Welcome to the Story Bistro blog!
Our most recent posts have been cued up for your enjoyment. This month, our focus is on blooming and deepening our online relationships.
(See the footer at the bottom of this page to browse by category.)
Tipping Sacred Marketing Cows and Changing Stories: “The Money’s in the List”
Want to be different and stand out from the crowd? One of the best ways to do that is to challenge the status quo. And over at the Business Luminaries' Roundtable, that's exactly what we're doing. Talking about the elephants in the various rooms of our industries....
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10 Totally Unique Ideas for Your Next Blog Post
Nobody ever wants to "phone it in." Our blog posts reflect who we are as a brand and a small business. The more you're able to think creatively about your content, the more you'll be able to generate engagement and interest, right? So I asked some of the brightest...
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Roadmaps, Blueprints and Formulas (Oh, My!)
If you've been online for any length of time, you’re familiar with phrases like “6-figure Blueprint” or “High-traffic Formula.” Maybe you've used one of those jargon phrases in your own marketing? It would be hard not to. People devour that kind of thing. It's almost...
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The Crowd Sale Experiment Concludes (What I Learned and Will This Work For You?)
Note: This post is Part 2 in the series. Read Part 1 here. How well did the Crowd Sale work for our Tarotic Story Prompts Deck? The results are in. In one week, we sold a total of 53 decks. (If you'd like to buy one now, you can do that here.) How did that happen?...
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Book Review: “Uprising: How to Build a Brand and Change the World” (Plus a chance to win a FREE copy)
I love to read -- it's one of the reasons I do book reviews here (so that I have access to all the latest and greatest business books). But this, my friends, is a book you absolutely must read if you're serious about building something bigger than yourself. I know...
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Author Marketing Club: An Interview with the Founder
Jim Kukral, the founder of the Author Marketing Club (a great resource I found while marketing my new book) was my guest recently at the Word Café. I've pulled the highlights together for you here. Q: What's the Author Marketing Club about? And why did you start it?...
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Case Study: Creating an About Page that Works
Did you know that your About Page is one of your website's most important tools? For some of us, it's probably one of THE most-visited pages on the entire site. And that's because people want to know who they're about to do business with. Are you trustworthy? Do you...
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This Week’s Marketing Dish: Apple Nachos
Keith Pillow of Caddy Marketing submitted the first dish up for examination in my new weekly series that answers the question, "What the heck can we learn about marketing from our favorite foods?" An expert on marketing and communications, career advancement, and...
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The Un-Sexy Side of Internet Marketing
These days, most of us would agree that in order to do business and market ourselves properly, you need a website. A digital space that belongs just to you. (Not to Facebook, or Tumblr or even WordPress.com -- for reasons that my friend Annie so beautifully explains.)...
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Table Talk Q&A: How Do I Pick the Best Marketing Strategies for My Business (and Avoid Wasting Time/Money)?
Question: There are SO many resources, opportunities for learning, mentors, etc., how can I efficiently choose the marketing technique(s) that will most likely align with my business plans, goals and industry? How do I best allocate my limited resources (time/$) to...
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From the Heart: How to Get the Best Testimonials (So You Can Attract a Hungry Crowd)
Hear this truth: Your people love you. You're conscientious. You over-deliver. You care about your clients' success. You're a big-hearted entrepreneur with the best of intentions. And hear this...
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A Business Paradox: Slow Down to Speed Up
You've seen the marketing hype and heard all the promises: Build a Six-Figure Business in just 60 Days! Or, Fail Fast, Succeed Faster. There's even a magazine called Fast Company. And it's true: most of us want that income NOW. We've got bills to pay. Kids to send to...
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Expressing Brand Values: 3 Case Studies
...Three French Hens! It's Day 3 of the 12 Days of Branding. If you missed any of the series thus far, you can find them here. In today's installment I give you three examples of small business brands with solid core values that know how to walk the talk. Brand values...
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Welcome to the Zeus Experiment
If you're following the evolution of Prosperity's Kitchen, then you've already heard of The Johnny Project. But in case you're new to these parts, or if you've missed any of the game-changing explosions of late, The Johnny Project was an experiment in public...
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Simplify a Complicated Branding Story
In preparation for the launch of Story Bistro, I reached out to my readers and asked for your best storytelling questions. At least half of the ones you sent were a variation on this one: I work in two distinct areas. How can I incorporate them both into my story? Or...
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Small Business Pickles: a True Tale of Trust and Betrayal
na·ive [nah-eev] adjective having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information; credulous: She's so naive she believes everything she reads. It's easy to see looking through the rear-view mirror that one of my biggest life lessons is trust. Who to trust....
read more![[Infographic] Solopreneurs: How We Market Online – 2012 Survey Results](http://storybistro.com/wp-content/uploads/food-growth-400x250.jpg)
[Infographic] Solopreneurs: How We Market Online – 2012 Survey Results
What We're Doing, What's Working and What's Not Created from survey data collected from nearly 1,200 respondents during June 2012. A full length research report is also available. For more, click here. Embed this Infographic <a...
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Over-Exposed: When Too Much Marketing is Bad for Business
It happens about the same time every year. We all get a barrage of emails and see a tsunami of ads, blog posts, and offers for a certain program that starts with a B. Affiliate marketers -- even people we trusted! -- were hawking their bonuses left and right, and...
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How to Stand Out from the Crowd and Build Something that Matters
I have news for you. I'm not Brian Clark. I don't have his name recognition or his mad copy writing skillz. I'm also not Danielle LaPorte or Marie Forleo or even Danny Iny. Nor am I looking for World Domination. And it's not that I don't want to be successful. I do....
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Join Us in the Digital Dining Room: Confidence with a Side of More Customers
You've been looking for the right marketing coach or mentor for awhile now, haven't you? Or maybe it's the right mastermind group? You know you NEED to do things differently, but you're overwhelmed by all the advice out there? Look, I get it. It's a challenge to find...
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Case Study: Using Email Marketing to Deepen Relationships
Last month in the Digital Dining Room, the group's mission was to create a welcome email that would help them get to know their subscribers on a deeper level. Here's how we got them there: Step One: Brainstorm three questions they could ask a new subscriber...
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One of the Biggest Storytelling Mistakes You Can Make While Marketing Your Business
It's an easy mistake to make. Especially when you've got some of the biggest brands in the world doing it, too. (Take AT&T, for example.) And there are SO many business coaches out there telling you you're a rockstar. A phenomenaut. In short, a hero. That you're...
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Collaborate in the (Online) Kitchen and Yield Exponential Results
This Week’s Marketing Dish: Spaghetti & Meatballs
Tina Robbins, a "core spirit" life coach from Denver, CO, emailed this week’s suggestion. Here’s what she had to say: Spaghetti and meatballs is one of my go-to comfort foods. There's something about the richness of the meatballs and the noodly pasta goodness that is...
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Am I Doing My Marketing Right?
I'm currently conducting a 13-week teaching/gamification experiment called "Prosperity's Kitchen." It's an online class for solopreneurs to learn the ins and outs of marketing themselves in the digital world. The twist? It's structured like a reality TV competition....
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Table Talk Q&A: How Do I Expand My Local Business to the National Level?
Question: My corporate training business has been doing well in the local markets where we live. But how to do we get national clients and expand our business? On a small budget of course. How can we get that kind of reach to potential corporate clients without...
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Yes, We’re Overrun with Fear, Violence and Fuckery. Here’s How We Turn that Around.
Our world is seriously crazy. (And getting worse every day.) In just the last month, nearly 100 people have been shot dead in the U.S. (see Gun Violence). Every time you turn around, someone else is (rightly) up in arms about sexual harassment and gender violence (see...
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