See a photo of Steve, his bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A.
Q&A with Steve Spalding, Question 2:
Q: The storytelling movement seems to be growing explosively. Why now? What is it about this moment in human history and culture that makes storytelling so resonant with so many people right now?
A: Every marketer worth his [or her] MBA is calling himself [or herself] a storyteller these days. There is a really good reason for this beyond the fact that it’s a fashionable little buzzword.
The Internet that we all know and love has brought us to a point where
the only thing a company can sell effectively is its story.
Whether you produce blog posts, music, or calendaring software, there are about 10,000 other people who are doing precisely the same thing you are. Most of them are doing it pretty well too, and since your average consumer doesn’t have the time or desire to figure out the subtle differences in your software’s color scheme versus your competitors’; the only way you are going to stand out above the noise is if you have a story to tell.
You have to break through the layers and layers of distrust and apathy that we have all built up around ourselves and find a way to transform a cold transaction into an emotionally charged experience. That’s really hard when you’re selling productivity software. Even if you aren’t selling anything, you still have to find a way to beat out the tens of millions of videos of cute cats and sneezing bears that people would much rather spend their time looking at. Advertising just isn’t cutting it anymore and traditional marketing techniques are becoming less effective and more expensive on a cost per eyeball basis. For the marketer without a big Hollywood budget and a huge team ready a rearing to do quantitative user segmentation and SWOT analysis, all you have are the stories you tell.
People are starting to learn this, and they’re realizing that if they are going to survive in an information-rich world, they better get pretty good at it.