How Social Media Reconstructs Storytelling

Chris Riley, of studioriley, discusses an emerging global narrative created by many voices. (Via PSFK.)

How to Be a Hero in Art, Sales, Service, and Story

Ever run out of gas and someone stopped to pour a gallon into your tank for free? They became your hero! Remember what it was like to hear an artist articulate something that spoke a truth to you so deeply you nearly cried? That artist became your hero! Have you ever wished there was an easier way to get from point A to point B only to discover a service provider that helps you do just that? The service became your hero!

Forget about making the customer the hero. Take action and become a hero yourself! The customer is the dude or damsel in distress. Save them! Save them from their bad breath, their boring life, their poor choices, or their terrible job.

In the image above you can see the person in location A. They want to cross the chasm to location B. How will they get across? This situation frames the plot and the story unfolds in the distance between the two points. A hero provides a means to the end. In this case the hero is (or provided) a red bridge that literally carries the person across the gap. When you act as the hero, your action becomes the bridge that safely takes someone from here to there.

To apply this idea, you must understand the needs of your customer or audience and know what you are willing to risk in order to help them reach their goal. If your client wants a website, you make them one. If they need new tires, give them tires. If they want to be enlightened, enlighten them.

Whenever you interact with someone you’re creating a story. Keep that story in mind and it will shape your actions. Your actions create the tale that later gets told about you. Be the hero to your customer and they will tell a positive story with you or your product as a major player in their story.

To be the hero you need to skillfully and swiftly provide the product, service, or experience that your audience needs in order to bridge their gap, thus taking them from point A to point B in their personal journey.

Tether: Creating a Loved Brand by Telling a Story

This is an interview with Stanley Hainsworth of Tether, Inc. He’s the former creative director at Nike and also worked for Lego and Starbucks. In this video he talks about story and storytelling in branding. It’s interesting to hear his approach. When the interviewer asks what he means by “story,” Hainsworth explains that all successful brands tell a story.

Joe Sabia: The Technology of Storytelling

iPad storyteller Joe Sabia introduces us to Lothar Meggendorfer, who created a bold technology for storytelling. Sabia shows how new technology has always helped us tell our own stories, from the walls of caves to his own onstage iPad.

Ira Glass on Storytelling: Advice for Beginners

This video was created by David Shiyang Liu.

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