Welcome to the world of leveraging the art of storytelling in business! If you’re looking for a way to create an emotional connection with your customers and grow your business, you’re in the right place. In this episode and post, we’ll explore the power of storytelling and how it can help companies to succeed.
We recently had Parker Howell, the world’s most industrial storyteller, on our podcast to discuss brand storytelling and its impact on business growth. Parker has grown well-known brands by as much as 600%, and he’ll share his insights on how businesses can use stories to reach new heights.
Using his journey as an example, Park will outline how to use the ABT framework to make all business communications compelling. Then, I’ll show you how Park Howell did it in detail and how you can. So buckle up and get ready to unlock growth with brand storytelling!
About Park Howell
Park Howell is a renowned brand creator, consultant, teacher, coach, and internationally-recognized speaker. With over 35 years of experience, Park has worked with top companies such as Dell, Hilton, and Walgreens and was named Advertising Person of the Year in 2010 by the American Advertising Federation of Metro Phoenix.
Park founded the Business of Story, a platform based on his 10-step story cycle system to help brands clarify their message and engage customers. He is also the host of the Business of Story Podcast, among the top 10% of the most downloaded podcasts worldwide. In addition, Park’s books, Brand Bewitchery and The Narrative Gym for Business provide readers with frameworks to help craft compelling stories.
Using the art of storytelling in business
We’ll be discussing topics such as common mistakes when it comes to using the art of storytelling in business, understanding what it is and why there is only one story, defining the brand, developing narrative intuition, leveraging the ABT (Agile Narrative Framework), building momentum with stories and presentations, using customer POVs to generate ROI, and how business storytelling can have a significant impact.
Let’s dive into some of the key takeaways from Parker’s conversation! First, he mentioned that many companies are making common mistakes in brand storytelling, such as not understanding it or thinking there is only one story. To avoid these errors, Parker suggests learning about Joseph Campbell’s Heroes Journey, which will give businesses insight into the algorithms of storytelling.
From there, he recommends using the ABT (and but therefore) model, a simple yet powerful way to write an instant point of view that potential customers can relate to. This framework consists of three words: And, But, and Therefore which can help create stories with a beginning, middle, and end that feature an individual as the protagonist and demonstrate a problem resolution. Additionally, Parker mentioned that empathy and compassion are essential when telling stories from a customer’s perspective to communicate a message effectively.
Finally, Parker talked about using real-life examples when crafting stories to demonstrate ideas effectively and make them more relatable for an audience. He gave an example from his experience at Checkr in San Francisco, where he learned about purpose-driven brands – rather than just talking about them theoretically – which allowed him to share a true story that made his point for him without making anything up or pounding his chest about it.
These are just some of the valuable insights shared by Parker throughout this episode! We hope you found this blog post helpful in further understanding how businesses can use brand storytelling for growth – be sure to listen to our podcast episode for even more tips from Parker Howell!
Some topics we discussed include:
- The power and importance of storytelling in today’s world
- Two story truths we need to be aware of to use the art of storytelling in business better
- Narrative intuition – what is it, and how do we develop it
- Explore the intersection of culture, storytelling, and scaling a business
- The need for businesses to shift their narrative focus away from themselves and toward their customers
- Using the ABT (Agreement, But, Therefore) narrative framework to create compelling stories.
- ROI of storytelling using the ABT framework
- And much, much more …
Listen to the episode
Related links and resources
- Check out Business of Story
- Get a copy of Brand Bewitchery and The Narrative Gym for Business: Introducing the ABT Framework for Business Communication and Messaging
- Learn from Seth Erickson – Storytelling For Startups: 7 Tips For Powerful Growth
- Check out – The Power of Storytelling to Increase ROI: How to increase online conversions by 4 times
- Check out – Lift-off Strategy: How to Boost Business Growth With an Empathy-Driven Content Marketing Strategy
- Learn from Ben Baker – How to Write a Powerful Brand Story That Boosts Referrals
- Learn more from Prarthana Sibal – Storytelling in Content Marketing: How to Drive Growth Fast
- Learn from Steve Brown – How to Tell a Compelling Brand Story that Boosts Business Growth
- Learn from Fikry Fatullah – How to Build a Messaging Strategy That Drives Growth
- Learn from Lubna Forzley-Badr – How to Use Storytelling in Business to Fuel Growth
Connect with Park
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