Do the obvious and win
Todd Jones
Storyteller | Brand Whisperer | The About Page Guy ? |"I help brands uncover and articulate the stories that make them memorable."
Recently, I appeared on an episode of David Garfinkel's Copywriters Podcast. David saw my article about storytelling and pro wrestling and he invited me on. (it should be out in a few weeks)
David is a veteran copywriter and copywriter coach, so I was honored to be invited on the show.
He has a book out called "The Persuasion Story Code: The Magic of Conversational Storytelling" and I have a copy.
The first story he talks about is the "origin story" which he says "build(s) confidence by showing how a person’s or company’s background makes them solid and worth doing business with." In other words, trust.
Have you ever thought about it that way?
Origin stories is just one piece of the business storytelling puzzle, but, as it were, it is a great place to begin.
We all know the "backstories" of our favorite characters. Entrepreneurs and companies too have backstories and we call them origin stories.
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The origin story is the best building block for your entire suite of business stories. And, of course, I have an offer for an origin story to help you get started.
A few years ago, I was told about a book called "Obviously Adams." You can find a copy of it online for free. The story goes back to 1916 and originally appeared in the Saturday Evening Post.
It's incredibly short.
He was an incredible advertiser but also very un-incredible person. He didn't look particularly important; he didn't sound particularly important, but he made an enormous impact for the companies he represented by doing... the obvious things.
It seems to me that in business we keep trying to do the clever things rather than the obvious things. We like to major on fancy campaigns, seductive tools, and people who seem to leave us awestruck, but in reality, its the obvious that creates the best gains.
And the obvious is to use what this world has given us from the begging of time, stories.
I am contemplating doing an Origin Story workshop in the next month. If that sounds like something that is "obvious" to you, hit reply and let me know.