Seeing the Forest Through the Trees: How Storify Extracts Your Story

Hey! My name's Colt.

I've been a Storify producer for a little over a year now. It's been a wild ride, a really wild ride. Just the last year has held so many moments I never saw coming, none of which I’ll ever forget. Although each twist and turn deserves its own blog post, I can say the story usually goes something like this…

It starts with watching a new client walk into our office. Usually a long face, sweat on their brow. They’ve got an armful of files and notes. This is an investment for them, and their business really needs the help - they've exhausted every avenue of growth (mostly expensive ones) and need some fresh ideas. They’ve gotten some concerned comments about their decision to work with a Portland marketing agency selling "story" like it's some kind of magic business elixir. They’re not sure what they’ve just gotten themselves into.

We sit down, all of us. When I say all of us I mean usually anywhere from 7-9 Storify employees. This gives clients confidence because they know they have a whole team of people that care and are invested with them, not just a couple representatives. We all have some casual chit-chat, pour some coffee, and start talking about goals, challenges, and, of course, marketing. But, about 30 minutes into the meeting, their eyes raise from the page. They glimmer gently, and slightly defocus. This is exactly the moment we teach our producers to mine for in any Storify project: the moment of transportation. They’re remembering stories they never thought customers would care about. They’re completely in another world, sending transmissions back to us in the conference room. They don't even notice the wide smiles and furious scribbling going on across the table, as Storify’s creative team springs to life. We can all see that they’ve found their story.

And that's why I think Storify is so vital. It's some "Mr. Miyagi", "Use the force, Luke" type of stuff. The power of Storify isn't that we can tell a good story, it's that we know you can. What we really specialize in is listening. That's where our adventure begins.

The trick to telling a great, engaging story that makes people fall in love with the clients we serve lies mostly in stepping aside. Tempting silence. It’s not that we do nothing, but we do help bring out something that’s been buried and clean off the dirt. There's a truth in everyone, placed there at the very beginning by those larger forces in life, that swallows barriers and traverses the widest gulfs between us.

I think about this a lot. The problem we really end up solving is inertia. People are so busy living their story, they rarely notice it's even happening, or that people care to hear it. It's like looking through baby pictures. “Wow”, you think. “I can't believe I was ever so small, so far away from this moment. What a wild ride.”

Trees, meet forest.

To talk more on engagement and marketing strategies go to our website storifystudio.com and give us a call at (541) 543-0634 today!

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