How Many Words?

Marianne Gadeberg

I’ve been reading a few things recently, and written a few things, too, that have prompted me to reconsider this question: How many words to write?

One of the first courses I attended at university was “The History of World Literature” (I guess nothing less could do), and in the very first class, the professor showed us pictures of papyrus rolls, of the first few bibles copied down by hand, and of Gutenberg’s printing press. The point he was trying to get across was that every time there’s been an evolution of media, of form, the content has also changed.

It’s generally believed that the introduction of digital media has pushed content to be briefer, quicker, and more superficial. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, websites – they have content, but it’s short.

In my work, I also adhere to this rule of thumb: If it’s for the web, make it short. Partly because we think people’s attention span is short, partly because we think the medium doesn’t handle the long form well.

However, then I came across this. It’s an article about The Atavist, a new, small, venture that looks for ways to present long-form content in the digital age.

Evan Ratliff and Nicholas Thompson, a Brooklyn-based writer/editor duo, are behind the idea.

“In the digital realm, there is infinite space, but somehow this hasn’t resulted in a flowering of long-form content.” Ratliff explained to the New York Times.

The Atavist offers long original non-fiction articles for download to iPad/iPhone/iPod, Kindle, and Nook, and they take advantage of the opportunities the digital medium brings to add video, voice, photos, etc. According to the New York Times, they do it very well.

This made me think: When I read online, I often read long content. It’s not even “spiced up” by using the media to its fullest, like that of The Atavist, but I often spend entire Sunday mornings reading long articles online. One of my favorite resources is this always-evolving list of the best magazine articles ever written.

So what does this mean? It may be a matter of quality: The list of the best magazine articles ever, the articles from The Atavist, the New Yorker, the NY Times – the writing these places make available in the digital form is long, but it’s also very high-quality writing.

Form influences content, I have no doubt, but perhaps digital media does not dictate only short content. It’s just that if you want to make it long, you better make it good.

Chatroulette Love Song: Viral Video — uR doin it Rite

Marianne Gadeberg

Rune Iversen is a Danish guy who recently wrote a thesis on viral videos. After submitting his work, he decided to test if he could produce a successful viral video himself, using the principles he outlined in his thesis. He started working with a friend, Jeppe Vejs, and together they wrote the Chatroulette Love Song.

Indeed they were successful in producing a viral video. In just these past two days, the video was viewed almost 800,000 times on Youtube.

In an interview, Rune says that it took two and half months of preparations before shooting the video. It’s filmed in just one shot, and the set-up is completely genuine: The girl randomly came up on Chatroulette, and off they went.

The secret to making a successful viral video? “Make something that gives people a story that they feel. Make people happy, make sure your content is good,” Rune says.

It’s great to see people use the power of story in such a successful way. I’m pretty sure that marketers around the world will be going bananas for these guys’ talent.

Tips on Writing a Press Release

Marianne Gadeberg

I think that when writing a press release, there’s really one key principle that rules them all: Write what your intended audience is interested in reading.

It’s a bit tricky, of course, because any press release will really have two sets of audiences: 1) the reporters and bloggers who you want to pick up your press release, and 2) the people who read what the reporters and bloggers write. Hence, you have to keep these two different groups in mind when writing.

For the reporters and bloggers, it’s important that your release is actually communicating news. If it’s not new (an event, a new product, results, new staff, etc), then they won’t use it. Secondly, it’s my impression that it’s important for reporters that the press release comes in the standard format, which is easy and quick to process. Adhering to the standard format also gives you some credibility and makes the release seem professional.

I have found this post from Taming The Beast useful in terms of outlining the standard format of press release.

The final tip on getting your release picked up by reporters or bloggers is more technical: SEO. It doesn’t necessarily take a long time, and it pays off to spend some time optimizing your release for search engines. Google’s Keyword tool is helpful in this process. Add links, photos with ALT text, meta-tags and custom URLs and you further increase the chances of coverage.

Writing for your second audience, the people who will read what the reporters write, is mostly a matter of spinning the content of the release the right way.

Imagine two overlapping circles: One represents the news you have; the other represents your intended audience’s interest. As an example, let’s say that your news is a new product, a mobile phone. Your audience, in this case, will be potential buyers of the mobile phone. It would be in their interest to know details such as pricing, network coverage, available providers, features, speed, battery time, etc. Where the two circles overlap – your news and your audience’s interest – is the content of your release.

All this to say, write what your intended audience is interested in reading.

Tell Stories and Raise Funds — storytelling applied for non-profits

Marianne Gadeberg

It is the sense of connection between you and a certain cause that makes you donate to that cause. At least that’s a long-standing premise of non-profit fundraising.

Seeyourimpact.org, a young Seattle-based non-profit, is using a very personal and tangible form of storytelling to establish the connection between donors and benefactors; effectively making more funding available for life-saving programs.

FastCompany featured their site this week and explained how it works:

Aminata with her new bike -- read the story on SeeYourImpact.

“The model is simple–a donor logs onto the SeeYourImpact website, chooses what type of gift to send–be it a water pump, malaria bed net, wheelchair, or bicycle–and within two weeks the donor receives a brief write-up and photograph capturing the moment the recipient received the gift. And it’s the simplicity, the reward, and the cost–gifts on average range from $10 to $30–that is helping word spread about the non-profit.”

SeeYourImpact has a number of personal stories from past beneficiaries available on their site. Strictly speaking, the write-ups are rather little personal updates rather than actual stories. Still, it seems obvious that hearing from the one person you had an impact on, and seeing their photo, helps establish the personal connection that is crucial for charity giving.

Goetsch, the organization’s Communications Director, mentions exactly this connection as what is missing in modern philanthropy:

“Non-profits have found that breaking development down into tangible concepts engages people. But they haven’t harnessed the power of connecting every donor to their specific impact. The feedback on impact, the personal connection–these are missing in philanthropy today.”

The other advantage of these little impact stories is that they are pieces of powerful, compelling content, which can be easily shared online. Furthermore, if we imagine that more energy was put into refining each story, personal stories like these could also go viral and create enormous attention for a cause online.

However, I won’t fail to mention that while this model seems ingenious, especially because SeeYourImpact promises that 100% of your donation will go to the people in need and none to cover the organization’s overhead cost, there’s a potential ethical concern here. Are these stories too personal? Is the connection between donor and beneficiary too immediate?

There is a fine line there, between the end justifying the means and preserving the integrity and privacy of the people in need. I was happy to see that SeeYourImpact has given thought to this and prohibits contact between donor and beneficiary without the organization’s involvement, and that they reserve the right to change the names of children under the age of 18.

Once precautions like these are in place, using personal impact stories in fundraising will be a very powerful way to connect with donors.

Every impact-creating organization will have compelling stories to tell; it’s only a matter of beginning to tell them.

Marketing Talk in Vientiane Retold – and a New Book on the Power of Story

Marianne Gadeberg

How to make your marketing as successful as that of Nike or HP? That was the premise for my talk on storytelling and marketing at the Laos Business Meeting last night.

To illustrate some of the most important storytelling principles, when talking about storytelling in marketing, I showed Nike’s “Write The Future” commercial. This video was created as part of Nike’s campaign for the World Cup last summer.

In the first week after this commercial was released, it was viewed more than 11 million times on Youtube, and the number of Nike Facebook fans rose from just over 1 million to just over 3 million.

The commercial was (and is) so successful in part because it tells a very compelling story. It effectively grabs our attention, takes us on a journey, and leaves a long-lasting impression.

After the talk, we had an interesting discussion about whether or not the storytelling technique can be successfully applied in a Lao context. I think that we are already seeing some examples of applied storytelling here, and likely it is a phenomenon that will quickly catch on. Storytelling is an age-old form that has brought people together since the beginning of time, and I have no doubt that storytelling will remain a powerful technique, also in Laos.

Which brings me to the next piece of news: A new book, by Peter Guber, on the power of story, was released today. “Tell to Win: Connect, Pursuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story” collates everything that Guber, a Hollywood legend and successful film producer, has learned about storytelling.

In Guber’s view, storytelling is an universal tool:

“In any situation that calls for you to persuade, convince or manage someone or a group of people to do something, the ability to tell a purposeful story will be your secret sauce. Telling to win through purposeful stories is situation, industry, gender, demographic, and psychographic-agnostic.  It’s an all-purpose, everyone wins tool.”

I’ll leave you with this bit of insight on “the secret sauce”, which I predict we’ll see applied more and more here in Laos and Southeast Asia. Drop me a note if you see any good (or not so good) examples that I should know about.

Talk on Storytelling and Marketing in Vientiane

Marianne Gadeberg

On Tuesday, the 1st of March, the second incarnation of the “Laos Business Meetings” will be taking place. I’ll be giving a presentation on how to use storytelling in marketing.

While most businesses or NGOs in Vientiane likely do not have a marketing budget similar to (or, really, anywhere near) that of Nike or HP, there’s nothing that holds them from using the same techniques that these giants are applying. Consequently, ripping the benefits of successful marketing. It takes little more than a slightly different way of thinking to apply storytelling techniques in your sales materials, presentations, or newsletters, and the power of story will allow you to better connect with your audience and to have a long-lasting impact on them.

If you’d like to learn more, please join us on Tuesday. I hope to leave enough of an impact on my audience that everyone will be able to go home and apply the storytelling techniques right away.

The meeting is at Khop Chai Deu (near the fountain). It will start at 6.30pm and is open to everyone.

Hope to see you there!

Take the Time to Listen

Marianne Gadeberg

Stories are best heard, and told, live. Still, this video, with story by Studs Terkel, is an inspiring and worthwhile reminder:

The Human Voice from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

StoryCorps is one of now many organizations that gather and share true, personal stories. Visit their website to listen to more stories. Or move away from the screen, go see real people, and listen to their stories.

Enjoy your weekend!

Where To Go for Print Services in Vientiane

Marianne Gadeberg

If you find yourself in Vientiane, Laos, looking for a place that delivers decent print services, this post may be helpful to you.

Last week, I was looking to print a new set of business cards. I had seen a place in town advertising printing and “name card express”, and because of its convenient location I decided to have them print a small batch of business cards for me. Their service was indeed fast, and also cheap, but the product didn’t live up to my expectations: the printing was smeared, the cutting was crooked, and the paper unexpectedly had a silvery glitter feel, which wasn’t what I was looking for.

The road that takes you to Savang Printing.

Dismayed, I went searching for one of the two big printing companies that I knew should be located close to the Russian Circus. One is Savang Printing, which allegedly is the number one printer of books in Laos – the other is Nakhon Luang Vientiane Printing, which prints many Lao newspapers and which is the only printer in town authorized to print Lao passports.

I was on my bicycle, and even though I’ve always found myself to be a reasonably capable navigator, I find it difficult in Laos. Street names and Google maps just don’t take you all that far here.

Hence, I spent some time that afternoon biking around the Russian Circus area until I more or less stumbled upon Savang Printing. A narrow and potholed dirt road took me down to a large building holding an impressive printing operation. The staff there was kind and helpful, and I ordered a second batch of business cards.

This time the results came out a lot better: professional printing on a heavier stock. The cutting still leaves some to be desired, but I felt I ended up with a decent product. I have also used Nakhon Luang Vientiane Printing before, although never been there, but I know that they deliver decent print materials as well.

In conclusion, I recommend going a little out of town for your printing needs – it’s worth the drive.

Facebook Campaigns that Work

Marianne Gadeberg

This weekend, Peter Yarad shared a few insights on what works and what doesn’t work on Facebook.

His most helpful point, I think, is that when you’re designing content for your brand’s Facebook page, it’s beneficial to think about what drives engagement on a regular, personal Facebook page:

“A brand on Facebook should be like a casual friend or neighbor and not try to suck people into heavy levels of interaction. What do you do with a friend? Comment on their photos, like their status, vote on their outfit. These types of interactions take seconds, not minutes, and definitely not hours.”

Additional advice includes making sure your content is “lightweight”. If you’re using like blocks or other obstacles, they must lead to very lucrative deals. It is also important to realize that building a solid audience group on Facebook (and anywhere, really) takes consistent engagement and that it will need time to grow.

Finally, the especially good news: Facebook is built for lightweight engagement type activities, and therefore you can use standard and free, though still custom branded, apps for your brand’s campaign.

Yarad also lists what doesn’t work, including:

  • Treating a Facebook tab like a web page
  • Offering sweepstakes
  • Launching photo and video contests
  • Using Like blocks
  • Asking for extended permissions

Read more on ReadWriteWeb.