On a daily basis, we listen through various presentations filled with engaging facts and inquisitive statistical data. Most of these bulleted data points get lost in the magnitude of facts thrown at us over a 45 minute period. When this is over,  you might ask yourself–what the hell just happened?

Non stories may provide important information, but stories have a unique power to move people emotionally and move them to take action. If you don’t believe me, take a look at Tell to Win by Peter Guber. A book about purposeful stories that can serve as powerful calls to action. Think about when you watch a great movie. You listen intently for two hours straight. Not talking, commenting, moving or worrying about the world around you. You’re fully engaged in the story being told.

Last week, I attended the Mckee Story Seminar in New York city. Four intense days of listening to Robert Mckee speak about the principles involved in the art and craft of story design.

Here are some things I learned that could be applied to all writers telling a story:

• Writing story is an art form
• Quality story structure demands creativity; it cannot be reduced to simple formulas that impose a rigid number of mandatory story elements.
• Write alternate scenarios for each draft
• Never repeat yourself – it gets boring
• Trash something if it’s not great
• It’s all about turning points
• Characters need to experience things they have never experienced before
• Conflict is to story as sound is to music
• Don’t write what your audience expects
• Write vividly

These are a just a few things I learned at the seminar and if I list everything, I’m sure most of it would just get lost in the magnitude.

Hi y’all! My name is Richard Alvarez and I’m the San Antonio PR intern. I’m a senior at the University of Texas at San Antonio majoring in Public Relations with a Minor in business administration.

This post is co-authored by Richard Alvarez and Caitlin Gribbons. 

As graduating seniors, we couldn’t be more excited to spend our last semester interning at HB. With over 2,000 miles between the San Antonio and Boston offices, HB has built a sense of community that made us feel truly welcomed and connected.

Want to know a bit more? Read on and find out what interests us.

Q: What should we know about you? Describe yourself in 50 words or less

• Richard: I’m actively involved in a fraternity (Phi Mu Alpha). I’m the oldest of six kids. I detest any form of math. I was on the MTV show RoomRaiders. I hate avocados, sour cream, and olives. I have an unhealthy obsession with Celine Dion.
• Caitlin: My family means the world to me. I love to travel; in the last year I have visited: Florence, Cabo, Jamaica, and B.V.I. Joining a sorority was my best decision in college. I love to cook and I’m quite the artist even though I go to business school!

Q: What is your favorite college course and why?

• Richard: I have two. First was International Films because it opened my eyes to so many different types of films and genres. My second favorite was Campaigns, which explored real PR campaigns that both succeeded and failed.
• Caitlin: My current Project Class for Rue La La, a fabulous Boston based company that offers private sales every day at 11 a.m.—exciting right? I not only enjoy listening to my professor’s British Accent but love that the class combines analytics with creativity.

My name is Caitlin Gribbons and I’m the Boston intern (the Best City Around). I'm currently a senior at Bentley University majoring in Marketing with a Minor in Information Design Corporate Communication and Psychology.

Q: Why are you interested in Public Relations?

• Richard: PR interests me because I enjoy writing and I love talking to people. I have been a waiter for 10 years and talking to the customers and meeting new people is one of the things that excites me about my job every day.
• Caitlin: Agency-life may not include designer clothes and hitting the hottest clubs with my three best friends as portrayed by PR exec Samantha Jones in Sex in the City, but it does encompass a fast paced and ever-changing environment, intellectual freedom, and some of the smartest, most energetic and dynamic people around.

Q: What has your experience at HB been like?

• Richard: From day one, HB welcomed me with open arms. I have learned so much more from sitting in on client calls and creating daily PR reports than I would have from just reading a text book. The camaraderie and sense of family has definitely been evident since I’ve joined.
• Caitlin: Interning for HB has truly been eye opening. I now realize that who you work with can truly make or break an agency’s corporate culture. HBers are: smart, energetic, caring, and creative individuals who are passionate about their clients. They made every day of my internship enjoyable and a true learning experience.

Q: Where do you see yourself in five years?

• Richard: I honestly don’t know where I see myself. The only thing for sure is that I want to be happy in whatever I’m doing and enjoying life with my dog Charcol.
• Caitlin: I hope to be living in downtown Boston and working as an Account Director at a well known Advertising Agency or Marketing Firm. I can also see myself going back to school to get my MBA…there is always more to learn!

Interested in an internship at HB? Contact us to learn more.

• Integrated marketing is back with a vengeance (and PR is part of it): Companies are choosing to work with firms that embrace and incorporate video, design, content marketing, search (SEO and SEM) and other creative tactics, coupling those efforts with public relations programs.
• Video spreads like… a virus? Video is compelling, and websites and social networks now show and share video seamlessly. Companies are creating video at record levels, but not all video is good or accomplishes its intended goals. Successful videos tell good stories and move audiences to specific thoughts or behaviors.
• Curation is not just for museums: Content curation is old school for the social media vanguard, but it is a new focal point for companies looking to develop independent “content centers” on their websites. These news and information centers can drive search, serve as educational portals and fill in the gaps between earned media (media coverage) and paid media (advertising).
• Corporate journalists are in demand: Even the best executive blog posts can’t match the stories that trained journalists create. Larger companies have already started hiring journalists to frame their marketplace, share their information and define their industries through regular, in-depth reporting. This trend will continue as companies see the value in the independent and/or marketing content that staff journalists deliver.
• TV is, well, TV: Broadcast outlets, television and radio, still aren’t capturing meaningful audience share to their websites. Master content creators for TV and radio continue to share redundant information through their websites, social media and branded content, ignoring the web’s major differences and opportunities.
• Content marketing is seeing resurgence in college curricula: There is more hand-on classroom learning and internship opportunity for the next generation of content marketers. We hear about through our great interns and see it reflected in the online presence and savvy of new grads.
• Content marketing budgets are increasing: According to a survey by MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute, 60 percent of companies are increasing content marketing budgets this year.
• White papers are evolving: Moving beyond static, lengthy and dry pages, white papers feature more digestible content, parsed out in smaller nuggets, supplemented and shared using social media. Video is emerging as a slicker, content-rich way to disseminate white paper findings and knowledge.
• Print lives: Despite the troubles within the U.S. Postal Service and the dominance of digital, print marketing has reemerged as a tactile, creative and multidimensional way of sharing stories.
• Truth-o-Meters are getting better: Socially networked audiences waste no time in sharing both good and bad content. Fact-checking, sentiment-creation, good and bad experiences race across mobile channels at unprecedented speeds. This keeps content creators up at night, and rightly so. With audiences so networked and willing to communicate, successful organizations must maintain uncompromising standards of truth and integrity in their communication, all the while keeping their audience interaction rapid and genuine – sometimes a difficult balance.

Interested in reading more about these trends? Please visit the Global Business Hub blog on Boston.com for Mark O’Toole’s extended post.

Last Friday I attended a workshop called “A Practical Experience of Story and Design” put on by the AIGA and presented by Kevin Brooks. I truly did not know what to expect from the workshop and it didn’t matter because, my recent interest in story telling and how to integrate it into our daily lives at HB has been overwhelming. I appreciated learning the key components and processes of telling stories to support our daily work. One of which was using our imagination and trusting the images we create in our head to craft a story instead of relying on our intellect. The exercises I worked on with other participants were eye opening, but the one thing that stuck out most to me from the workshop was Kevin’s opening remark. “The most important part of storytelling is…listening.” I didn’t understand how the two related at first, and then he continued while he had my attention. Here is what Kevin said about the importance of listening:

• Listening well will help you become a better teller.
• You will experience the best in what others are saying by paying attention to their stories.
• Listening well helps imprint the best practices of others, so you can do them too.

The Role of Appreciations
One way of becoming a better listener is to listen to give appreciations. What does this mean? It’s the act of listening to someone speak and then giving feedback based on how you were affected. Here are some examples of giving appreciations:

• Finding and expressing what is good or what you like about what someone said
• Being specific about what was said
• Explaining how what they said affected you positively
• Saying how what they said affected the speaker

Try this:
Listen deeply to someone tell a story. Don’t interrupt them, don’t nod or say, “uh huh,” don’t be concerned about silences–just listen.
I think someone will appreciate you listening to them without interruption and you’ll take away the best of someone else’s story, which you can apply to your own stories. I can’t wait to use this new knowledge in my every day life.

Co-written by Andrea Dunbeck and Justin Hastings

What a week! Now that the panels, discussions, presentations, chats, serendipitous introductions and nightly events have concluded, we attempt to wrap our week in Austin into four central themes that we brought back for HB to make our work (and our clients’ work) more successful.

As a reminder, you can relive all of the action here.

Trust

Andrea spoke about this a few days ago. Throughout our time in Austin, we heard discussions surrounding the idea of audience trust and authenticity. Only when content speaks directly and honestly to the audience will a brand perform well – and this happens over a long, incremental period of time, not in short, sporadic bursts. With the right campaign, trust can be measured through speed and reach – audiences will make quicker decisions through a trustworthy relationship.

“Trust can be measured in speed and reach. Vendors can make things easier in order to solve a problem – therefore, you can work more efficiently and make more money. Reach comes from sharing stories with your friends.” – Liz Strauss, founder of SOBcon and Inside-Out Thinking, from What’s So [Bleeping] Hard About Social ROI?

In fact, multiple presenters talked about getting out of the user’s way, allowing for individual brand experience and exploration. Technology should be calm and unobtrusive, using clean, simple design and user experiences to communicate messages.

“Calm technology is in the background and relaxed. Actions become buttons or are triggered through invisible interfaces.” Amber Case, Co-founder, Geoloqi , from Ambient Location and the Future of the Interface.

Be Bold, Smart and Nimble

Panelists and speakers throughout all our sessions challenged attendees to break traditions, defy standards, go rogue and show change. Shifts in offerings and marketing strategies must become part of an agency’s (or brand’s) DNA, allowing them to act like startups to adapt to constantly evolving industries, media channels and technology.

“There needs to be resistance to hierarchy. Smaller, nimbler teams innovate faster.” – Rei Inamoto, Chief Creative Officer, AKQA, from Why Ad Agencies Should Act More Like Tech Startups

We often heard the recommendation to “fail fast” – testing new ideas, strategies or projects through user research and experimentation.

“Fail quickly. You learn more from what doesn’t work then you do from what does.” – Lance Weiler, Story Architect/Experience Designer, RebootStories.com, from Multiplatform Storytelling: Frontline War Stories.

Give the People What They Want

It all boils down to this. Content strategy, development, distribution and marketing – it’s about getting your audience members what they want, when they want it and how they want it.

Brands are no longer just product and service companies – they are publishers who must provide meaningful, entertaining content to their users (even if the content does not directly tie to the product or service). These same brands must inspire their audiences through unique storytelling – gone are the days when copy, on its own, can create the same experience as a story involving visuals, videos, photography, and media from other platforms.

“What would our audience love to see? Don’t even think about the brand.” – Anthony Batt, President, Katalyst, from Entertain or Fail: Brands as the New Publishers.

The role of the content strategist thus continues to grow across brands and agencies that develop large amounts of content. Increasingly, people in this position will take the lead on new projects. A successful content strategy combines thoughtful workflow and governance (people) with substance and structure (engaging content).

“Nontraditional storytelling through visuals and interactive is becoming what readers want.” – Jill Abramson, Executive Editor, The New York Times, from The Future of The New York Times.

Social

We all think Social is so special. Stop it – it’s not. Social is simply another marketing tactic like advertising or direct mail. So why expect special ROI measurements from social marketing? For many other marketing tools we simply ask, “are profits increasing?” We need not treat Social as an alien, but rather just as another strategy in your marketing toolbox.

“Aren’t we overcomplicating this? What’s the ROI of taking a guy to the golf course or out to dinner?” – Matt Ridings, Co-founder & CEO, SideraWorks, from What’s So [Bleeping] Hard About Social ROI?

The only real difference is that social media allows you to listen to your audience, rather than broadcast to them. So do it – leverage the opportunity to get to know your prospects and customers so all of your communication is spot-on for their needs and interests.

Oh, and “viral” is overrated.

Phew! The week in Austin surely filled our brains with plenty to digest, review and implement in the coming weeks and months. We look forward to SXSW 2013!

Given my work with HB, in which I only work with business to business clients, I was particularly intrigued by the premise of our last session of the day, Everything You Need to Know about B2B Marketing. One of the presenters, Lauren Vaccarello, proposed that trust is exceptionally important for B2B marketers, as these companies often offer products and services with much higher risk than many consumer products, putting more at stake for their prospects and customers.

Take her example, the T-shirt. How much is at stake for me as a consumer to buy a new T-shirt? Maybe the size won’t be right or I won’t like the fabric – I can always return it. Maybe the return policy at the store where I bought the shirt stinks. I could give it to my friend or donate it. In the worst case scenario, I throw the T-shirt away and lose $20. Not so bad, right?

But what about a several thousand dollar software package? Now we’re talking big risks and lots of stakeholders.

Given this, the pressure is on for B2B marketers to build a high level of trust with their prospective customers, and to maintain it with existing customers. But trust doesn’t happen overnight. It starts out small and only grows if you nurture it. This is why, the presenters argued, it is so important to exhaust every resource and tool you can to get to know your audience inside and out. Don’t just use social media to broadcast, leverage the conversations going on in tools like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to listen to who your audience is and what they want. Do some of your customers like what you do? Find out why and tell everyone you can about it. Better yet, let them tell others through social media and case studies. Don’t stop at email marketing and list building, invest in SEO and constantly research your competition. You get the idea.

The energy and inspiration builds at SXSW, and Justin and I look forward to Day 5, our final day, with both excitement and a bit of disappointment. It’s hard to believe the ride is almost over!

1. The volunteer staff continues to amaze. Whenever you’re distressed, a helpful human donning a red t-shirt smiles and asks, “how can I help you?” A great team!
2. The improved weather makes for happier conference-goers. We witnessed a drastic increase in the percentage of smiles since the sun rolled in Sunday morning.
3. The Texas BBQ from Iron Works was fantastic. A down-and-dirty atmosphere combined with fast and friendly service made for a great meal. A must!
4. The night life and culture are other-worldly. For a city that isn’t too big, the number of available restaurants and bars within walking distance is impressive. And everyone is friendly!

We look forward to digesting much of the things we’ve learned over the past few days. I’m sure there will be a “SXSW hangover,” but the creative energy in Austin is sure to provide ample opportunities for myself, HB, and our clients.