walk up to your preconceptions, poke ’em in the chest, and say, “What’re you gonna do about it, punk?”

In other words, there’s a method to my madness. And here’s today’s experiment.

What coffee drink is your brand?

Maybe you want to be a sleek and high-tech coffee, like a Chemex pour over, to reflect your modern sensibility. Or maybe you’re youthful, playful, something frothy and blended? Maybe you take no guff and no prisoners, and you’re a straight up cup of joe, black, no sugar.

Why would I ask this?

Because you, buddy, should start thinking about how you want to present your company to consumers used to seventy gazillion options.

G’head. Give it a ponder. See what’s in your cup.

So, what does storytelling require, anyway? Part 4

/ Editrix Steph / Leave a comment

Storytelling for Success

Here at stately Studer Manor, we dig conflict. Not in the sense that we like arguing about who exactly forgot to put the soap in the dishwasher, Someone Who Shall Remain Nameless, but in the literary sense. Without conflict? No narrative. Without narrative? No story. Just…stuff happening.

Having discussed the other three of the four main classical Western narrative conflicts — protagonist vs. society , protagonist vs. antagonist , and protagonist vs. self — it’s time to tackle:

Protagonist vs. Nature, ie: Captain Ahab Overly Invested In His Job And Hung Up On A Whale Which Is Totally Normal And Not At All Weird, Dude, But No I Don’t Want Your Number, Into The Wild, The Old Man And The Sea, Me Just Trying To BBQ Out Here Where Do All These Mosquitoes Even Come From?  Continue reading →

So, let’s talk about content.

/ Editrix Steph / Leave a comment

Storytelling for Success

Content marketing. You’ve seen the phrase around. I know you have. Unless you’re a hermit living in one of those astonishing caves in Cappadocia. In which case, welcome to the internet and thanks for stopping by my blog! Here is a link to the most important stuff online.

For the rest of us, especially those of us involved in any sort of writing or marketing or general internettery, the term is well nigh ubiquitous. But I’ve noticed a lot of folks aren’t exactly sure what it means. So let’s clear that up, mm?  Continue reading →

So, how about marketing done right?

/ Editrix Steph / Leave a comment

Storytelling for Success

I’ve talked a lot on this blog about the facepalm-worthy fails of the marketing world. The late night television ads that assume folks are too dumb to operate hammers. The stuff so sexist or racist you wonder how it ever made it to print. Even the things that are just…meh.

Here’s how German home improvement biz Hornbach does it right.

 

This ad is not only good at giving you warm fuzzies, it works on a whole host of levels. Strong use of color? Check. Excellent narrative? Check. Tapping in to the way we’ve all felt like outsiders? Super check. This aging goth is going to be smiling all day. Who knew DIY was so heart-warming?

Watch it a couple of times. Analyze it. Then see what you can take away for your own marketing.

(Tip of the hat to Fast Company for tweeting the link.)

So, you talk about tropes a lot, Steph

/ Editrix Steph / 1 Comment

Storytelling for Success

Yep, I do. And I play pretty fast and loose with the term, too. But there’s a method to my madness. Won’t you join me as I saunter down the trope-y garden path?

But before we begin: A warning. Stay on that path. If you stray, you may end up lost in the dark wood, and stumble across a place called TV Tropes. And it will devour all your free time. In a glorious self-referential display, TV Tropes even has a page about how TV Tropes will ruin everything for you. I’m not kidding. That site is a massive time sink (but also excellent and useful for analyzing storytelling). So. Beware, abandon all hope, etc.

Back to tropes. What are they? Strictly speaking, they’re figurative language — similes, metaphors, figures of speech, that sort of thing. But like a lot of terms, the word has mutated over time and now means rhetorical or literary devices, the techniques that are the basic building blocks of storytelling. Like Legos. You can use the same blocks (knights and princesses) to build a spaceship (Star Wars) or a castle (King Arthur). Continue reading →

So, here’s Thought Experiment #6

/ Editrix Steph / Leave a comment
Time for a Thought Experiment

There’s always time for lateral thinking.

By now, if you write or market or create, oh, anything, you’ve heard of the elevator pitch. Forbes has covered ’em. Entrepreneur has covered ’em. This page has the best image choice ever for ’em. We can safely conclude that critter is here to stay.

But you don’t want to craft an elevator pitch for your brand. Ugh. Boring.

Nah. You want to craft a movie trailer for your brand.

Please note: I’m not saying go make one (though you could and it would be awesome and if you do please send me the link immediately.) But think about it. What’s your music? What’s the voiceover text? Does stuff blow up?

(Oh, man. Stuff should blow up. Unless maybe you sell Unexplodable Widgets. Then…yeah. Don’t do that.)

Why would I ask this?

Because you, buddy, should start thinking about how you want to manage perception of your brand.

Run it up the flagpole. See if it waves.