Ask Dave Taylor: Tech and Business

Tuesday

Tell me a story, don't sell me a product!

I had lunch today with an interesting chap who is between gigs (a fancy way of saying "unemployed", I know) and we started talking about his deep and extensive knowledge of the medical and pharmacological industries from a marketing and business development perspective, and how it overlapped with his background and legal training too.

When he got around to explaining how he's trying to find a job but hasn't landed anything yet, I wasn't surprised when he asked for my suggestions on how he might leverage the blogging phenomenon to help generate both visibility in his target marketplace and some income.

What stuck in my head, however, was that his background gave him a unique ability to tell an interesting story. After all, isn't the best marketing and, yes, even public relations, fundamentally all a throwback to our days around the campfire trying to influence and sway people based on our ability to communicate in a more interesting and engaging manner than the next person?

Then I thought about how some work I'm doing with entrepreneur and gadabout Jeff Miller on his Senior Safety Blog really boils down to the same thing: while his company may sell emergency notification devices for the elderly and infirm, it's the stories that...