Storytelling is a popular buzzword today. What was once something done around the campfire or beside the crib has become part of the lexicon of the best marketers.
So this leads me to the questions:
“Can businesses use Storytelling? Can YOUR business use Storytelling?”
The answer to this question is a definitive: “Yes!”
No matter what business you’re in the most important thing for you to remember is that everyone has a story. The question is who’s telling your story and how are they telling it?
Let me start with a story:
Once upon a time …
On a brisk Monday morning in New York, a group of men got together to talk about what was going on in their profession; they could see they had a problem.
The state of their profession was declining. You see, it seems they were struggling to establish their credibility and sell their value proposition. They were having trouble establishing their expertise. In fact, the terms they used to describe themselves and what they did; the word they used to distinguish themselves was no longer exclusive. Anyone could use it. It was being coopted by masons, carpenters and other tradesmen.
Does any of this sound familiar? Many of the clients that I work with can identify with this story.
The meeting between those 13 men took place on February 23rd, 1857. The term they used to distinguish themselves was “Architect.”
That meeting led to what would become the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Over 150 years later the AIA launched its Repositioning Initiative to address many of those same issues.
Today, many of my Architect clients continue to have trouble establishing their credibility and sell their value proposition. Their profession argues about whether to call young professionals ‘Intern Architect’ or ‘Graduate Architect’ or any number of other titles, all the while IT professionals and software developers have co opted the term Architect.
What story is the AIA telling? How could they be telling it better?
How about another one?
TMZ v. NFL
I think it’s safe to say the NFL has a problem right now. They’re a $10 Billion per year brand that employs an army of Marketing and PR professionals and they’ve lost control of their story.
The likes of TMZ, Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Police Blotters across the country have been telling the NFL’s story and I’m fairly certain it’s not the story that Roger Goodell and the team Owners want to tell.
Never fear though, there’s always Pink October; the month that the NFL rolls out one of its most visible and important charitable initiatives. There’s no doubt that The Brass were hoping this yearly content blast would concentrate attention on the story they want to tell rather than the stories that have dominated the headlines.
Have you noticed that stories of the NFL; of legal troubles and breast cancer (I sincerely apologize for grouping those two issues together) don’t speak to the game itself?
Why is that? What is the NFL trying to sell?
Let’s look at another one.
HGTV v. Reality
Are you a fan of HGTV?
Let me just tell you that I HATE HGTV! Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to figure out how to buy a beach house on a budget just as much as the next guy but the story that HGTV tells across its network extends beyond our living rooms.
Many of my clients have been HGTV’d! How many shows on that network tell an inaccurate story about project timelines and project budgets?
I was having lunch a while back with a bunch of students and several practicing professionals. Somewhere along the line someone mentioned HGTV … big mistake.
That was the point when faces started turning red and fangs came out! There was an obvious and passionate dislike for the shows on that network. People were spitting food as they talked about HGTV’s effect on their clients’ expectations.
Whether you know it or not, much of the HGTV programming relies on donated materials and labor. My clients also know that many of the project timelines we hear about in their shows are impossibly short in the real world. They know that renovation didn’t happen in 6 weeks and come in under $200,000.
Unfortunately, their clients are watching these shows too. They’re seeing the story that HGTV is telling.
What effect is HGTV’s storytelling having on their practices?
Ok, one more to contrast the HGTV example …
Cool Spaces! v. HGTV
Have you seen ‘Cool Spaces!’?
In each episode of Cool Spaces!, Stephen Chung talks about 21st Century architecture. But he doesn’t talk about A building or AN Architect. He interviews the clients and the users. We see sketches and models. We get to re-live the process from client interview to grand opening.
Stephen is telling the realistic story of the idea, the conception and the birth of architecture with a capital ‘A’.
How does the Cool Spaces! story differ from the HGTV story? How is the impact on the architectural profession different?
Let’s switch gears for a minute. Let me ask you a different question:
What if you were an Architect at an AIA convention? What if someone walked into the room and said ‘I need a new building’?
They’d be in the right place wouldn’t they? A room full of Architects is the perfect place to begin their search isn’t it?
But think about that for a minute.
A prospective client walks into a room full of Architects … Who is going to win their work?
If I ask you what it is that you do, what do you say?
Remember, we’re 157 years down the road from that meeting in New York City and Architects are still talking about many of the same issues that those 13 men created an organization to solve.
If your only answer to that question is ‘I’m an Architect’ you need to remember that a software developer may say that.
How would you distinguish yourself from other Architects (the building type, as well as the software type)?
Show Your Work!
Let me introduce you to Austin Kleon; he’s an Artist and Author. He’s written three books about creativity. I’d like to talk about his latest … “Show Your Work!”
That title says a lot. Let me ask the Architects out there another question:
What do the non-architects that you work for like the most about architecture?
You may have a different answer but I think that one of the things they like the most is the process. They love all those sketches and models; they love looking at photographs and talking about what they like and don’t like.
What better way to get clients and prospective clients excited about working with you than to “Show Your Work!”?
What better way to differentiate yourself or your firm than by showing your work?
Austin Kleon talks about two different types of people; Vampires and Human Spam. They’re different types of personalities but they’re equally as bad. They’re both takers; they aren’t givers.
A Vampire will spend all their time (and their victim’s time) feeding off creativity. They draw energy from their victim’s ideas and creativity. At the end of the day, their victim is left exhausted and spent while the Vampire is energized and productive.
Don’t be a Vampire.
A Human Spam is a person that takes without giving (like a Vampire). They’re the person that wants you to help them promote their latest project without ever helping you with anything; they’re the one that won’t put in the work (they want you to do it for them).
Don’t be Human Spam.
In my recent article “Succeed With Social Media Marketing By Giving It All Away” I wrote about how we shouldn’t be afraid to share all of our knowledge and expertise.
In “Show Your Work!” Austin Kleon talks about the power of revealing your method, in fact publicly documenting your process. He talks about building influence and gaining attention by being a giver.
Be a giver. Find more clients; engage your network by showing your work.
There are lots of Architects out there doing a great job of showing their work on their websites, blogs, Instagram and other platforms.
How can you tell the story of your work by showing your work?
So if showing your work can attract prospective clients, how do you sell those clients? Better yet, how can storytelling make you more money?
Start With Why
Do you know who this is?
Very few people do.
The reason you don’t know is because of these men …
And this …
In “Start with Why” Simon Sinek tells the story of Samuel Pierpont Langley … and the Wright Brothers. As it turns out, Samuel Pierpont Langley and the Wright Brothers had the same goal; to create a flying machine.
But that’s where their stories diverge.
What’s important to understand about the outcome of their stories is why Langley and the Wrights wanted to create a flying machine.
In 1898 Samuel Pierpont Langley was paid $50,000 by the War Department and $20,000 by the Smithsonian to build a piloted flying machine. That was a huge sum of money for the time. Langley’s notoriety (and the sizeable contracts) attracted a lot of fame and media attention.
I think it’s fair to say that his motivations were obvious.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Wright brothers operated, after-hours out of their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. They had no outside funding. Today we’d say they “bootstrapped” their operation. They didn’t have War Department funding or media attention.
They wanted to build a flying machine because they knew that manned flight would change the course of history.
So here you have two different “businesses” with the exact same goal but with completely different motivations. Their “Why” was different.
I think we all know the outcome of these parallel stories. The Wright Brothers achieved manned flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. Samuel Pierpont Langley abandoned his attempts that same day.
Who’s “Why” was more powerful?
So why is “Why” so important to your business?
“Why” is a critical factor to the success of our marketing efforts because “Why” is what people believe. People identify, relate and pay for what they believe. Sinek says:
“People don’t pay for what you do; they pay for why you do it.”
I believe that Architects are in a unique position to be profitable storytellers. You have so much work to show; so many artifacts to share and so many Architects share the same passion that the Wright Brothers had. You believe you can change the world.
I know this has been a whirlwind tour. I know I’ve framed many of these examples for my Architect clients but the wisdom is transferable so let’s review:
- Everyone has a story. You have a story.
- Are you telling it or is someone else telling it for you?
- Is it the story that you want being told?
- Is your story being told in a way that it excites your clients and prospective clients? Do you show your work?
- Is the story about you and your practice or is it about your reason and your passion?
- Better yet, is your story about your clients and prospective clients?