We tell stories every day — when we pitch the company to investors or demo products to customers. Using the tips and techniques shared by the panelists will help anyone create a presentation, paper or plan that is more memorable, and ultimately, more effective.

Here’s a link to the article I wrote, in PDF form: http://bit.ly/EffectiveStorytelling

Please feel free to share and redistribute as you like!

This Facebook page was obviously created without much thought given to maintenance.

I was browsing through Facebook the other day and came across the page of a local motorcycle dealership. I knew things were slow in the industry, but if the activity on this dealer’s page was any measure, you’d think it was flatlined.

I’m sure you see this all time time. A blog with two entries, two months apart, then nothing. A company website with news from 2005 on the front page, labeled “Hot.” A YouTube “channel” with one video. Talk about repetitive programming.

I wasn’t at all surprised then, when I came across this article from the New York Times, stating that fully 95% of all blogs are abandoned after six months. I’ll be the one year attrition rate is 98%.

We’ve lowered the content publishing bar to the ground, but the amount of effort it takes to create content, especially engaging content, hasn’t changed. If anything, the bar has been raised higher by the sheer volume of blogfodder.

The lesson here is simple. If your company plans to engage the online world through any means, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, whatever, make a simple plan to publish content on a consistent basis; a publishing calendar.

Whatever you do, don’t make it complicated, at least, not to start.  It just takes four ingredients: contributors, content, channels, and dates.  Here’s a sample for Wee Bee Rings, Inc., a premium manufacturer of shower curtain rings.

This is a simple matrix that anyone can create in minutes. I’ll bet a creative team of just two or three people could brainstorm enough simple posts to fill this calendar for a quarter’s worth of content in a half hour’s time.

The benefit is that this matrix gives you a instant management tool to help you visualize gaps in your content development or promotion strategies.  It also helps ensure that you are spreading the load around so that no one person has to manage all the content for all the channels. Unless, of course, your company is big enough to hire someone to do that for you. Lucky you.

If you look carefully at the dates and the channels, you’ll notice that some channels, like Facebook, are better served if they’re updated daily while other channels like your corporate blog, are fine if they are updated less often.

This matrix does not capture the positive impact of cross-channel posting. For example, if your blog is linked to Facebook and to your industry forum, a notice about Bob’s 1/25 entry into the corporate blog will propagate to the other two channels, multiplying the visibility of your content manyfold.  There’s also no reason why that white paper can’t be posted to your blog and thus, to Facebook, too.

A simple tool like this will help you whether you use it to develop a schedule of consistently update channels, or whether it causes your company to realize that web publishing, like anything else of value, doesn’t happen solely at the push of a button.

What do you do to promote the consistent creation, publication and promotion of content in your organization?  Share your thoughts!

Thank you for purchasing "best quality rpoduct." You satisfaction garantee!

Does your company offer a product or service that requires a user guide?  On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the quality of your user guide rate compared to the quality of your product? Okay, now, how would you rate that guide if it was the only form of collateral you had available to market your product? No, you can’t use negative numbers.

I realize user guides aren’t sexy, and by the time your product passes beta testing, you’re probably anxious to get it out the door. User guide development becomes an afterthought.

Like it or not though, any document you produce that comes in contact with your customer is a marketing tool; user guides included. The quality of the guide you publish is a reflection of the care and thought put into your product.

A hastily assembled  guide raises a red flag in a customer’s mind. If user documentation is poorly organized and hard to follow, what shortcuts went into the design and development of the product? On the other hand, a thoughtfully-produced, concise, and user-friendly reference is an asset that pays dividends in reduced customer support costs, better buzz on user forums, and recognition in product reviews.

Unless your development process is entirely broken, you don’t need to reinvent the user guide development process, and you don’t need to spend a bundle to get a great guide. Here are a few thoughts that will help you improve the next guide you produce.

Find out what’s important to users, then prioritize the development of your guide around that feedback.  We often do this for the development of the product, but not for the documentation. What features require the most guidance to master? What are the most frequently used portions of your system? What do your metrics and logs show? What do people search for in the support section of your website?

You can gather some of this feedback by talking to users, but much may already available from your website analytics report, support forums, and help desk tickets.  Analyzing and abstracting this information will help you create a user guide priority list.  Perhaps you need to address a particular software feature differently, discuss it in more depth, or offer more examples.

When writing a new guide or revising an old one, adopt a conversational tone that involves and assures the reader. If you want some great examples of this, pull out a copy of a user manual for a common product, then pick up a copy of the O’Reilly companion guide.  I’m working through Sharepoint right now.  Microsoft’s documentation isn’t bad, but the O’Reilly title, Essential Sharepoint 2007, is better. It’s written in a comfortable but reassuring style that gives me a little confidence boost as I work through the examples to complete a particular task.

Try new user-generated models to build your documentation. Have you done a search on your product to see if user-generated documentation already exists? There may be a growing body of content available for you to use as a basis for your own effort. Not only that, if you have cultivated a significant online following, you may be able to use tools such as a wiki to encourage users to develop documentation that can serve as a model for your own.

Consider new forms of documentation altogether. It’s never been easier or cheaper to create new forms of interactive documentation.  If you produce a physical product, consider producing a series of how-to videos.  If your product or service is software-based, take a hard look at creating screencasts to show users how to perform those frequently used tasks.  Producing these items serially also offers you a way to stay in front of your customers. Here’s a sample of screencast documentation for a blog template called “Thesis.”

These are just a few ideas for producing better documentation for users. What are your ideas? What have you done to improve the user guide experience for your customers? Has it made a difference in the mind of your customers?

I know, your first reaction is probably “Video is expensive, I can’t afford that.” Patience, my friend. Keep reading and I’ll offer you some guidelines for creating a great video on a tight budget.

I’d like to offer this clip as an example, built for the online retail business I use as a lab for online marketing experiments. After a year, it continues to generates sales, month after month. Since this video went online a year ago, it has generated sales three times over our previous mark for this product. That’s especially impressive considering the economic headwinds working against it.

Why It Works

I think there are three primary reasons why this video is effective. It’s not perfect, but it does do one thing very well. It SELLS. Here’s why.

The video is narrowly focused. If I were to produce a complete tutorial on how to tow a trailer with a motorcycle, I could spend an hour or more. In addition to adding a hitch, I could have discussed how to wire the bike to run the trailer lights, how to hook up a trailer and tow it safely, etc. However, my goal was to offer a specific insight into how this particular hitch installs, so I limited the discussion to that specific topic.

The tone of the video matches the medium and the audience. No one expects a lavish, slick production for a how-to video like this, so it made no sense to invest that kind of money. On the other hand, in looking at other user-generated how-to’s, I felt like a few simple steps could elevate the quality of this video at no real cost (I’ll discuss those later.)

Finally, the video clearly demonstrates value.  It addresses the most specific concerns my customers have for this type of product.  1) How will this product look on my bike when it’s installed and 2) How easy is it to install?  By the end of the video you have no doubt about either question.

Finding A Style

Every video I now produce for Open Road has a similar self-narrated format.  Like any artistic expression, this particular approach took some time to evolve.

When I first started shooting these videos, I tried the standard “This Old House” approach, wearing a clip-on wireless mic and offering commentary as I did the demonstration.  This method was, to put it plainly, frustrating as hell.  I had to not only think about what I was doing, but also how to explain it at the same time. In order to sound even marginally credible, I’d reshoot a particular step a couple of times until I got the audio just right. Working in a noisy environment often spoiled my takes.  I was about ready to ditch the whole thing.

I came back to the project a few weeks later with a fresh approach.  I cut the video down, including shots that only included actual installation steps.  I then recorded a narrated audio track to replace the audio shot during the demonstration.

This offered many benefits.  When I did a installation, I had only to concern myself with one thing: getting clear video shots. I didn’t have to explain and work at the same time.  I didn’t have to worry about extraneous noise.  I could just focus on filming the steps and take care of the rest later.

This format works for product demos and other instances where it’s not critical to hear directly from the person who’s being filmed. The fact that you never fully see the installer’s face for more than a second or two injects just the slightest bit of mystery into the video. Who is that guy doing that install?  Is he a candidate for The Bachelor, or The Hunchback of Notre Dame? (For the video above, it’s clearly the latter.)

Time and Equipment Notes

Overall, this video required about eight hours to produce.  It required one hour to shoot the raw footage.  It took about an hour to digitize and log the clips into Adobe Premiere.  I spent about two hours developing and recording the narration. I then spent a final four hours editing the results into a final product with very simple titles (reusable) and only ONE video transition effect, the classic “dissolve.”

My equipment consisted of a Canon Optura 20 consumer grade DV format camera and an Audio Technica AT-822 stereo microphone.  Neither is expensive, nor exotic. I used the microphone with Adobe Audition to lay down the audio tracks, but any sound editing software would have done just as well.  The music tracks from the Fresh Music library added a nice professional finishing touch. Fresh Music tracks are royalty-free, sound great, and inexpensive.

Making It Better

Over time, I’ve continued to evolve this format to make it better. In particular, I continue to look for ways to make these videos more effective at motivating viewers to take action.  For example, I’ve added marquees to some videos to encourage viewers to mention the video when they order. I’ll try other techniques as I built out the complete library. I’m sure my videos will never equal that of a professional video production company, but I’m not looking to win an Oscar. I just want them to be good at one thing: closing the sale.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a video, even a simple one, can be worth a million bucks.

Comments? Questions?

Have you self-produced a video for your company that has been really effective? Post it here and share what you think makes it successful!

Naturally, I’m available to help your organization create lead-generating, cost-effective videos. Just give me a shout!

Wanna bet? Here’s a simple test. I call it the “All About We” test.

Open any page on your website that describes the services you offer your clients.  Count how many times you refer to your company, then count how often you tip your hat to the reader.

Let’s look at an example. Here’s a pretty common company description.

At XYZ Corp, we specialize in software security and quality. Since 1992, our expert consultants have implemented programs that ensure our clients’ software is secure and reliable while enabling them to dramatically improve how they build and deploy software. As thought leaders in the fields of software security and quality, we provide expert advice across the enterprise based on a combination of proven methodologies, tools, and best practices to meet each client’s unique requirements.

“We” Count: 5

The Reader: 0

Now, I’m not saying you should never mention your company, but the third-person tone of this content keeps your reader at arm’s length. How about simply recasting it to make the reader the central character in this paragraph?

XYZ Corp specializes in the security and quality of your software. Since 1992, our expert consultants have implemented programs that ensure your company’s software is secure and reliable while enabling you to dramatically improve how you build and deploy software. As thought leaders in the fields of software security and quality, we provide expert advice across the enterprise based on a combination of proven methodologies, tools, and best practices to meet your unique requirements.

“We” Count: 3

The Reader: 5

Doesn’t that feel warmer? Isn’t it nice to feel included? It’s natural to write in a possessive, dispassionate voice, especially when technically-oriented people are writing the copy. The alternative copy doesn’t change the meaning of the paragraph, but is much more likely to help the reader picture themselves employing your services.

Does the copy on your website involve your reader, or does it make them feel like they’re standing on the outside, looking in?  What strategies do you use to draw your readers in and make them feel involved?

Yeah, I’ll explain.

The beauty of a content-driven online marketing strategy is that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get great returns. That’s “do more with less.”  And, once you get the pump primed, you’ll find it takes less effort to  increase returns as your content library grows. That’s “do less with more.”

But hold on a minute, you say. Doesn’t it cost more to continuously develop content for a website?  Not really. Your company already has the subject matter experts needed to create interesting, provocative white papers, thoughtful articles, engaging webcasts, and insightful blogs.

You likely already have all the tools you need to gather, publish, and distribute content; a browser and a camera. Publication costs are, frankly, negligible. If you spend a little on distilling and packaging that content into a lasting asset that furthers your online marketing strategy, it’s an expense worth incurring.

Over time, you can begin to shape the content you produce for one purpose with an eye toward recycling it for future use on your website. This saves even more costs and, in the spirit of the green movement, is a way to wring more value from your precious human capital.

How do you do less with more? What types of content does your company recycle for online publication?

On occasion, one of the mechanics at my motorcycle shop would help us out at a bike show, talking with potential customers about our customized trikes. He was technically proficient and made a good impression with customers, so it was a bonus having him there.  At the end of the day, every day, he’d walk up to me and with dead certainty he’d say “Well, I just sold a trike today.”

Really? That’s great news! Did you take a deposit? Did you get them to fill out a form for our prize drawing? Did they sign up for our newsletter?

“Well they said they were definitely interested and said they’re going to call some time next week.”

Oh. Gotcha. Now you know as well as I that the chances we’d ever hear from those folks again were unlikely. It’s possible, but I certainly wouldn’t be posting it to my monthly sales.  My mechanic, good as he might be with a wrench,  could not distinguish between polite interest and serious intent.  Ultimately, he was not well equipped to lead that person down a path that would enter them into the sales funnel.

There are many corporate websites that make the same mistake, serving the needs of the curious while offering few means for the serious prospect to step up and identify themselves.

It’s important to satisfy both types of visitors, but which are the most important? Your website might offer a good depth of product information to visitors, enough to satisfy the same type of person who takes your brochure out of courtesy at a tradeshow, but does your site adequately serve the person who develops a further interest?

Think about your own web browsing experiences for a moment.  Have you ever, in the middle of reading a web page, arrived at the conclusion that you are ready to buy or decided that you needed to contact the company for more information? What happens next? You begin looking around the page for a telephone number, an “Add to Cart” button, a “Contact Us” link.   You’re no longer a visitor, you’re now a prospect and you feel an urge to take action.

Whether the company learns of your conversion experience depends on whether their website adequately serves the needs of the visitor who has moved from browser to buyer.

Again, in your own experience, what happens when you’ve made that follow-up decision but can’t easily find that follow-up phone number or contact form? You might look for it briefly, but more often you leave.  And unless that company is uniquely qualified to serve your needs, they will likely never hear from you.

How does this happen? It’s probably because your mechanic is running your website.  (Maybe you’re the mechanic?)  The content on your website is rich, it is deep, it contains enough details to more than satisfy any question any potential buyer might have. But if the copy on your website does not offer a clear path for the visitor with a newly-formed motivation, your site will not be the efficient lead-generating machine it could be.

There are several things you can look at on your own website to determine how well you are serving the needs of visitors with intent.

1) How well does your website lead visitors to action?

2) What actions do you make available to the visitor?

3) How visible are those actions on the page?

4) What measuring devices do you have in place?

When you take a cold, hard look at your site from the perspective of an outsider, you may find your site is like a store with a large front window display and no visible means of entry.