Why write a business book?





There are countless reasons, actually 

In an earlier post, 4 reasons to consider writing a business book, I included an infographic highlighting some of the biggest success stories in business book (self-) publishing. Of course, few achieve that kind of success, but for mere mortals, a different kind of success can be achieved. And the best news is, a best selling book is not required.
Studies show that professionally written business books generate instant authority, credibility and trust. They help market your business  and your brand in a way that nothing else can. Of 200 business book authors polled by RainToday.com:

  • 76% reported that their book helped them close more deals
  • 94% reported that their book helped them generate more leads
  • 94% reported that their book helped them improve their brand
  • 73% of those who used ghostwriters to write their books said they would be “very likely” to hire them again.
Erika Andersen, author of Leading So People Will Follow, writes in Forbes.com ("Why writing a book is good business”) that when you write a good business book, the following things tend to happen:


Personal credibility: Having a book published makes people think you’re smarter and more expert.  I don’t know if you get the same effect through self-publishing, but it’s certainly been true in my experience of having books published with traditional publishers.  As soon as my first book came out, at the end of 2006, you would think by the way others responded to me that I’d suddenly gained 20 IQ points.  It was almost disorienting – I knew I was the same person, but previously closed doors magically opened, and people I knew wouldn’t have paid much attention to what I said before were suddenly listening hard.  It was (and still is) enormously helpful in establishing initial connections with potential clients and business partners.

Business credibility:  If you’re running a business and you publish a good book, your business gets a halo effect from your rise in credibility.  Being associated with a business book and its author gives an enterprise legitimacy in the eyes of the world. Being considered more legitimate simply makes it easier to get things done.  In my experience, it also gives a lift to everyone who works in the organization – it becomes a source of pride and esprit de corps.

Brand clarity: Having a book or books that lay out the key intellectual property or the core models or principles of your business really helps potential clients understand what you’re about and how you can be valuable to them. It can also help your own staff be clearer about who you are and what you’re offering.  People have often been surprised when I’ve said this – they question whether it’s really a good idea to put your ideas out in public for anyone to see (and, by implication, steal).  But our experience has been that the ideas in a book quite often whet people’s appetite for more in-depth knowledge or consulting.

Wondering what your story is? If you've struggled in business but ultimately triumphed in the end, you have a story to tell. If you've developed a unique business or a business skill that would inspire others or that's in high demand, then you have a story to tell. Perhaps it's time to share it with others.

Seven things to look for when hiring a ghostwriter



 1. Compatibility
It’s important that you and your writer are a good fit because writing a book takes months to complete. Even if you leave much of the work to the writer, writing a book is a personal endeavour and during those months you’ll be in regular contact with your writer. You’re the expert, and your ghostwriter’s job is to elicit from you the interesting facts and anecdotes and stories – and angles – that will make the book an interesting and possibly compelling read. If you’re a good fit, your writer and you will often start to think about old things in fresh new ways. If you’re a bad fit, the book will be the poorer for it.

Your writer should be interested in you and curious about your subject from the very beginning and remain constantly curious about your subject and your thoughts weeks and months later. For your part, you need to be as honest and transparent as possible, because a good collaborator asks questions, lots of questions. That doesn’t mean you need to be friends, but it does mean being a team that maintains a positive and mutually respectful working relationship. Just as the most effective teams are collaborative rather than hierarchical, the best ghostwritten books are those in which subject matter expert and writer are in sync. To borrow from Patrick Lencioni, the relationship should be one of:

  • trust
  • willingness to debate
  • commitment
  • accountability
  • results
+Andrew Crofts may be the UK’s most popular celebrity ghostwriter. He shares an interesting perspective on what a good writer brings to the table, and his thoughts are equally applicable to business experts and not-yet-celebrities:

“It is essential for the ghost to make the subject feel completely comfortable and confident in his or her company. If they think the ghost is going to criticise them, judge them or argue with them they will not relax, open up or talk honestly. It is not the ghost's job to try to make them change their opinions about anything or anyone, but rather to encourage them to tell their story in the most interesting and coherent way possible.”

 2. Reliability
To keep your book on track, your writer must be dependable. Deadlines must be met. Not all writers are schedule-driven, and some of the dependable ones may overcommit to multiple books and become unable to meet their time commitments. Your time is precious. A reliable ghostwriter understands this and works within and around your schedule.

3. Expertise
Ghostwriters of business books tend to have (or should have) business backgrounds. It makes the process smoother and easier for the client, and adds value and quality to the material being produced. Financial planning, for example, is not an abstract concept. It is very real, and there is a great deal of logic behind an investment strategy, for example. But the process is also very fluid because emotions cannot be entirely eliminated. A ghostwriter who has the right expertise and experience, who brings prior understanding and perspective to the process, who knows how to connect many of the dots and collaboratively communicate the process (all the while knowing there are different strategies to building wealth) brings added value.

4. Ability to ask the right questions
Jargon and complexity is an inevitable by-product of being an expert in your field, whatever that field may be. A good ghostwriter takes complexity and turns it into plain English so it is accessible to a wider audience. This is done by asking clarifying questions, and sometimes by drilling down and asking the five whys (here is a simple example of the five whys). When the expert says something that sounds intelligent but appears opaque, the writer must keep at it, asking the “dumb” questions (back to ‘fit” again) until another better way is found to express those thoughts so that every reader will understand.

5. Structure
Structure is about developing a coherent theme and organization, which means the ghostwriter must have the ability to organize and structure the book’s contents so the argument builds and flows in a convincing way. At their core, most business books are simply just an extended argument. Their quality is defined by how persuasively the author makes her case. Unlike an academic thesis, however, a business book must work on multiple levels – inspirational, emotional, intellectual and visceral.

For example, the overarching theme (argument) in Live Well Retire Well was simply: you don’t need to sacrifice the quality of your life today in order to live well in retirement tomorrow. The main theme and the resulting topics that flow from the theme that you and your ghostwriter discuss and agree on are the building blocks that push the book forward to its inevitable conclusion.

6. Voice and tone
Finding the right voice and tone can be subtle and sometimes difficult to grasp, but an experienced ghostwriter knows how to put creative ego aside and quickly discover the author’s authentic written voice. That said, the voice on the page differs sometimes markedly from the spoken voice. Even the most articulate speaker will appear a little less polished when her words are seen (transcribed) on the page, so a certain amount of polishing is always necessary -- but never too much or her personality will get lost in translation.

 7. Trust factor
The trust factor -- between writer and subject matter expert -- should be a given. But it takes time to develop. Your ghostwriter should be willing to take the time to assuage your concerns, because trust is not as common as it should be.

How does the ghostwriting process work?



There's no mystery to the process, but there can be magic

Businesspeople are busy people, so for most, the arduous process of writing a book begins with a phone call between ghostwriter and subject matter expert to gauge interest, expertise and objectives. If the call is a productive one, it leads to a consultative (preferably in person) meeting during which the writer lays out some of the process including estimated length of time to complete, suggested roles and functions, meeting times, fees and payment schedule.

The writer’s job is to listen closely, ask the right questions, offer general suggestions and advice, and perhaps make specific suggestions. But the main purpose of the consultative meeting is to ensure there’s a fit, to establish both the writer’s and client’s expertise, to see if there’s a book to be written, and to generate trust.

Follow-up:  the mechanics and timing are explained in detail, a suggested theme, initial outline and suggested contents are proposed. The writer determines the client’s primary and secondary goals in writing the book and their estimated time commitment. A written summary is then submitted for approval, and sample introduction pages are often submitted to establish the correct style and tone of the book.

Once agreement is reached and formal approval is given, the writer will email an engagement letter and contract to the client outlining rights, responsibilities, obligations and production schedule. After the letter and/or the contract is signed and an initial payment is received, a full interview and creative session will be conducted to establish:

1)      The level of sophistication of the book’s contents and theme (and target audience)
2)      Overall direction -- possible titles, perspective, focus and contents
3)      Research access/availability, including possible access to subject matter experts such as economists, analysts, fixed income/ equity/ tax/ estate planning specialists.
4)      An optimal production and interview schedule

Within two weeks of signing the contract, the writer will deliver a table of contents, a detailed outline or a synopsis of the book, plus several draft pages that will form the introduction to the book. When the contents and tone and narrative voice are to the client’s satisfaction, the introduction is refined and resubmitted, and all subsequent chapters are submitted in stages for approval – not always chapter by chapter, because it depends on the length of each chapter.

For a financial book, the writer will, as a natural part of the research and writing process, suggest charts and graphs for insertion at key points. However, the client is the expert; they decide what and which shall be used, how they will be used and how they will be executed. Estimated completion time is 6 to 8 months from contract signing, although that can be accelerated, depending on client and writer schedules.

That's the process. There's no mystery to it. So where's the magic? Frankly, the magic may never happen. It depends on the chemistry between business expert and writer which, if it happens, comes early in the process. But as long as the two are on the same page and are running with the same story, magic or no magic, the result will be a solid book.


Contact info


If you're interested in learning more, you can reach me at:
jverney@corporatestoryteller.ca or 1-416-413-1877
You can also view my LinkedIn profile: Jonathan Verney


Look for our new book.... 

FEED THE STARTUP BEAST (McGraw-Hill)


A 7-Step Guide to Big, Hairy, Outrageous Sales Growth

At book stores July 20,2013
Visit our Beast blog at:

http://www.feedthebeast.biz/blog/
















Why stories?

Stories, and storytelling, have been around for thousands of years. and they'll be around for thousands more. Why? Because stories give a sense of meaning to the often meaninglessness and unpredictability of life. Stories offer hope and despair, triumph and loss. Above all, stories offer us the assurance of possibility because if there is one certainty in life, it is this: Anything Is Possible.

4 reasons to consider writing a business book

People write business books for a number of reasons, some of them good, some of them bad, some of them just plain ugly. Not you of course. Why? Because the best reason to write a book is when you’ve accomplished something of value and you feel it’s time to share your hard-won knowledge with others.

That time may be right now.

If you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or business professional, you've been on the firing line since day one, and while you may have been knocked around a bit, you’ve learned from the struggle and found ultimate success. Everyone wants to be inspired. Perhaps you’re just the person to inspire. Writing your own book can be a tremendously worthwhile vehicle because it allows you to formally express your knowledge and expertise. And don’t forget, since your life is unique, you’re perspective is also unique. Even if you need a little help organizing your thoughts and writing some of the pages, your book will always be yours. Check out the infographic below if you need a little inspiration. 

Dreams can come true, and for successful entrepreneurs, the dream already has. Now might be the perfect time to put the icing on the cake. What you see in the graphic is the very top tier of self-publishing success stories. People like +Ken Blanchard of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame and +David Chilton who wrote and self-published the Wealthy Barber. And others like +Tom Peters who co-authored and self-published In Search of Excellence.

 Few business authors experience this kind of success, but that misses the point. If you're an entrepreneur, is selling millions of copies realistic? Is it even what matters? Consider this: thousands of professionally written business books do exceptionally well for their authors without ever coming close to best-seller territory. Why? Because they do something else that (as it turns out) can be far more profitable (not to mention enduring) than bestsellerdom. They propel the author to expert status within the circle of people who really count: clients and customers and prospects. Want more reasons to consider writing a business book? Click here.

To share see a full size version of this graphic or to share it with someone, just copy and paste the following link:

 4 facts you should know





Bellyaching about the belly putter

The truth, and nothing but... 

If you're not a golfer, this post likely won't interest you. But on the other hand, if you're one of the millions of mad hackers like me, and you prefer a little truth in your cup of storytelling, then you just might be. 

“Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies”, wrote playwright Oliver Goldsmith a few centuries ago. But do we ask enough questions? We may not want to admit it, but most of us secretly prefer a lie to the truth, fiction over fact, because it’s easier to stomach.

Speaking of stomachs, there’s been a lot of bellyaching about the legitimacy of belly putters. And in the middle of this maelstrom is one rather large storyteller, Mike Davis, who happens to be head of the USGA.

But first, some background. The PGA will finish its comment period February 28th on the issue of whether to ban anchored belly putters. Over time, I'd come to believe they should be banned, but then an intriguing article by Lorne Rubinstein (The anchored putter: should it be banned?) raised an important question that I’d never considered before -- is a putting stroke anchored at the belly a golf stroke or is it not?

Rubinstein doesn't actually answer the question, nor does he share with us what a "golf stroke" is, so in the interest of trying to be helpful, here is the USGA's official definition of a stroke (the non-medical kind):

A "stroke" is the forward movement of the club made with the intention of striking at and moving the ball, but if a player checks his downswing voluntarily before the clubhead reaches the ball he has not made a stroke.

Anchors away

Not a mention of anchoring, or how it could be classified as a non-stroke. Yet golf's authorities are interpreting something I'm not seeing, and saying something I'm not reading. Like this: "Golf for 600 years has been about picking up the club, gripping it with two hands and making a free swing away from the body," says Mike Davis, the USGA’s executive director.

Clearly he’s contradicting the USGA’s own definition of what a stroke is. Based on the above, it seems clear that a stroke with an anchored belly putter is indeed a stroke. Yet Rubinstein tells us that "The decision that the USGA and R&A have come to that the golfer who anchors his or her putter is not making a stroke of golf.”

 He goes onto say that, “Thoughtful people can argue until the triple bogeys come home about whether or not it is, but that’s what this is, or should be, about." 

 So what's the big deal? A putt made with an anchored belly putter IS a golf stroke, as defined by the USGA. The matter is not up for argument or debate. And by the way, I’m a mad hacker who happens to use a regular putter, so I wish it wasn't defined that way. But there it is, and we’re going to have to live with it, until they change the definition.

 What’s the point of this little rant? It’s amazing how often people tell stories that bend the truth and disregard it just to try and legitimize a flawed argument.


I've now "claimed" my blog, according to Technorati

I just received this email from Technorati:

Congratulations, your claim is now complete! Please allow 24 to 48 hours for Authority and recent posts to begin showing for your site now that it has been successfully claimed. Once they are there, we will update your site's Authority once per day. At first you may not see your site listed in the Technorati Blog Directory for all of the categories you've selected. As you write blog posts around those topics, you should see your Topical Authority in those categories begin to rise.


So I'll continue to post and we'll see what, if anything, happens.



Getting found by Technorati

I happened on an interesting and pretty useful article by Heather Wright-Porto of blogsbyheather.com. Here is the link: seo tips

It's all about getting found by Technorati by "claiming" your blog in their directory  I am no technofile, but I decided to try it out and will issue a new post when my claim goes through.


Some more top-rated B2B blogs


In a previous post, I listed b2b blogs from an outside source (Robert Rosenthal). Here’s a list of b2b sites I visit regularly.


The content on these blogs is uniformly outstanding and always relevant.




Stop wasting your money on content



They keep saying content is king. 

The problem is, it’s simply not true. As companies dump bigger and bigger truckloads of content onto the internet every minute, search engines are getting smarter and smarter and filtering most of it out. They’re making it harder and harder for mediocre content to be searchable because they’re searching for content that says something, grabs attention, and elicits a response.

In other words, search engines are looking for great content.

Content isn’t king. Great content is king.

Lousy content, on the other hand, is a pauper without loyal subjects. Hastily written articles and essays and white papers usually cost very little to produce. Anyone can create it, and anyone does. Great content, publication-quality content, costs money and requires time and skill to create. But boy is it worth it for those companies that get it. Why? Because great content is rare to find on a corporate website or a corporate blog.

 If you're wondering just what falls into the category of "content" for marketing purposes, check out The Content Grid from Eloqua: 

Is your boss lukewarm to the idea of spending money on Content Marketing? If so, he or she may be missing the forest for the trees. But it's up to you to make the business case, as Chris Winfield writes in an article entitled, Why Your CEO Doesn’t Care About Content Marketing

Tell the truth


"tell the truth" is an interesting book. The authors suggest that the era of lies (or at least little white lies) in marketing is over. The most effective way for a brand to stand out is to tell the truth. Well, duh.... The obvious couldn't be more obvious, could it? We live in an age where truth is so rare that Presidential and Prime Ministerial candidates consistently tell us lies so they can get elected. Of course we are complicit. Reality is too harsh for us as voters to meet the truth head on. We much prefer vision to reality, even if the vision is one of pseudo-happiness. We tell ourselves the near-truth hoping it's the real-truth.

Speaking of near-truth, have you ever watched a reality show called The Pitch? It pits two ad agencies against each other as they work to win a big new account. The stakes are high and the anxiety is through the roof. We watch as prospective clients seek someone who can pull the truth out of their product and present it to the world -- which, on the surface, would seem to be an eminently logical desire. But what they really want is magic, says The Guardian:

"Whether it's sandwich giant Subway, trash recycling conglomerate Waste Management or air conditioning mogul Clockwork, the demands are identical: the media buyers want out-of-the-box thinking. They want ideas that will change the public perceptions of their companies. And, of course, they all want a video that's going to go viral. If one lone copywriter had been foolhardy enough to blurt out: "Asking for a viral video is like asking for a hit record or a successful movie or a healthy child. You can hope it will happen but it cannot be pre-arranged," I would have raised my glass in admiration."

Because, as Jack Nicholson's character famously said, "The truth? You can't handle the truth!"

Nothing worthwhile comes without a struggle


“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph,” Thomas Paine wrote during the dark days of the American Revolution. “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value." Paine knew that without struggle there is no real sense of accomplishment. Merriam-Webster defines accomplishment as a special skill or ability acquired by training or practice. They say practice makes perfect, but how many of us have struggled through the thousands of hours of practice needed to achieve perfection?

Recently, I read a book about storytelling and struggle by a man well on his way to becoming a billionaire: Hollywood producer Peter Guber. In his book, Tell To Win, he tells a story about one of the most heroic characters he's ever encountered -- a young boy in his neighborhood who would watch from his window every day as Peter and his friends rode their bicycles up and down the block. The boy couldn’t walk, could hardly speak and couldn’t go to school because of a terrible muscle-wasting disease. Then one day the boy’s father carried him outside and put him on a bicycle with six training wheels, front and back. Then the father went inside.

The kid started to pedal and in a minute the bike tipped over. I could see the father in his window watching. So could the boy. His dad watched him lying there and did nothing. Finally the boy pulled himself up.  Then he went about three feet and again the father just stood there watching. For weeks that kid kept trying and falling, and the father didn’t lift a finger. I complained to my mother but she told me to mind my own business. I couldn’t. The drama was too seductive. Then one Saturday morning the boy crashed off the curb. I had to go down. But when I reached the sidewalk, the kid waved me off. Then his father tapped on the window glass and shook his finger at me to go away. Convinced he must be some kind of monster, I left the boy trying to pull himself up and ran back home.
Then a couple of days later the kid was out there again. Over he went; up he went. Again.
But then suddenly he was rolling! He made it about sixty feet… then he turned around. And he rode all the way back without falling! I looked up and there was the father grinning down at his son. I looked back at the boy and he was beaming at his father. Then they both started laughing and waving like crazy. And I started to cry.
Finally I got it! They both knew the boy needed to face the challenge and struggle through it on his own. He needed to be his own agent of change, to be active in his own rescue. If his father did it for him, the boy wouldn’t feel like a hero.

We constantly overcome obstacles in our own lives. Small ones compared to this boy, without a doubt. But when we do accomplish something, we become heroes in our own lives for a few brief moments. There's nothing to compare to the feeling (however subtle that feeling may be) because we know that nothing worthwhile comes without a struggle. 

That's what stories are all about.


Truth



Excerpt from a HBR interview with Robert McKee:
Persuasion is the centerpiece of business activity. Customers must be convinced to buy your company’s products or services, employees and colleagues to go along with a new strategic plan or reorganization, investors to buy (or not to sell) your stock, and partners to sign the next deal. But despite the critical importance of persuasion, most executives struggle to communicate, let alone inspire. Too often, they get lost in the accoutrements of companyspeak: PowerPoint slides, dry memos, and hyperbolic missives from the corporate communications department. Even the most carefully researched and considered efforts are routinely greeted with cynicism, lassitude, or outright dismissal. Why is persuasion so difficult, and what can you do to set people on fire?
To read the Harvard Business Review article, click Storytelling that moves people


The Five Laws of Business Writing



1. Always tell the truth


2. Every story is an experience


3. Every story has a hero


4. Every hero has a goal


5. Every hero must meet obstacles




Why truth?
Because in an age of information overkill, truth is rare.

Why experience?
Because the audience must connect and be transformed.

Why a hero?
Because someone must drive the story.

Why a goal?
Because the audience must always feel there’s a finish line.

Why obstacles?
Because nothing worthwhile - in business or life - comes without a struggle.


The following are two excellent references that helped deepen my understanding of the rules of good storytelling. I was influenced by the first book a long time ago, the second much more recently.

1. The Hero's Journey (Joseph Campbell)

2. The Elements of Persuasion (Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman)





Storytelling that moves people


Excerpt from a Harvard Business Review interview with Robert McKee:

 Please note: Robert McKee  was a bit of a hero to me as I was learning the craft of screenwriting and storytelling. Although this article is a decade old, McKee's thoughts -- and his book -- stand the test of time.

 Storytelling that moves people
Why is persuasion so difficult, and what can you do to set people on fire? In search of answers to those questions, HBR senior editor Bronwyn Fryer paid a visit to Robert McKee, the world’s best-known and most respected screenwriting lecturer, at his home in Los Angeles. [...] Persuasion is the centerpiece of business activity [...] Why is persuasion so difficult, and what can you do to set people on fire?
To read the HBR article, click Storytelling that moves people

Mckinsey article on storytelling

"What non-profits can teach the private sector about social media"

(excerpt):

"Companies are spending countless hours and millions of dollars trying to master social media. Is this a revolutionary platform that can drive everything from customer relationships to product development--or just another form of marketing?"

I find the debate quite fascinating. Is social media the future of marketing, or is it simply a black hole? No one knows. But the Mckinsey article, excerpted in Forbes, sheds some new light on the topic. Registration is free should you wish to read the entire article.


[click on the link below]

The Power of Storytelling







Companies are spending countless hours and millions of dollars trying to master social media. Is this a revolutionary platform that can drive everything from customer relationships to product development--or just another form of marketing? In a new book titled The Dragonfly Effect, Stanford University marketing professor Jennifer Aaker and marketing strategist Andy Smith seek to answer these questions by examining numerous examples of social media at work, distilling a framework for inspiring infectious action.
One of the four "dragonfly wings" that comprise the authors' framework and give the book its name is engagement, which they define as "truly making people feel emotionally connected to helping you achieve your goals" through storytelling, authenticity and establishing a personal connection. Presented here is an excerpt adapted from the book, followed by a discussion between the authors and Dan Singer, a director in McKinsey's New York office. The conversation focused on lessons useful for leaders seeking to boost their organizations' marketing effectiveness by engaging customers through social media. The bottom line: Using social media to capture people's attention is different from traditional advertising, and companies that measure the effectiveness of these new channels by simply counting Facebook fans should rethink their approach.

Article Controls

Social-Media Engagement: A Case Study from The Dragonfly Effect Scott Harrison was at the top of his world. The 28-year-old New York–based nightclub and fashion promoter excelled at bringing models and hedge-fund kings together and selling them $500 bottles of vodka. He had money and power. Yet his lifestyle brought something else: emptiness. Harrison felt spiritually bankrupt.
So he walked away, volunteering to serve on a floating hospital offering free medical care in the world's poorest nations. Serving as the ship's photojournalist, Harrison was quickly immersed in a very different world. Thousands would flock to the ship looking for solutions to debilitating problems: enormous tumors, cleft lips and palates, flesh eaten by bacteria from waterborne diseases. Harrison's camera lens brought into focus astonishing poverty and pain, and he began documenting the struggles of these people and their courage.
After eight months, he moved back to New York, but not to his former life. Aware that many of the diseases and medical problems he witnessed stemmed from inadequate access to clean drinking water, he decided to do something about it. In 2006 he founded Charity: Water, a nonprofit designed to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.
Harrison launched the organization on his 31st birthday by asking friends to donate $31 instead of giving him a gift. It was a success--the birthday generated $15,000 and helped build Charity: Water's first few wells in Uganda. In the three years that followed, Harrison's simple birthday wish snowballed into donations that today total more than $20 million, translating into almost 3,000 water projects spanning everything from hand-dug wells and deep wells to protection for springs to rainwater harvesting. The organization has now provided clean water to more than 1.4 million people spanning 17 countries. Its success can be explained through four design principles for generating engagement with a brand through social media.
Tell a story. Harrison's personal journey--evoking themes of redemption, change, and hope--engaged others on an emotional level. By candidly discussing in media interviews and YouTube videos why and how he started Charity: Water, the thoughtful, accessible, and youthful Harrison helped viewers fall in love with him and his cause.
.
For the complete article, click here.


The Power of Story







There's no question about it. Storytelling is becoming a big thing in the corporate world, and for good reason. There can be a lot of power behind a few well chosen words (emphasis on the word "few"). How big is the blogosphere? Some 100 million blogs have been created in the last ten years, and another 100 million are on the way. 

That adds up to a lot of not-so-well-chosen words. And that makes my blog #100,000,001. If you want to stand out in this heaving sea of electronic messages, why not make every post a short story? It isn't that difficult if you take a little time and study some of the highest rated and most popular blogs out there. Seth Godin is one that immediately comes to mind. To spice up your posts, create a distinctive rhythm and learn some of the tricks of the trade. Here are four great ways to start:

1) Read these fascinating books on how storytelling is used in business:



2) Watch any Steven Spielberg or James Cameron or David Lean movie. Observe how the story begins (set-up), complicates (middle) and pays off (ending). Believe it or not, this 3 act structure is contained within virtually every story that has found an audience over the past several hundred years.


3) Get acquainted with The 5 Laws of Storytelling

4) Think about your company's story for a moment. Every company has one. What's yours? How do you want to tell it?

Business-to-Business blogs are coming of age











"How in the world do I get traffic to my blog?"


If a tree falls in the forest and there's nobody around to hear it, does it make a sound? If I tell a story on my blog and nobody reads it or hears about it, is it really a story? B2B marketers have long  puzzled over how to be heard from deep inside the internet 'jungle', but the forest is changing colours. Business to business marketing was once a considered a backwater. No longer. 

I realize it's more than a little ironic that I'm writing on this topic at a time when my own blog has virtually no visibility. My only excuse is that I just started it a few weeks ago, but that excuse surely won't last long.

Meanwhile, you can visit a growing number of world class B2B marketing blogs that are taking B2B out of the wilderness. Here are a few, courtesy of Robert Rosenthal. I will be adding many more of my own soon.