Two days of Blog Now Live Forever – the most disruptive event in blogging were amazing. Got to learn a lot, meet new people and totally had fun!!
The following were the speakers –
Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden Lead, Pilot, Entrepreneur, Fencer) Christoph Trappe (The Authentic Storytelling Project),
Jeff Bullas (Blogger, Author, Strategist and Speaker – Online content and social media)
Preeti Shenoy (Best selling author)
Arnab Ray (Blogger and Computer scientist)
Anshul Tewari (Founder – YouthKiAwaaz)
Kanan Gill (stand-up comedian and YouTuber)
Purba Ray (Blogger @ A-Musing)
In this post I’ll detail the what, why and how of authentic story telling!
So what are authentic stories?
Authentic stories are not just for selling products/ services. That’s how you can use authentic stories in least possible way. So what falls in the scope of stories – Everything – People, Brands, vision for the company etc. People relate to you, brands, align to visions on basis of how the story appeals them – if they are able to relate to it, they’ll become best marketers for you / your brand / vision. That’s the only differentiating factor left in today’s market – Price and quality are more or less the same.
You can ask an Apple fan why does he love an iphone so much! 😛 Its one conversation he loves to get involved in – He’ll get so passionate about the product that he’ll describe it and fight for it like it’s his own – that’s the power of authentic stories!
Here are some important takeaways to tell authentic stories about you, your brand, your products, your company.
- Make up your mind – Decide to be authentic and never look back. Keep no back doors open! Here are some pointers to help you figure out your story. Suppose you want to join a course on the weekends which will help you in your career, here is how you’ll reason with the following pointers
- Why do you do it? – To get knowledge to take my career from x to y
- Negative Consequences of doing – Losing weekend time to be spent with family
- Who needs to buy in? – Family, esp spouse and children
Passion will help you get started, purpose will help you keep going
- Determine the need – Some needs aren’t apparent. You need to figure out what do you need the most and prioritise it. There will always be urgent things, the key is to also work on important things alongside. Where you are in your career is great, but what do you need now to take it to the next level? Are you working on it? Make a flow chart with two paths – one where you take actions and choose to aim at the next level and one where you continue to be where you are, see what’s better considering the trade offs
- Buy in – Buy in is very essential. Getting permission from family to do the weekend course doesn’t absolve you from removing time for them. You have to figure out other ways to balance both- Ask them to meet you up for lunch during the course break or to drop or pick you up. You have to constantly keep getting their buy in so that you can attend the course without any worries – one way to do that is manage time for them from other pockets
- Story – Your story should reflect the way you see how this course is going to help you become better at what you are doing and in turn the benefits to your family. It should be clear with respect to what you expect from others and how you are going to make up for the time spent on the course. Not having the latter will lead to conflicts later on.
- Measurement – You should be clear wrt what do you expect from the other person by sharing the authentic story. Being ambiguous will lead to ambiguous results.
- Keep going – You need to keep taking actions, believe in your journey, enrol people that matter and keep running – for its not a sprint, but a marathon!!
*Christoph Trappe is a career storyteller who has worked as a journalist, a nonprofit executive, and a content marketing strategist and consultant. His digital initiatives have been recognized globally. He is currently helping hospitals across the United States share their authentic stories. The IMA named him Internet Marketer of the Year in 2015. You can follow him @CTrappe
Young, Wild & Free! 