Can I tell you a story? Advertising storytelling sessions

I love my job.  I love it because everyday is different and I get to meet literally hundreds of interesting people and visit loads of new and interesting places.  I love it because I work with teachers and library staff to create memorable experiences for young people and in doing so challenge myself and those around me to engage creatively.  I love it because of the responses I get from the children and young people I come into contact with.  I love the moment I hit the brief or when an entire room is really (and I mean truly) listening to, participating in or simply enjoying a story or just the little moments along the way; a thank you or just a smile.  I love my job.  I’m not very good at advertising that fact.

In the main storytelling is a pretty solitary business.  We are like snow leopards, rarely meeting other storytellers unless its at some kind of an event.  What other storytellers contact me most regularly about is work and how to get it.  Whilst I don’t have a magic formula here’s my tuppence worth…

Many years ago I was taught the following mantra about classroom management which goes like this: get them in, get on with them, get on with it.  Here I have adapted the mantra for those looking to sell storytelling projects to potential clients.

Get them in – imagine this as the starting point, the hook, the pitch – call it what you will, the objective is buy in and if you master selling yourself you’ll work.

Get on with them – once you’re in its important to have rapport not just with the group you are working with also with staff.

Get on with it – this is your pay off.  Be it fine art or morris dancing,  if you do whatever it is you do really well you’ve given yourself the best chance of a repeat booking or recommendation.

So how can we promote and achieve buy in to what we are doing?

Leaflets and cold calling

I don’t like leafleting or cold calling.  I think its time consuming and ineffective and I’ll tell you why….  Have you ever consider what it must be like to be a takeaway leaflet?  There you are all fresh from the printers crammed with promises of all the latest tasty deals.  What happens to you?  you are stuffed through someone’s door and promptly put in a recycling bin.  Why does this happen?  because the recipient doesn’t want any Chinese food.

Unsolicited leaflet advertising will only be so effective unless you can afford to bombard what you are doing into the intended target’s consciousness (sending multiple leaflets with the same or similar messages) or you can guarantee your recipient is going to be interested.  To ensure that you’ll need to speak to the right person.  Cold calling schools means speaking to school secretaries; the gatekeepers beyond whom maybe work.  You can save time and pay an agency to provide you with this kind of contact information without having to talk to school secretaries but what if they still don’t want what you are selling?

Making a website

The advantage as I see it of a website is that you are in control of its content and therefore your message.  As a storyteller I am able to display photographs to give site visitors a sense of colour and fun, testimonials that give my work credibility and I can outline projects and answer questions so that potential clients are able to make informed decisions about booking.  This is passive marketing.  I am adopting a policy of “If you can’t find the work, let the work find you”.

The problem is the amount of traffic my website receives.  You spend time developing what you think is a flashy looking website but keyword searches consistently take potential traffic elsewhere.  Search engine optimisation (SEO) is big business and you can pay web designers to boost your web search rankings but there are things even storytellers can do to become a top search result.

Paid listings – advertising will provide you with prominent links to your website and increase your traffic (search engine advertising, specialist advertising).  The problem is if your advertise too broadly some of your newfound traffic may just be lost (using keywords, “children story”, someone looking for a book rather than a storyteller might click on your advertising link).

Free listings – putting your listing into free advertising spaces may yield success.  The following is an example of a free link to my website which was created by another storyteller relating to storytellers working in London.

Find a storyteller in London: a list of storytellers

Keywords and content – if you hit upon a unique phrase or keyword traffic will be directed from a search engine to your website.  Equally filling your site with unique and interesting content may lead to more traffic (I get traffic to my website because of blogs and videos about Tim the Ostler.  Unfortunately these people tend to be studying Alfred Noyes poetry rather than looking for a workshop).

Active social media – An active social media presence will mean people are regularly reminded of the work that you do.  Likes, shares, retweets and follows all help to get the word out there (so when you’ve finished reading this, do me a favour and subscribe to my Youtube channel!).  Some people link their social media to their website content making this process less time consuming.

This leads me to what I believe to be the most powerful form of advertising…

Word of mouth recommendations

A person who watched what you do and how you do it makes a recommendation explaining what made you special and so a chain begins.  Word of mouth recommendations are like gold dust and fortunately in spite of the fact that at times I can be a tongue tied bumbler I’ve received a few over the years.

Reading back over what I’ve written it sounds like marketing a story successfully you’d have about as much chance as a salmon heading up a bear infested river but that’s not at all true.  Some of the best storytellers I ever met don’t have websites or even bother with marketing.  So what am I saying about selling stories?  That there’s no point?  Leaflets and websites are merely a glossy platform for promoting your creative ideas.  To achieve the buy in the interactions with potential clients should be as unique as the story that might be told.  Its about opening a dialogue about creativity; offering imaginative formats and fantastic content all mixed up with a healthy dose of enthusiasm and honesty as in the end no one’s booking a manicured sound byte.  If we place the emphasis on enjoying the experience of working with storytellers the rest will follow because the unique selling point of John Kirk – Storyteller is John Kirk.