I was driving home from work with the radio on when David Baddiel came on to talk about his latest stage show, My Family.
They don’t tend to ask the most challenging questions on Radio 2, but Simon Mayo did get him talking about the contrast between My Family, with its “adult” themes of grief and infidelity, and the successful children’s books he writes.
David replied, “Sometimes people say to me, you do lots of different things. You do films and TV and stand-up…”
He carried on, in that slightly outraged tone of voice he does so well, saying:
“It’s not lots of different things! It’s one thing.
It’s storytelling in lots of different forms.
It’s not like I’m a comedian and a plumber.”
And he’s right. It is the same thing, and it’s something we can all do. Telling stories is primal. If you’re a human being, you can tell stories.
We all have a need to share our experiences and whether that’s performing on stage, relaying a funny anecdote at a party or presenting written case studies to a potential client IT’S ALL THE SAME THING.
David Baddiel happens to be good at telling stories in more than one medium – he’s great on stage and he can write books too [side note: I’m currently reading my eldest son The Parent Agency and it’s very good].
But some of us have a communication style that suits us better than any other, and when time is limited it makes sense to focus on the things you do best.
So if you’re great at engaging people verbally, then it might be a good idea to do some of the following:
- Put yourself forward for speaking gigs
- Create a video
- Host a webinar
- Produce regular podcasts.
If writing is more your thing, then create regular emails to send to your clients and contacts. Write a blog. Tell the story of how you help people in your case studies.
And if you don’t have time to do any of the above then outsource it to someone else.
Human beings engage with stories. We love stories.
Tell stories and watch what happens.
If you need help to get better results from your marketing efforts, especially with website copy, blogs and email campaigns, please don’t hesitate to give me a call on 0121 405 0071, or contact me here.