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Why is marketing hard for storytellers?
For one thing, we’re up against a hard situation. Like all artists, we do important work: imagining and communicating what human beings are like and can become. Yet, as invaluable as we are to society, we are not rewarded well or supported well. We are even expected to be both artists and marketers. Few people master two such careers!
Also, like many in our society, we misunderstand the nature of marketing. Because many of us think that marketing is “selling things to people who don’t want them,” we are often reluctant to take the steps that would let society benefit from our work.
Once we understand what true marketing is and does, we can use it to gain eager partners in our important and unjustly difficult work.
*The Truth About Marketing*
Most of the mass marketing we see around us is probably not good marketing – and it’s certainly nothing like what would make sense for a storyteller. It is based on convincing large numbers of individuals that they need a single, mass-produced product. Even in business circles, there is a growing awareness that such large-scale, impersonal marketing is being replaced in many arenas by individualized marketing based on relationships.
The first truth about good marketing is that it is not impersonal, not heartless, not manipulative. It aims to inform those who want something that we have it to offer! It aims to meet individualized needs.
The second truth about marketing is that it starts from our uniqueness. We have something to offer the world that is different from what anyone else has to offer. The role of marketing is to respectfully inform those who want us that we are available.
More on Doug http://www.storydynamics.com
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#1 by Brother Wolf on June 28, 2010 - 9:32 pm
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I love how there is still value here after three years – that this interview years after it has taken place is still relavent and current today three years later as the day it took place.
If you liked this episode you will really like – http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com/2010/02/18/ben-nind-storytelling-is-essential-to-community-health-and-life/
#2 by Limor on June 28, 2010 - 5:11 pm
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Hi Doug and Eric, this is a great informative session. I can imagine some tellers listening and saying “oh, well…” but as things go, if you don’t get your fingers dirty it might be you don’t really want to eat. Doug has given some very good practical advice here – just follow his words and get out there.
Thanks!
#3 by Tim on October 23, 2007 - 11:52 am
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Eric,
when I first heard about your podcast, I wasn’t interested, because I don’t tell stories to children. But when I saw your list of guests, I was very impressed, and signed up in iTunes. The first episode I heard was the interview with Mary Hamilton, and then I listened to this one.
This is essential knowledge for anyone interested in storytelling, not just those who work with children.
On Storytell, I was bemoaning the fact that storytelling thought leaders were not blogging, and it was hard to share their wisdom, unless you were fortunate enough to live nearby or could afford to visit a lot of conference. THANK YOU for taking the initiative to go after the best and brightest, invite them to share their knowledge, and then share it with the rest of the world.
Keep up the good work!
#4 by Mary Beth Spann on May 29, 2007 - 3:01 pm
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It can be helpful for creative types, like storytellers and other artist, to learn the art of Permission Marketing. Reading books such as Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port and Self-Promotion for the Creative Person by Lee Silber can get artists thinking in a different direction with regards to marketing.