Comments on: Three Steps to Create a Compelling Business Story

By: 4 Critical Website Mistakes That Kill Your Business - Blue Kite Marketing

4 Critical Website Mistakes That Kill Your Business - Blue Kite Marketing — Wed, 01 May 2013 12:45:32 +0000

[...] so many websites do a poor job of telling the company’s story and, ultimately, driving leads and sales for their [...]

By: Your Corporate Website: Four Deadly Mistakes by @lauraclick

Your Corporate Website: Four Deadly Mistakes by @lauraclick — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:10:04 +0000

[...] so many websites do a poor job of telling the company’s story and, ultimately, driving leads and sales for their [...]

By: 02/02/13: Communications Stories from Here & There « David Clevenger Communications

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:04:53 +0000

[...] “Three Steps to Create a Compelling Business Story” by Gini Dietrich, on her blog Spin Sucks, Tuesday, January 29. [...]

By: profkrg

profkrg — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 18:34:32 +0000

Thanks for the writing recommendation! I’m always looking for new teaching and learning tools.

I usually say that people like to read about other people, not issues or process. They want a story they can relate to, regardless of the real topic of the piece. It sounds like you’re learning that well.

Thanks for sharing, Gini! Have a great weekend.

Kenna

By: suddenlyjamie

suddenlyjamie — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:00:07 +0000

Hey, Gini! I’m thrilled that you took a trip over to Storyfix and are enjoying Larry’s work. The way he breaks things down has been, for me, like a whole box of lightbulbs going off. And I love the way you’ve translated his ideas to work with your business – very interesting! I’m going to have to play with that for my own business.

RE: your Spin Sucks concept … I’d love to see you develop that even more into something that, as Larry says, “opens the door to a dramatic question.”

I wonder – what is the dramatic question that Spin Sucks poses … answers … brings to light? I find it helpful to preface a concept discussion with “what if?” As in “What would happen if?” How does Spin Sucks generate that kind of question? Is it about what happens if people approach PR & marketing with a different focus? Is it about what happens when PR & marketing professionals find and hang onto their true principles? Is it about what happens when PR & marketing professionals have their eyes opened to a new world of possibilities that are couched in a “no spin” context?

What’s the question you’re asking … and answering?

By: What Not to Do: Eight Lessons from Airports | Spin Sucks

What Not to Do: Eight Lessons from Airports | Spin Sucks — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:00:30 +0000

[...] one is in charge. I mentioned earlier this week I’m writing the “Sex Sells” chapter of Spin Sucks right now. In it, I show lots of good (and bad) case studies of really [...]

By: Andy Donovan

Andy Donovan — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:40:22 +0000

Well then it would be the venerable Arment Dietrich of Chicago, Illinois. Thanks BFF…feels good to get that off my chest.

By: Gini Dietrich

Gini Dietrich — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:37:33 +0000

LOL! You can mention them Andy!

By: AlaskaChickBlog

AlaskaChickBlog — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:41:19 +0000

@ginidietrich @ExtremelyAvg K, well now I have a head ache! Ha, no, I’m joking… I really don’t know what you mean.. “Concept is there”… Does that mean I don’t understand the “concept” yet? But the theme does… I am really confused. Can you explain it to me or is this something that has to do more with businesses too far removed from my own and I do not need to go deeper? (Sigh)

By: dwaynealicie

dwaynealicie — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:23:54 +0000

The importance of storytelling in business fascinates me. I took a rhetorical criticism course a while back and worked a bit with Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm, which says that humans fundamentally relate to the world through narratives. Bells and whistles went off in the marketing sector of my brain because if that is the case, it’s pivotal for the marketer, brand manager and communicator to remember, right?

I think Fisher’s requirements for a narrative seem to be inherent in the Brooks exercise above as well. Ideas and themes are not narratives, but concepts seem to be. Concepts have space, time, causation and plausibility. So perhaps we can also ask “what is my business’s narrative?”

A link to info on the narrative paradigm if anyone is interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_paradigm