Of course I would never call your organization boring, but you may. You see, often when I speak to groups at conferences, or individually to clients about storytelling and communications, they say: “Well, all that interesting stuff might be fine for a fun business like Domino’s or Zappos or Pepsi, but what about us? We’re in life sciences, or IT, or engineering, or widgets. How can we tell stories"
My answer is this: I believe any organization can be interesting if we go to the trouble of uncovering relevant, compelling stories.
Junk. Supply chain management. Solder paste.
Do these
topics sound scintillating to you? Well, guess what: In each case,
organizations have unearthed interesting content despite their “boring” industries.
On his blog, David Meerman Scott showcases the example of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, whose communication geniuses often share content linked to something in the news or a particular season. For example, in the New Year people may resolve to “get organized.” What’s more, the JUNK people focus on customer needs, rather than pumping out bland ad copy. They also tap into the emotions that people feel when they are unburdened by the excess stuff in their lives. We can all learn a thing or two from them.
Kinaxis, a company specializing in supply chain management, employs funny videos, among other tactics, to communicate with customers and prospects. To showcase thought leadership, they publish videos of their managers discussing industry trends. If they can do it, so can you.
And finally, I give you Indium Corporation, whose bloggers, many of whom are engineers, have managed to make the topic of solder paste fascinating.
There you have it: No more excuses. No matter what industry you’re in, you can produce stories. Feel free to share your own storytelling experiences in the comments.
