50 Stories Tall

How exactly is one expected to fully launch into a new year with that traditional hopefulness, enthusiasm, and optimism that we all try to put into new beginnings? Like, hooooooow? 

Especially now, because of The Thing that Looms. 

Well, welcome to paragraph three, in which I tell you exactly how. Wait, shit, it’s gonna be in paragraph four. I jumped the gun. Lesson One: Don’t jump the gun. 

But definitely go immediately at the gun. 

Guys, it’s already paragraph five. I lied again. But here it is now - here’s how you launch yourself forward into any new beginning, be it a new year, a new job, a new relationship, or a new project at work: Figure out your story, understand how you’ve been telling it, and then decide on how, and to whom, you should be telling it. Then go tell that story every single day.

“Okay, hippie…”, I hear you saying, as you reflexively twitch with the urge to punch me in the face. I know. I get that instinct. But let’s talk about it first.

Without pulling you down a rabbit hole of New Age Crystal Healing or whatever, I want you to stop right now, breathe, and take 10 seconds to ask yourself what is the story you are telling friends, family, co-workers, and strangers every day with your words and actions. Try to define it in one sentence.

Are you doing it? Did you breathe? Are you taking the 10 seconds to ask yourself that question, or did you get distracted by the shiny aluminum foil of Twitter? Damn it, you’re gonna have to work with me here a little. Do it! We’re trying to be better here in 2021, people.

Okay, so. Deep breath. What’s your story?

Here’s the point (only 10 paragraphs in, a new record for me): Everything of which we’re comprised, the fabric of our families and our love and our work, is built and conveyed in storytelling. Think of telling someone about your childhood, or the moment that you fell in love with your partner, or the insanity of a project at work, or that transformative concert you went to years ago. These things are not about you or your partner or your job or a band, they are about everything leading up to moments, everything surrounding the experience itself, and all that's built on top of that experience over time. Every story is the foundation to what's next.

So get one of those stories in your head for me. Pick one from your past that represents who you are. Real-time homework again, here. Do it now. I’ll wait.

Here's mine.

Years ago, I went to a Foo Fighters concert in a former church called The Tabernacle in Atlanta. It’s a gorgeous old heap of dried wood and sweat and beer and long-gone hymnal dust. It’s a vibe, as people cooler than me often say.

We stood outside of this place for a couple of hours waiting to get in, quenching our thirst in the Georgia heat, as one must. Nobody was quite clear on the process for seating, but assumptions were made that we’d be scanned at the door and enter in the order we were standing. These were the reasonable thoughts of unreasonable people. 

Instead, what happened was that it lightly started to rain, so they began scanning people standing in line to speed the process. Clever! 

But then, they opened the doors and just let people spuh-RINT inside. Total free-for-all. Grab a seat, shove in by the stage, hang from the rafters, punch a toddler, whatever.

Go immediately at the gun, I told you.

So our group ran, with no idea where we wanted to be. After much confusion and drunken arguing with security about modern concert-going logistics planning, we hunkered down and awaited the show.

From there, well, from there things got…murky? I guess is the word? I remember a sonic blast of pure cavity-rattling, head-hammering music slamming through me, and I recall being covered with someone’s sweat and everyone’s beer and that weird dust from 1916. I remember screaming into strangers’ ears while I was hugging them and singing and not knowing where light and sound began and ended.

So, murky.

It’s a story about a church, and sound, and people, and memory, and experience. 

It’s a story about us.

****

So, what in god’s name is even happening right now? Why am I posting this on LinkedIn?  

Because I tell stories. You tell stories. We do it every day and we take it for granted. 

And the business I’m in is here to make you stop taking it for granted. 

I know what people think about marketing. I’ve got ears. I get that people sometimes see it as disposable or a “necessary evil” or as the scapegoat for failed endeavors. And that can all be valid criticism, because sometimes there are just bad stories being told by bad storytellers.

So it’s our jobs, as people who really love the potential of marketing, to push forward to write these stories in whatever landscape that’s best for the telling - be it a video, live event, social campaign, virtual world, or something totally new and different. 

But first, we’ve gotta get back to the beginning. 

Well, not quite the beginning.

Paragraph five.

Now, instead of doing this exercise only for yourself, go throw a stern but loving look at your company and your brand and do what I asked you to do originally: 

Figure out your story, understand how you’ve been telling it, and then decide on how, and to whom, you should be telling it. Then go tell that story every single day.

Do the basics. Think about this in every business endeavor you undertake this year, and the next, and the next. It may take some rewrites along the way. That's cool. Get better.

I’m going to tell you stories here, every week, for 50 weeks. We’re going to talk about how I think marketing can and should work. I’m going to help you build a new story - for yourself, your brand, and your company. We’re going to do something better together. 

This is how you launch into something new.

Cory helps lead Marketing and Client Leadership at YAH agency in Atlanta, which, I'll be damned, just happens to specialize in building experiences for brands. His passions are writing, photography, and annoying his co-workers.