GroYourBiz is pleased to provide a blog by leading specialist, Diana Bishop, granddaughter of First World War flying ace Billy Bishop. Helping Women Trailblazers take center stage is a second act for Diana Bishop, also known as The Storytelling Coach. Diana spent 20 years as national and international TV News Correspondent working for CBC, CTV, Global and NBC News where journalism took her around the world covering the stories and careers of some of the biggest newsmakers of the day from Nelson Mandela to Celine Dion.
How Do You Choose the Right Tools to Tell Your Story?
I recently spent a day doing a seminar with a talented group of Sales and Marketing MBA students from the University of Salzburg, Austria, entitled —
“Communicating A Successful Business Story In the 21st Century.”
“With all the different and new ways to communicate to our clients or customers, how do we choose the right tools or platforms to market and promote our business story?
And we think that young people know everything! But clients ask me the same thing. With the vast options available to attract one’s audience from print materials, email, websites, blogs, newsletters, videos, PR, advertising, presentations, workshops, direct mail telemarketing, to internet marketing and social media (which of course is driving this communications revolution), it’s easy to get overwhelmed and panic asking ourselves
“Is this all getting too far ahead of me?”
Breathe. The good news is this. No matter what new avenues they come up with to communicate, it is still all about the STORY you tell. Communications is STILL primarily about CONTENT, and content that your client, customer or audience really wants to hear!
So for most of us in our businesses, there are really just three things that we need to research and articulate first and foremost–
- Who is the audience we want to attract?
- What communication tools do they use?
- What are their challenges that we can help them with?
If you’re a financial advisor and your market is business people over 40, research the tools that age group uses. Do they find you on your website? Do they like to communicate using email? Do they network using LinkedIn?
You can do this if you are selling tea, cars, real estate, and marketing services.
There is certainly great value in reading about and researching how communications, and particularly social media is evolving, because it really is the Wild West out there, and the latter is a living breathing organism that is transforming how we connect with each other. No turning that back. But–know that without a good story, nobody cares. CONTENT is still KING — so research the tools that your audience uses, and then work on your story. It may be a brave new world but the best story still wins!
Diana Bishop is communications and personal branding specialist. She is the creator of The Success Story Program™ at www.successstoryprogram.com
Diana Bishop
For twenty years, Diana Bishop was a national and International TV News correspondent working for CBC, CTV News and Global Television in Canada, and NBC News in the U.S, with postings as Quebec City Bureau Chief, Beijing Bureau Chief in China, and Senior Parliamentary Correspondent in Ottawa where she covered national politics and international affairs. Diana is now a leading communications and personal branding expert having worked with more than two hundred business people and companies across Canada, the U.S and Europe.
Diana’s background and experience can be reviewed at http://successstoryprogram.com
Leave A Comment