CORPORATE STORYTELLING:
Discovering Fire for the Second Time
Vol. 7, No. 6, 2007
Publisher: Evelyn Clark
evelyn@corpstory.com http://www.corpstory.com
(c) Clark & Company 2007
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“Facts and figures are forgotten. Stories are retold.”
-- Jeffrey Gitomer, Author
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IN THIS ISSUE
1. Reader’s Digest-Asia Features Corporate Storytelling
2. Six Tips on Leveraging PowerPoint
4. Corporate Storytelling Live
1. Reader’s Digest-Asia Features Corporate Storytelling
Corporate Storytelling has been gaining a lot of steam this year, with a recent highlight being an article in the Reader’s Digest-Asia. In the article, Evelyn compares the modern day company and its employees to tribes and how those tribes need to understand “the importance of their roles in continuing the traditions” in order to help the company achieve and sustain success. One of the examples is Microsoft’s recent launch of a company-wide management training initiative on the use of stories.
To read Evelyn’s entire article as it appeared in this month’s issue of Reader’s Digest-Asia, go to: http://www.corpstory.com/Storytelling.pdf
2. Six Tips on Leveraging PowerPoint
Would you use a word processor to put together a presentation? Probably not; you most likely would use that familiar program called Microsoft PowerPoint, which marks its 20-year birthday this year. A useful tool that’s often been misused and over-used, PowerPoint consequently has been called both the most influential and the most groaned-about piece of software ever created. Sun Microsystems has banned the product altogether because Chairman Scott McNealy deems it a “huge waste of corporate productivity.”
If that’s true, then why are people still using it? Because it is an “easy tool of choice” according to Abhay Padgaonkar, author of an article on www.MarketingProfs.com, “PowerPoint, Warts and All: Relearning to Communicate”. She offers six tips that everyone should use to create a compelling presentation, including one that cautions presenters to be clear about the story they’re planning to tell in their presentation.
Find out how you can make the best of your PowerPoint presentation by reading the full article at: http://www.marketingprofs.com/7/powerpoint-present-danger-next-slide-please-padgaonkar.asp
3. Sales Promotions that Work
Many sales promotions sound too good to be true—and that’s because they are! In one car promotion, the company’s offer was such a good deal for customers, the company lost $5000 per vehicle. How can you be sure you don’t make the same mistake?
An article in the MIT Sloan Management Review examines the pros and cons of the promotions that companies use to lure customers in. The authors analyzed a number of offers and found that “most such promotions do not pay off”. They caution companies to rethink their sales strategies and offer tips on creating promotions that produce positive results.
If you have a promotion that considers the status of your brand, the message being delivered, and the anticipated reaction of customers and your competition, you have a better chance of succeeding. If you choose an promotion that the competitors can easily imitate, then the chances of success is bleak and can even “result in a lose-lose outcome” and even “reduce profitability”, the authors say.
The goal, according to the research results discussed in the article, is to create a promotion that has the following three features: 1) delays the opportunities for imitation, but encourages quick buyer response, 2) does not rely on discounting alone but communicates something about the company, the brand, or the specific good or services offered, and 3) exploits the company’s competitive advantages.
To learn more about making your promotions more effective, go to: http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/issue/2007/summer/01/
4. Corporate Storytelling Live
“Come hear storytelling at its most magical” was this year’s theme of the just concluded Singapore Storytelling Festival and Asian Congress of Storytellers, where Evelyn presented three one-day workshops and a keynote. The workshops focused on three applications of corporate stories:
• “Developing Marketing Messages and Brand Images through Stories”
• “Story Power for Teams”
• “The Power of Storytelling for Leaders”
It was the first time for a presentation on Corporate Storytelling in Singapore, and all three sessions packed the room with managers and executives eager to learn more about applying the power of stories in their own organizations. Evelyn’s keynote on “The Power of Storytelling for Leaders” also generated an enthusiastic response.
If you’d like to attend next year’s storytelling events in Singapore, the dates are set for August 22 – September 7. Information on this year’s festival will be supplemented with the new brochure as soon as next year’s offerings are booked. To learn more, go to: www.bookcouncil.sg/sisf
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