Digital agencies claim they can tell stories…be skeptical!

More and more digital agencies are seeing the need for an added value proposition…digital storytellers. These are people that understand visual storytelling, video production, and content development and marketing.

They are selling these services as tactics. Yes…we are finding they are selling services in addition to their web strategies…they can create video, they can create a Facebook page, they can write copy. Pat them on the back and buy ’em a drink.

They have hired a video editor, a videographer, a social media consultant and sell it as an added offering. Yep…but execution is lack luster. They are selling tactics without meat to the strategy.

So why did I merge my book of business with a group like Gray? Why are we building the Social Health Institute? We understand the need to become leaders in more than just selling tactics…we understand the need to offer practitioner level consulting beyond just simple tactics. We are helping people build their stories.

We see the need to truly understand storytelling, practitioner level storytelling strategies that look deeper than just a video, just a Facebook status update, more than reading those google analytics…we are practitioners and we are in it for the long haul.

We want to help people tell rich stories, connect them with data driven tactics and initiatives, and integrate them these initiatives where audiences want to interact in a way that make sense in this multi-facetted social/digital landscape.

It is more than just clicking the button to record and interview…it is seeing the big picture…understanding how stories move people and create actions that drive business and large scale pr initiatives.

I think this quote from the Harvard Business Review blog says it best…they understand the power of storytelling and integrating the power of data driven results…

“We have an extra obligation to try and earn that trust. People are naturally skeptical of what they read in the newspaper or on the internet, and they should be.”

So…do you want to hire a group that just creates a video, builds a website, makes a Facebook post…or do you want to work with a group or practitioners who understand the power of content…the power of unique storytelling.

I leave you with this quote from another Harvard Business Review blog post…

“Stories have been implanted in you thousands of times since your mother took you on her knee. You’ve read good books, seen movies, attended plays. What’s more, human beings naturally want to work through stories. Cognitive psychologists describe how the human mind, in its attempt to understand and remember, assembles the bits and pieces of experience into a story, beginning with a personal desire, a life objective, and then portraying the struggle against the forces that block that desire. Stories are how we remember; we tend to forget lists and bullet points.

Businesspeople not only have to understand their companies’ past, but then they must project the future. And how do you imagine the future? As a story. You create scenarios in your head of possible future events to try to anticipate the life of your company or your own personal life. So, if a businessperson understands that his or her own mind naturally wants to frame experience in a story, the key to moving an audience”