Articles on Success, Significance and the Evolving Role of Work

Is Your Story Designed for Recipients or Participants?

I grabbed a quick lunch at Chipotle yesterday and found myself, yet again, reading the story on the cup.

Are you, by chance, a Chipotle cup reader too?

The cup author, SNL alumnus Bill Hader, writes about “a two-minute recipe for the perfect fountain drink.” In essence, you dispense and mix flavors using rhythms from songs.

For eons, soda was about the drink. Coke. No, wait, Pepsi. Dr. Pepper. Mtn. Dew. Fanta. RC Cola. Canada Dry.

Now, it’s about the drinker.

We no longer choose between one brand or another. We mashup multiple brands to create our own individual brand.

Marketing in the 20th century — the advertising age — was designed for passive recipients.

Modern marketers understand that, today, customers are active participants.

Daina Middleton wrote about this in her 2012 book, Marketing in the Participation Age.

TRY THIS:

Look at the home page of your (or your company’s) website. Is it designed for recipients or participants?

Are you telling others about yourself? Or inviting others into a story — a story about them, not you?

Now, look at your “about page.” Is it about you? Or for the reader?

Design your story for participation, not reception.

The Power of Real Ink

It’s the digital age.

Email, texts, tweets, posts, DMs — there’s a lot of communication coming at us to process.

That’s why a short, simple note — written by a human hand — is so powerful.

It’s personal.

It’s unexpected.

It’s moving.

And it tells a terrific story about the person who took the time to send it.

Yesterday, I gave a presentation on story design in business to some really sharp marketers, HR pros and tech gurus.

Today, I received the note above from an individual I really respect.

I can name a few people who deserve a handwritten note…today.

I’ll bet you can too.

Let’s show them how much we care.

How to Tell if Your Storytelling Supports Your Business

There’s storytelling. And story-selling.

Storytelling involves a story in which a core character’s life changes in some meaningful way through conflict.

Story-selling involves storytelling in which your product, service, cause or idea helps the core character (i.e. your customers/clients) obtain what Robert McKee calls their “object of desire.”

A lot of companies I’ve encountered suck at storytelling. Even more suck at story-selling.

Hopefully, the following ads will help you see the difference between storytelling and story-selling.

Watch this Pepsi commercial:

Is this a good story? Sure it is.

Does it show how Pepsi helped the core character (a Pepsi drinker) achieve his goal? Not at all.

Now watch Volkswagen’s “The Force” commercial:

Is this a good story? Indeed.

Does it show how a Passat helps the core character achieve his goal? If the core character is the kid, then yes. But kids aren’t exactly Passat buyers.

If the core character is the Dad, then I could argue there is a loose connection between the Passat and family joy. So maybe this ad is effective at storytelling and story-selling.

Finally, watch Google Chrome’s “Dear Sophie” commercial:

Is this a good story? Absolutely.

Does it show how Google Chrome helps the core character achieve his goal? You betcha!

Story-selling isn’t limited to advertising. It’s applicable to sales, marketing, HR, management and beyond.

Question #1: Are you telling engaging stories in your company, market, industry?

Question #2: Are these stories showing how your product or service changes your clients’ lives in meaningful ways?

Influence Employees with Stories

Leaders at a stone quarry want its employees to wear protective eyewear. There’s a high risk of ocular injuries due to flying debris.

They tell themselves a story about safety. Even more likely, they tell themselves a story about regulatory compliance and the cost of workers’ compensation.

The typical approach managers take is to post reminders in break rooms and work stations. Talk about eye safety during team meetings. Maybe even host some lunch-and-learns or mandatory educational classes. And don’t forget the always popular days-without-injury sign.

Of course, the most important action management can take is to optimize the supply and availability of protective eyewear. Have it so that you can’t walk into a high risk area without bumping into a box of goggles or glasses.

But facts, figures and reminders aren’t a storytelling approach, are they?

Do they work? Sure. In varying degrees.

But we know from a continual supply of research that stories do something in our brains no other form of information can do.

So, how would you use a story to influence employees to wear protective eyewear?

One approach could be to tell the story of a worker who lost his eye from an accident on the job.

A better approach could be to tell the story of a worker at that specific job site who suffered an eye injury.

An even better approach would be to have a one-eyed employee tell his story.

Another option would be to use humor. What if you used an image like the one above? What caption would you add to it that would trigger employees to tell themselves a story of the importance of protective eyewear?

An engaging image tells a much more effective story than a compliance sign.

How could you leverage a holiday, like Halloween, to pair education with gory humor to spread stories of safety?

Next time you’re faced with influencing your employees to take positive or protective action, think outside of the 3Fs: facts, figures and features.

Try a storytelling approach instead.

(Terrific image isn’t it? It’s by MattysFlicks.)

Are you selling a possession or experience?

Why are people in a long line at a food truck happier than those in line at a grocery store?

Why do we remember a bad vacation in a positive way, but bitch about a minor annoyance related to the new device we just bought?

The distinction may surprise you.

With a food truck or vacation, we’re buying an experience. With groceries or a device, we’re buying a possession.

Waiting for an experience fosters anticipation, aspirational thinking, conversation with others and a sense of community. We get excited. We savor the experience as it happens. We remember how that experience made us feel. And, in remembering it, we feel the same emotions again.

Waiting for a material good (i.e. a possession) fosters impatience, critical thinking and buyer’s remorse, due to our tendency to compare our stuff with others.

Plus, an experience is unique to each person. We can’t really compare our concert experience to another’s. Not like we can compare our clothes or car to another’s.

Most businesses are in the business of selling possessions. Yet most of us are happiest receiving experiences.

Which story are you telling?

The one about a possession? Or an experience?

The one about a transaction? Or transcendence?

Interested in more on this? Read this.

(Image by Henrico Prins)