B2B communications

Stories that make readers feel something are more likely to be remembered. So check your corporate storytelling for basic human emotions. Noted psychologist Robert Plutchik said there are eight primary emotions along with secondary and tertiary emotions. The eight primary emotions are: Joy Trust Fear Surprise Sadness Disgust Anger Anticipation Let’s look at an example. In a […]

Corporate storytelling must have a business purpose and a business context. Do you know your story’s WHY or reason for being? Try this formula:  Fill in the blanks of the following sentence to create a purpose statement that will guide your corporate storytelling from start to finish.   The purpose of this story is to show how […]

Corporate stories are no different than any other story. They simply have a business purpose and a business context. When it comes to corporate storytelling, it’s important to know and apply the basics — whether you’re writing B2B articles, interviews, content, collateral, websites or white papers. Here are five corporate storytelling fundamentals you should know. Who are the characters in […]

If you deliver a keynote as part of a larger meeting or conference, sending out a quick survey right afterward is a great way to begin judging whether your message has begun to resonate with your audience. After the surveys come back, it’s well worth your time not only to review the quantitative results but […]

When is a corporate story more than just a story? When it’s conceived and written with purpose: to help a CEO advance his or her top priorities for the organization. This month I ran a little experiment by reviewing corporate stories written for an organizational client over the last 16 months. I wanted to take […]

When your team has to write a high-stakes document such as a white paper, e-book or case statement, what’s your approach? How do you avoid going in multiple directions and producing an endless number of drafts? How do you get input and feedback from leaders on your team — and be efficient at the same […]

The client on the end of the line was desperate. The clock was ticking, and internal attempts to write high-stakes brand content as a team weren’t working. Could I assist? I met with the client to discuss the scope of work. “What writing process have you used to work with the subject matter experts on […]

Worried whether your speech has the power to connect with listeners from very different backgrounds and levels of experience? Jump-start your thinking with these seven steps based on a Cicero Speechwriting Award-winning keynote that resonated with 250 men and women from age 18 to 80.   When Barbara Hayde — former president of The Entrepreneurs […]

Your audience will thank you if you skirt the predictable – and instead give them something to think about or act upon after the evening is over. For many executives, receiving an award is a good news, bad news thing. First, the good news: “Congratulations! You’ve won an award for your outstanding achievements!” (And now […]

Yet again this week – for the third time in six months – I heard another colleague complain about a problem threatening her company’s reputation, sales and future growth: “Our new website design? “It’s so AWESOME!  “We absolutely LOVE our website design firm, and the new look and feel they created for us. “But our […]