The Business Storyteller Podcast

Every day when you open your email inbox, you're bound to receive a number of marketing emails from the brands that you follow. Have you ever wondered what determines whether you'd open or delete the email? In this episode, we're going to explore that further with Danni Roseman, Content Marketing Specialist at Surfer. At Surfer, Danni focuses primarily on blog management, copywriting, and growth marketing initiatives. Danni is a lover of the written word and takes a uniquely holistic approach to content marketing combining over 13 years of writing and editing experience to create content that has reached people in over 150 countries. Stay connected with Danni on LinkedIn or check out Surfer. Show Notes 00:00 - Intro 01:51 - Danni's career journey from education to content and copywriting 03:10 - Why email marketing still plays an important role despite the rise of other marketing channels 04:20 - The future of email marketing and its potential impact 05:55 - Surfer's approach to email marketing 08:35 - Practical steps to get started on email marketing 11:01 - Challenges to expect in email marketing 13:41 - Top three tips for winning at email marketing 15:59 - Individuals and brands who are nailing email marketing – Eddie Shleyner (VeryGoodCopy), Hannah Baxter (Anxiety Beer), The Hustle 40:39 - Fun questions with Danni

As professionals, we all hang around on LinkedIn but have you ever wondered how you could use LinkedIn more in-depth to make the most of the platform? This episode further explores that question with Konrad Sanders, the Founder, CEO, and Content Strategist at The Creative Copywriter. The Creative Copywriter is a fast-growing content strategy and copywriting agency that blends art with science to help brands like Adidas, Hyundai, TikTok, and Geox sell more stuff. Konrad's mission is to break the boundaries of corporate dullness and help companies pierce through the noise with ‘real talk', ‘word science' and calculated creativity. Stay connected with Konrad on LinkedIn or check out The Creative Copywriter. Show Notes 00:00 - Intro 01:45 - Konrad's career journey and the founding story of The Creative Copywriter 08:25 - The present and future of storytelling on LinkedIn for brands 15:01 - Konrad's '13 Lenses Methodology' for sharpening copywriting 20:13 - The difference between a company and personal LinkedIn accounts for building authority 27:04 - How can storytelling on LinkedIn factor into a brand's top-of-the-funnel content? 30:45 - Top three tips for great storytelling on LinkedIn to build authority 36:43 - How has storytelling benefited The Creative Copywriter as a brand on LinkedIn? 39:19 - Individuals that excel in building authority on LinkedIn - Dave Harland (The Word Man) 40:39 - Fun questions with Konrad

Is there a particular story from a brand that has resonated or stuck on to you? All of us can think of at least one brand that has affected us in that manner. That's indefinitely the outcome of a brand that has been successful in telling a story that sticks with the audience. This episode explores the question with Arthur Jones, Brand Architect at The Art of Standing Out, a consulting agency that adapts a story-driven approach to leadership and business growth. As an executive coach and brand strategist, Arthur believes that our brand stories become our business strategies. Stay connected with Arthur on LinkedIn or check out his website. Show Notes 00:00 - Intro 01:25 - Arthur's career journey and human communications 07:12 - Storytelling for brands in the past and present 11:30 - Digital Darwinism and VUCA - How to navigate storytelling for the future 19:05 - The four-step story process 27:56 - How Patagonia as a brand becomes successful in storytelling 30:16 - Fun questions with Arthur

What draws your attention as a follower of any brands or organizations you're following? Beyond that, what convinces you not just to be a follower but to convert and become a customer of the brand? This episode further explores that question with Emilia Korczynska, Head of Marketing at Userpilot. Userpilot is a product growth platform helping product teams deliver personalized in-app experiences to increase growth metrics at every user journey stage. With Emilia's content marketing background, she loves experimenting with content and SEO, and builds content and outbound ops for her growing marketing team. Stay connected with Emilia on LinkedIn or check out Userpilot's website. Show Notes 01:35 - Emilia's career journey from journalism to marketing 04:55 - The role of storytelling in converting customers 07:48 - Why should brands and businesses care about storytelling with content? 10:24 - Predictions of how storytelling will impact brands and businesses in the future 12:16 - How storytelling with content has benefited Userpilot 15:26 - The challenges of storytelling with content 17:46 - 3 tips for telling a story that will convert customers 21:00 - Brands that are excelling in telling stories with content - Dove, Spendesk 25:39 - Fun questions with Emilia

In this special episode, we'll be speaking with Nick Van Weerdenburg, founder and CEO of Rangle. More than a CEO, Nick is also known as the Chief Storytelling Officer of Rangle. Rangle is a scaled experience engineering consultancy built from the ground up on digital-first talent, team, technology, and agile practices. We'll be hearing from Nick on what it means to be the chief storytelling officer of Rangle. We'll uncover how storytelling forms the basis of Rangle as a consultancy – from promoting their culture internally to their approach in working with clients externally. Stay connected with Nick on LinkedIn or check out Rangle. Show Notes 00:00 - Intro 01:35 - Nick's career journey and how he founded Rangle 03:58 - How storytelling forms the basis of Rangle 09:12 - The concept and role of a chief storytelling officer 13:04 - Why is storytelling important for brands in the present and future? 16:15 - How do stories promote Rangle's culture internally? 24:22 - Rangle's approach in storytelling when working with clients 29:52 - 3 tips for doing storytelling successfully 33:30 - Brands who are nailing storytelling - Uniqlo, Nike, Tesla 37:58 - Fun questions with Nick

In this episode, we're exploring why company culture matters for a fully remote team and I'm delighted to be joined by Rachel Wright, a founder and HR expert living in Berlin, Germany. In Rachel's latest professional chapter at Zengrowth, a fully remote digital marketing agency with a team of 40, Rachel defined and shaped a remote-first culture, first as the Head of HR and then as the interim CEO of the company. Stay connected with Rachel on LinkedIn or check out her website. Show Notes 01:17 - Rachel's career journey from Zalando to Zengrowth 02:49 - Why culture matters for a company? 04:56 - Importance of culture for a remote company 06:08 - How the pandemic has shifted the emphasis of company culture beyond lip service 07:34 - Key lessons from building a culture at Zengrowth 13:12 - The challenge of building culture for a fully remote team 16:45 - How culture has benefited Zengrowth internally and externally 20:58 - 3 tips for building a great culture for remote teams 24:23 - The future of work culture for remote companies 27:47 - Examples from remote companies that are successful in building a great work culture 30:16 - Fun questions with Rachel

Can a brand build its name by being contrarian and opinionated, opposing popular opinion or current practice? In this episode, we will be discovering the idea of being contrarian in B2B marketing with Ilia Markov, who is the Marketing Director at Toggl, a productivity tool that helps teams work better. Ilia will share Toggl's brand positioning in being opinionated and contrarian and how that has helped to build their brand. We will learn how this affects everything they do, from their operation as a team to their product development and marketing strategy. Stay connected with Ilia on LinkedIn or Twitter. Show Notes 01:44 - Ilia's career journey and his personal life in Bulgaria 05:01 - What inspired Toggl to position its brand as being contrarian and opinionated? 09:28 - How being contrarian benefited Toggl internally and externally 13:24 - Practical advice and steps to embrace being contrarian as a brand 17:18 - Lack of conviction and internal alignment are real challenges 19:11 - 3 tips for doing brand positioning successfully 24:40 - Favorite individual and brands that are contrarian at their core 26:27 - Fun questions With Ilia

What is a product, service, interest, or hobby that you love, and what fuels your support and love for them? A popular quote says it best, “People come for the product, but they stay for the community.” In this episode, we explore why community building is a business strategy with Bri Leever, Founder and Lead Community Architect at Ember, a company that helps purposeful brands become community-led. Bri has been formally designing, leading, and growing communities in-person and virtually for over seven years. She has successfully helped a social enterprise, Sseko, to launch and build a community that drives millions of dollars in sales annually for the brand. At the present day, Bri partners with purposeful brands to help them transition to being community-led by crafting a community framework to activate their top customers. Stay connected with Bri on LinkedIn or check out her website. Full transcript: https://piktochart.com/podcast/bri-leever Show Notes 01:53 - How Bri got started in community building 05:18 - Community as a network to connect members to one another 08:04 - The rise of community-led brands and organizations 09:49 - The future of community - growing from a cult to a network 13:46 - Why community building itself is actually a business strategy 17:32 - Launching Piktochart's own community, Piktosquad 21:11 - Start a community by talking to your people 22:54 - Tips for building communities successfully - the three C's 26:33 - Best examples of communities - Lululemon, Lego, Notion and more 29:36 - Fun Questions with Bri

What influences your decision when you're looking to make a purchase? In this episode, we seek to understand what entails referral marketing with Raúl Galera, Partnerships and Business Development Lead at ReferralCandy. Referral Candy is an app that allows e-commerce brands to set up and run customer referral programs. Raul currently leads ReferralCandy's partnership efforts, working alongside agencies, media, and tech companies. Stay connected with Raúl on his LinkedIn or check out ReferralCandy. Show Notes 01:56 – Raúl's Journey Into ReferralCandy 03:24 – Two Main Reasons Why Brands Should Care About Referral Marketing 04:42 – The Future of Brands is to Create a More Engaged and Loyal Customer Base 07:36 – Distinction Between B2B and B2C in Referral Marketing 11:01 – How to Get Started in Referral Marketing 14:29 – Real-World Challenges in Referral Marketing 15:38 – How ReferralCandy is a Solution for Launching and Managing a Referral Program 17:21 – 3 Winning Tips to Succeed in Referral Marketing 20:23 – Baronfig as an Example of Effective Referral Marketing 21:44 – Fun Questions With Raúl

What exactly is social selling and why do brands need this as part of their strategy? In this episode, we speak with Joe Escobedo, founder and CEO of Esco Media, to hear his insights and experience on the idea of social selling. Joe is one of Asia's most respected B2B marketing and sales leaders. He has advised over 12,000 executives, from fast-growing startups to Fortune 500 brands, on building brands and businesses online. On top of that, he has been a contributor for Forbes, Inc, and HuffPost with his articles garnering more than 1 million views. Stay connected with Joe on his LinkedIn or Esco Media's website. Show Notes 01:14 – Joe's Career Journey As a Business Journalist to B2B Brand Builder 02:00 – What is Social Selling? 05:07 – The Importance of Social Selling for Brands and Businesses 07:17 – The Rise of Content Creators 09:04 – Breaking Down ‘The 3C Social Selling Framework' 13:23 – How Social Selling Has Benefited Esco Media 16:05 – Three Challenges to Overcome in Social Selling 19:29 – Three Tips For Doing Social Selling Successfully 22:05 – Brands That Are Nailing Social Selling 24:03 – Fun Question with Joe

What is the secret of crafting product launch stories that will help you go to market and find the right audience for your product? In this episode, we chat with a product launch expert, Daniel Murphy, VP of Marketing at Privy who have organized over 60 launches in his career. Daniel will teach three simple frameworks for crafting your story. As the VP of Marketing at Privy, Daniel leads the brand & product marketing teams. Prior to joining Privy, Daniel helped grow several of today's top startups including Drift, Onshape, and HubSpot. At Drift, Daniel co-authored the book “This Won't Scale” with his marketing colleagues and Privy's CMO, Dave Gerhardt. Stay connected with Daniel on his website, LinkedIn, or Twitter.

The ability to translate complex data into an easy-to-understand visual story is one of the most demanded skills among leaders, marketers, and data analysts. In this episode, we chat with Lea Pica, Data Storytelling Advocate of LeaPica.com to hear her insights on how to go from raw numbers to a simple, clear story that's not only interesting but easy to understand. Lea has taught thousands of data and marketing practitioners how to inspire action and impact, hosts the popular Present Beyond Measure® Show podcast, and blogs at LeaPica.com. She is the creator of the Data Storytelling Boot Camp and PICA Protocol™, her practical prescription for delivering data stories that inform decisions, spark ideas and drive change. Stay connected with Lea on her website, LinkedIn, or Twitter.

How can you master the art of storytelling for your business or brand? In this episode, we chat with an expert, Jack Murray, CEO of MediaHQ, to hear his insights on how to master the art of storytelling for business. As a trained journalist and regular media contributor and podcaster with more than 20 years of experience, Jack has recently just released his debut business book The Magic Slice: How to Master the Art of Storytelling for Business. He uncovers further about the six-step magic slice process that can help business to better tell their stories and other additional communication tips to improve storytelling. Stay connected with Jack on his website, LinkedIn, or Twitter. -- Show Notes: 01:32 - Jack's Journey Into Storytelling and MediaHQ 04:36 - Why Great Stories Get More? 09:10 - The Inspiration Behind Jack's Debut Business Book, The Magic Slide 15:27 - Unpacking The Six Steps Magic Slice Process 20:07 - How Storytelling Has Benefited MediaHQ 22:18 - The Challenge of Consistency and Creativity for Storytellers 24:14 - Communication Tips for Successful Storytelling 25:56 - Brands With Great Storytelling That Inspire Jack 27:00 - Fun Question with Jack

In this episode, we chat with Nicole Miller, Director of People at Buffer, to explore building a great workplace culture. Hear insights and lessons on how Buffer creates their unique workplace culture and the impact on its brand story. Additionally, Nicole also shares three actionable tips for building a great company culture and some of her favorite companies out there that are nailing it with their workplace culture. Nicole has been a part of Buffer for seven years, seeing the team grow from 25 to 95. She's passionate about family inclusion, remote work, and values-driven company cultures. In her spare time, she writes novels and tends her small farm in Southwest Washington state with her husband and two young sons. Stay connected with Nicole on LinkedIn or Twitter. -- Show Notes: 01:32 – Nicole's Journey With Buffer 04:06 – Why Does Buffer Invest in Building Great Workplace Culture? 05:54 – The Impact of Workplace Culture on Recruiting and Employee Retention 08:24 – How Workplace Culture Shaped Buffer's Brand Story 11:09 – Transparency as a Key Value for Buffer Internally and Externally 14:43 – Foundation of Values and Shared Culture Creates Deeper Relationship 16:44 – Setbacks and Challenges in Building Workplace Culture 19:21 – Three Actionable Tips to Build Great Workplace Culture 22:33 – Examples of Companies That Are Nailing Their Culture 23:48 – Fun Questions with Nicole

Your company is more than a name and a brand. It's an ever-evolving product that is iterated by the values you believe in. Like your consumer product, it should adapt to the world around it and to the people who work within it. Understanding how to tell its story is part of the secret to attracting and retaining the key team members you will need to build a great business. David Abrams, ex-CEO at Demio and the current General Manager at Banzai shares how a strong company story can help you both with hiring and onboarding new team members. David has created, built, and consulted multiple SaaS companies and has spent the past few years solely focused on building the most powerful webinar platform designed for growth. Additionally, David used to host the SaaS Breakthrough podcast which provides an inside look at what is working in marketing for SaaS companies today featuring top marketers. Stay connected with David on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Why is storytelling so powerful and how do we use it to our advantage? Presentations expert, Alexander Grabner-Jarlung shares key neurological findings on storytelling and with the help of his own stories induces in us the release of four neurotransmitters of his choice. Over the past decade, Alexander has dedicated and devoted his life to helping people around the world to optimize their ability to communicate with each other. Alexander Grabner-Jarlung is now the Head of International Business at David JP Phillips organization in the USA and a senior consultant at David JP Phillips organization based in Sweden. He has been working all over the world and has met people from all different cultures, letting them become great at communicating with other human beings because it's a skill, not a talent. Find out more about Alexander on his website and stay connected with him on LinkedIn.

Storytelling is a very underrated skill in product management. In this episode from our Business Storyteller Summit 2020, we speak with Melissa Perri, CEO of Produx Labs, a Product Management consultancy, about how product leaders can use storytelling to get buy-in from their product teams and customers. Melissa believes the key to creating great products is growing great product leaders. Committed to that mission, she created the online school Product Institute, where she has shared her scientific approach to Product Management with over 3,500 students. In 2019, she was appointed to the faculty of Harvard Business School to teach Product Management in the MBA program. As a consultant, Melissa works with executives worldwide to set up their product organizations, advise on product strategy, and grow product leaders into Chief Product Officers. On top of that, Melissa Perri is also the author of “Escaping the Build Trap”. Find out more about Melissa on her website. Stay connected with Melissa on LinkedIn or Twitter.

In this episode, we chat with Aazar Ali, a growth marketing expert, to explore how to build your personal brand through authentic storytelling. In the past decade, Aazar has successfully founded two startups and is a field-sales guy turned marketer. He is a specialist at SaaS companies with an ARR of up to 7 million USD. Aazar is the former Head of Growth at Vitals and Userpilot and the host of his own podcast known as Growth Marketing Stories. Stay connected with Aazar on LinkedIn and Twitter. You can also find out more about Aazar on his website.

In this episode, we chat with Mick Griffin, Chief Growth Officer at Traffit, to explore how storytelling can improve employer branding. With 13 years of experience in sales and HR, Mick shares his best practices for storytelling in employee branding and his belief in making the company human again. Mick has served previously as the Chief Revenue Officer at Brand24 and as the Director of Sales at GetResponse. Additionally, he is the founder of a SaaS sales conference, Pipeline Summit, and a mentor at GrowthMentor.com. He has been involved as a mentor in several programs such as Google Launchpad. Stay connected with Mick on LinkedIn.

In this episode from our Business Storyteller Summit 2020, we speak with Esther Choy about why storytelling is vital for leaders to master. Learn how to choose the right story that will help you persuade your audience, structure your presentation to grasp your audience's attention immediately, and how leaders can practice their storytelling skills. Esther is the President and Chief Story Facilitator at Leadership Story Lab. She teaches storytelling to institutional and individual clients who are searching for more meaningful ways to connect with their audiences. Some of her notable clients are United Airlines, Tyson Foods, PwC, Brookfield Asset Management, and US Cellular. Additionally, Esther is also the author of the book Let the Story Do the Work: The Art of Storytelling for Business Success, and her work can be seen regularly on Forbes.com, Virgin.com, and Entrepreneur.com Stay connected with Esther on LinkedIn.

In this episode from our Business Storyteller Summit 2020, we speak with Erik Eklund to hear his presentation about why YOU are one of the greatest assets in your business and in your life. He shares insights on how you can build trust and loyalty with your audience. Erik is the founder of storiesoferik.com. He is a speaker and coach in the area of Human Connections. Over the last 10 years, he has shared his message with teams, business leaders, and entrepreneurs at Louis Vuitton, Shangri-La Hotels, Johnson & Johnson, and the European Institute of Gender Equality. Stay connected with Erik on Twitter and LinkedIn.

In this episode, we chat with Marcos Bravo, Brand Ambassador and Head Video Storyteller of LiveChat to explore the big topic of video storytelling and why businesses need to start investing in it. Marcos is a veteran marketing and brand expert with over 20 years of experience in many industries. LiveChat is a complete customer service platform serving more than 30,000 businesses in over 150 countries. They are trusted by brands such as Adobe, IKEA, Nikon, ING, Atlassian, and many more. Marcos leads a team of content creators for one of LiveChat's YouTube channels, Success by LiveChat, offering business communication guide to take businesses to the next level. Stay connected with Marcos on Twitter and LinkedIn.

In this episode from our Business Storyteller Summit 2020, we speak with Nancy Duarte about using storytelling principles to influence people. From giving others the emotional fuel to get through a day, all the way to pushing the narrative of your company into a new era. Stories are a potent vehicle for influencing people to change, and it's a skill that anyone can master at every level of an organization. Known as “the Storyteller of the Valley”, Nancy is the CEO of Duarte and author of six best-selling books. For over 30 years, Duarte has worked with the highest-performing brands and executives in the world. The insights from those projects get transformed into training everyone can learn from. Stay connected with Nancy on Twitter and LinkedIn.

In this episode, we chat with Maciej Budkowski, Managing Director of ExplainVisually to uncover why visual communication is important for storytelling. Maciej shares his wealth of experience with ExplainVisually, a visual thinking agency that helps brands to be understood better internally by their employees and externally by their target audience. Specializing in complex subjects, ExplainVisually has worked on more than 300 projects with some notable companies such as PepsiCo, Orange, Bain&Co, Carlsberg, ING, Santander, Pfizer, IKEA, Nestle, TESCO, and RingierAxelSpringer. Every day, they transform dozens of boring PowerPoint bullet points into concise, attractive, and visual materials – as part of their mission to help communicate a clear, informative, and attractive message for their clients. Maciej is also the creator of Luminous, his independent project that visualizes the world's best ideas and mental models from a new perspective. Stay connected with Maciej on Twitter and LinkedIn.

In this episode from our Business Storyteller Summit 2020, we speak with Andy Raskin about the importance of CEOs involvement in developing the story, how strategic narrative can positively impact not only sales and marketing but also product, and how a sales deck can become the go-to resource for any company communication. Andy is a Strategic Narrative Expert and he helps CEOs align their teams around a strategic narrative. His clients include leadership teams at Salesforce, Square, Dropbox, IBM, Uber, and Yelp, as well as dozens of venture-backed technology companies. His 2016 post, The Greatest Sales Deck I've Ever Seen which got over 2.5 million+ views has been embraced worldwide as a new framework for company positioning and category definition. Andy's inspiring stories have also appeared on NPR's This American Life and All Things Considered, as well as in The New York Times, Wired, and Gourmet. Stay connected with Andy on Twitter and LinkedIn, or check out his website to learn more about Andy.

Have you heard of the buzzing term known as business storytelling? In the pilot episode of The Business Storyteller Podcast, we seek to discover the fundamentals of business storytelling is and why it is important. Agata Krzysztofik is a startup mentor and a marketing leader with more than ten years of experience developing and executing growth strategies at companies like Google, Groove, and SimScale. Currently, she is the Head of Marketing and Growth at Piktochart, leading a 100% remote team. Connect with Agata on LinkedIn.