So, should my biz blog?

September 24, 2014September 24, 2014 / Editrix Steph / Leave a comment

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 #7

September 12, 2014September 18, 2018 / Editrix Steph / Leave a comment

There’s always time for lateral thinking.

If you’ve been paying attention to Content Marketing World 2014, you know they got one hell of a keynote speaker: Kevin Spacey. Yeah, the Kevin Spacey. Keyser Söze himself.

(Note from 2018: Wow, did this keynote speaker choice not age well.)

But that got me thinking about one of my favorite storytelling techniques — the plot twist. Oh ye gods, I love a good plot twist. If I don’t see it coming, if like the finest stage magician you distract me with sleight of hand and then spring the surprise on me with a flourish? I am all sorts of into it.

What sort of plot twists can work in your advertising? And how can you make them work on social media? 140 characters isn’t a lot of room, so you’ll have to be clever. But it can be done.

Why would I ask this?

Because you, buddy, should start thinking about how to play with and delight your audience.

Give it a think. See what your inner magician can pull off.

So, what does storytelling require, anyway? Part 4

September 10, 2014September 11, 2014 / Editrix Steph / Leave a comment

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.

September 2, 2014September 2, 2014 / Editrix Steph / Leave a comment

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?

August 29, 2014August 29, 2014 / Editrix Steph / Leave a comment

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

August 27, 2014December 15, 2014 / Editrix Steph / 1 Comment

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

August 22, 2014September 18, 2018 / Editrix Steph / Leave a comment

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.

So, do you ever think about magic?

August 18, 2014August 29, 2014 / Editrix Steph / Leave a comment

Oh, man. Only all the time. And you should, too. Especially about this French cat named Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. If his last name looks familiar, that’s because an American escape artist and magician by the name of Ehrich Weiss paid homage to Robert-Houdin in his stage name, Harry Houdini.

Yeah. Dude’s kind of a big deal.

Why? Oh, I love it when you ask the perfect questions. Continue reading →

So, what does storytelling require, anyway? Part 3

August 15, 2014August 29, 2014 / Editrix Steph / 1 Comment

We’re back again. Together. You and me, ol’ buddy ol’ pal. Here to check out those classical Western storytelling tropes and how they can make your marketing awesome. We’ve already covered the protagonist vs. society and the protagonist vs. antagonist, so today, we’re going to take a look at…

Protagonist vs. Self, ie: Crippling Self-Doubt, Tony Stark’s Default State, Gregor Samsa’s Bad Day, Me Trying Not To Eat A Whole Tin Of Smoked Oysters On Crackers With Hot Sauce Don’t Judge Me They Are Delicious. Continue reading →

Storytelling for Success

Don't be creepy.

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