I was reminded of the Heath brothers' Made to Stick, one of my favorite business books, when I read David Murton's excellent guest post on the Future Buzz blog. Murton explains how storytelling is a timeless way to personalize a company and build word of mouth - especially in social media which relies on personal narratives to be compelling. He then proceeds to share excellent ideas on how interesting storylines can be easily develped - particularly useful if you're prone to writer's block.
In the last few months, in looking at the websites and social media activities of prospective clients and their competitors, I've noticed that few companies do a good job telling stories about themselves, their customers, their products, etc. By sticking with marketing lingo rather than stories, companies miss out on forming real connections and differentiating themselves from the competition.
I'm sure that I've been more aware of the power of stories recently since my three-year-old loves listening to those that I make up or read from books. I'm convinced that if more marketing folks spent time reading stories to kids that they would understand how powerful they are are. After all, if you can capture the attention of a distracted three-year-old with stories, imagine how effective they would be in capturing the imagination of multitasking adults.
