Bizcast: Bits about books – In Conversation with Park Howell, Business Story Strategist and Author of “Brand Bewitchery”.
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Park Howell is known as The World’s Most Industrious Storyteller. Park is the founder of the Business of Story, a proven platform based on his 10-step Story Cycle System™. His book, “Brand Bewitchery” helps readers clarify their brand story and teaches how to tell it through three proven narrative frameworks to captivate audiences and convert customers. He consults, teaches, coaches and speaks internationally. He has guided hundreds of brands in organizations like Dell, Hilton, Cummins, Walgreens, Banner Health and the United States Air Force.
Park was named Advertising Person of the Year in 2010 by the American Advertising Federation of Metro Phoenix. His popular weekly Business of Story podcast is ranked among the top 10 percent of the most downloaded podcasts in the world. He is a graduate of Washington State University and combines his degrees in communications and music composition and theory to help leaders excel through the stories they tell.
- Over the last 20 years or so the environment of advertising has changed completely. Earlier the brands owned the media, or used it to persuade the masses, ultimately leading to a significant influence over buyer choices. Today, the masses are the media, and they own the communication. Brands find it extremely hard to cut through the noise to have any impact upon buyers’ decisions.
- This is where powerful stories can make a huge difference. Stories can scale. When a brand can tell a story that captivates a small audience to start with, that audience becomes the megaphone and amplifies the story to a wider audience. Such stories have the ability to hack through the noise and hook the hearts of customers. When stories scale they result in word-of-mouth marketing, which is the most powerful type of marketing that exists.
- There are parts of the human brain that just loves to hear stories. Stories have a far greater influence on our minds and decisions than data or information. While a part of our brain has evolved to be able to perform brilliant deductions, another part— an archaic part has not evolved beyond the love for storytelling and listening to stories. “Brand Bewitchery” addresses that need for story and leverages our psychological frame to influence buyer choice.
These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with Park Howell.
Run time – 34.29 mins.