Content Marketing Today

The Best Content Marketing is Powered by the Story Factor

Excellent Book Tells us Why Storytelling is So Important. 

You should apply its lessons as you invent and reinvent your content marketing strategy.

We all have heroes. Garrison Keillor, creator of the Prairie Home Companion, is one of mine. Why? He is the best storyteller on the planet. Until recently, I hadn’t made the connection between what Garrison Keillor does so well and the business world we all inhabit. The Story Factor by Annette Simmons pulls it all together.

Annette is a consultant with roots in major corporations. In 1992, she attended a bucolic southern storytelling event that reshaped her thinking about making an impact within a business context. She believes that facts may be important, but they don’t make the difference.

As she puts it, “People don’t want more information. They are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith-faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell. It is faith that moves mountains, not fact.”

A meaningful story will sustain belief beyond the presence of the individual who first inspired faith. As Simmons sees it, this enables listeners “to reach the same conclusions you have reached and decide for themselves to believe what you say and do what you want them to do.”

Whenever we hope to influence others, it is the power of our individual story-who we are and what we’re all about-that will ultimately make the difference. It’s one thing to be articulate. It’s another to be credible. That’s where The Story Factor comes in. If you’d like to make a lasting impact in your workaday world, think about telling stories. As you develop your content marketing strategy, make sure that you are telling stories to which your customers will pay attention. Even better, think about buying Annette’s book.