Let’s Rebel Against Boring  

“I fell asleep reading a dull book and dreamed I kept on reading, so I awoke from sheer boredom.”

I’d like to start this post by sharing one of my greatest fears in my role as a video producer and content developer.   Are you ready?

To have my content be boring…

You Know…

Dull, uninteresting, flat, humdrum, dull, stale, uninspiring, or just plain…

BLAH!!!!!

I’m hoping that’s not you.

However, the fact is that the web is full of an ample supply of boring crap interrupting our lives on a daily basis.

Plenty of it comes from businesses in the form of advertising or other repetitious marketing humdrum.

I hope you agree that it’s time to write a new script when it comes to business communications.  Our customers want more.  They expect it.

Therefore…

The single most daunting challenge of every content creator, be it a video producer, web developer, blog author, newsletter designer, social media manager or for that matter any business, is to be memorable, to create a memorable event.

…So memorable in fact that your content actually makes a difference to another person.  You help solve a problem, fill a need, or inspire change.

You rock someone’s world!

Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore, authors of the best selling book, The Experience Economy, call memorable events that ENGAGE people in an inherently personal way, EXPERIENCES.

In this article I’ll share some thinking on how to use some principles of experiences and experience design to create more engaging digital communications.

Let’s begin.

Recently I was attracted to a communications effort that was the opposite of boring- one that I would define as engaging and memorable.

Here are some background details.

I began pursuing this new business-learning program a couple of months ago. The media in the program includes 8 podcast (audio recording) and a corresponding transcript.

The business series is about transforming a business into a media company as a component of a new type of marketing strategy.   The theme is ‘Media not Marketing.’

How engaging is this new content?

I look forward to new weekly episodes and at times have even been excited when announcements arrived in my Inbox.  OK … You might be thinking…Bill needs to get a life.  After all, podcast and webinars are a dime a dozen.  Snooooze City… Right?

But really… when’s the last time you were looking forward to an e-mail announcing another episode of business content, that seemed to talk directly to you and your needs.

There’s a lesson here.  Let’s explore in greater detail.

But first, it might be helpful if I put this experience thing into some context for you.

Another words, why the heck is a video producer writing a blog post connecting experiences to business communication.

My Big Find

My journey into the world of experiences began 10 years ago after re-defining the work I do as a video storyteller, as creating experiences.

My interest in the concept peaked after discovering and reading a book called  ‘The Experience Economy-Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage’, and a trip into the Mountains of Colorado for the annual 3-day gathering (conference) of ‘Experience Economy’ practitioners and evangelist.

The journey has been on going since that first book and conference ten years ago. I’ve practically lived and breathed experiences and business experience design.

My big find is the discovery that EXPERIENCES have become the center of the new business landscape and the critical component needed for business differentiation.

Applying an experience perspective to the development of your digital content can be a game changer for your communications initiatives.   It will energize the creation process and help create memorable digital experiences, not more boring and meaningless noise. 

Let’s get back to that engaging new program that has me captivated.

Drum roll please…

The name of the program is “New Rainmaker” from Copyblogger Media, LLC.

I’ll apply a few experience design principles to it, that hopefully will help you start re-thinking the process content creation.

Concept One: Language is Important-An Experience vs. Content

The language you use in defining goals and their specific business outcomes can have a dramatic impact on a project’s success.   My mind goes to a very different place when I think about designing a compelling experience versus writing a newsletter, producing a video or writing a blog post.

The word experience suggests, for me anyway, something more significant, memorable and worth sharing.  It moves the bar in terms of imagining what’s possible.

New Rainmaker is an engaging experience because the program’s producers Brian Clark (The show’s star) and Robert Bruce (co-star) explore new ways, and challenge each other, to be different.  In one their ‘behind the scenes’ episodes, they openly discuss a strategy of using storytelling, theatre, and drama to make their show distinct.

Have you ever thought of your work as theatre or drama  – your business as a stage?

Concept Two: Great Experiences are Intentionally Designed

Robert and Bruce revealed in their episodes that they devoted 6 months planning the design and release of New Rainmaker.  One of their activities during the planning phase included research on current business models and mediums being used by others in the same space. (Competition)

Concept Three: Distinctive Experiences Include Elements from 4 Experiential Realms

The most engaging experiences draw from these four realms.

1. Educational –        to learn

2. Entertainiment – to have fun…. to enjoy

3. Escapist –             to do…to draw in further… to transport guest emotionally

4. Esthetic-               to be… to make your guest want to come in and just hang out…an inviting environment

New Rainmaker emphasizes the educational realm but is more engaging because of the entertainment value that is delivered by the production value designed into the learning experience.  Each episode is scripted and background music edited into the production evoking an emotion of suspense to each learning episode.  Productions are sprinkled with humor, which helps make the learning more enjoyable.

The overall experience is enhanced as it draws from the Escapist Realm.

Brian Clark accomplishes this through the effective use of storytelling.  Most notably, he shares some personal stories that help build trust with his audience.

Often during the 8 episodes, you lose the sense and feeling that you’re listening to a business presentation in front of a computer, to a feeling that you’re in the front row of a theatre.  Great storytelling transports people emotionally.

Finally, there is a touch of the Esthetic Realm mixed into New Rainmaker.  Clark and Bruce deliver a radio like performance in a conversational and personal manner.  Their down to earth style and transparency is inviting and makes you want to hang out and listen awhile longer.

Let me leave you with a final thought and question.

Maybe, business super thinker Tom Peters sums up the importance of business experiences best, in one of his ‘Essentials Book Series called Design.

 “We must understand that experience is a very big word, with far reaching implications, but it is nothing short of the basis for a totally re-imagined organizational life form.”

Are your digital communications defined, fresh, immersive, accessible, significant and transformative?

Let’s rebel against boring communications !  

Guest Author:
William Gibeault of Story Mavericks

Rock your customers- Grow your business

 

 

 

 

 

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