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.)

No, You’re NOT Stupid (Or, How to Keep Your Brain from Melting When Things Don’t Work)

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 10, 2024 | eMail Marketing, Zeus Experiment | 2 Comments

A guest post by Zeus Yiamouyiannis. Is it possible for a Ph.D. in education (me) to take a half-day getting his website email up and going? (Drum roll…) Yes, it is. You’re kidding. I mean, c’mon, this should take a few minutes, right? Umm, not exactly. I know what you...

Schrödinger’s Email List: Are Your Readers Dead or Alive?

Schrödinger’s Email List: Are Your Readers Dead or Alive?

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 10, 2024 | eMail Marketing | 5 Comments

If you're any sort of geek, you know about Schrödinger's Cat. Is it alive? Or isn't it? You won't know until you open the dang box. Which brings me to next point: Your eMail list is a lot like that cat. If you think you have one, but you never send out an email, it...

On Teaching: An Interview with Jennifer Louden

On Teaching: An Interview with Jennifer Louden

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 10, 2024 | Working with Marketing Professionals | 3 Comments

I stumbled on Jen Louden about a year ago, while researching different classes on teaching. I've found her credible and genuine and full of heart. She is an "A-lister" who doesn't take herself too seriously and is always willing to share something that matters. She's...

This Week’s Marketing Dish: Chocolate Cake

This Week’s Marketing Dish: Chocolate Cake

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 9, 2024 | Marketing Dish | 14 Comments

Loran Hills of Loran's Heart tweeted this week's suggestion to me after I asked folks to share their favorite foods. Known as the Monarch of Heart, Depth and Focus, and Explorer of the Sacred Realms, Loran helps her clients find clarity and purpose. Connect with her...

The Essential Guide to a Basic Business Plan (or, How to Avoid ‘The Tactic Trap’)

The Essential Guide to a Basic Business Plan (or, How to Avoid ‘The Tactic Trap’)

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 9, 2024 | Ideal Heroic Client, Market Research, Marketing Budget, Marketing Strategies | 2 Comments

This is a guest post by Jessica Oman of Write Ahead. Did you hear the one about the entrepreneur who hired bikini-clad models to market a delicious organic barbecue sauce to moms with young kids? ...Didn't think so. This is a typical example of what I'm calling...

7 Basic Story Types and Why They Matter to Your Marketing

7 Basic Story Types and Why They Matter to Your Marketing

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 9, 2024 | Storytelling | 10 Comments

Julia sat on the edge of her seat, leaning in toward the fire. "Mad Henry lived alone in a run down mansion at the edge of town." Her father's voice hung in the air, low and steady. "Rumors about the wild-eyed man never died. Some folks said he was a magician who...

Go Old School: Have a Real Conversation

Go Old School: Have a Real Conversation

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 9, 2024 | Bloom Your Online Relationships #BYOR30 | 0 Comments

This post is part of the 30-Day Bloom Your Online Relationships Challenge. If you'd like to play along, you can sign up here (don't worry -- it's FREE). We're all working through these small, powerful actions together and sharing our questions, learnings and...

SSC 1.2 :: The Meeting

SSC 1.2 :: The Meeting

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 9, 2024 | Storytelling | 0 Comments

Julia stood on the sidewalk, the letter in her hand. She looked at it again and then searched the storefronts for a matching address. There IS no 404. Am I even on the right street? She craned her neck to read the street sign. Hmm. West...

Wordification: Cook Up a Creative Title, Brand or Product Name

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 9, 2024 | Branding, Writing Tips | 0 Comments

You've seen other people do it. Stephen Colbert used to do it all the time. George Bush (Jr) is probably still doing it. Both of them got pretty famous for their efforts (although, for different reasons). That word they create is sometimes called a portmanteau, but I...

How Well Do You Tell Your Brand’s Story?

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 9, 2024 | Branding | 8 Comments

This past weekend I attended (via simulcast) Andrea Lee's Lasting Lead Generation event. It was three days of fabulous teaching, coaching and delivery of actionable content. And I gotta say, she really knows her stuff! One of the first exercises she had us do was to...

The Golden Triangle of Coffee Joints: A Marketing Parable

The Golden Triangle of Coffee Joints: A Marketing Parable

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 9, 2024 | Case Studies, Marketing Strategies | 10 Comments

Locally-based businesses (as opposed to multi-national corporations) are the life blood of any community. And people are beginning to understand the importance of nurturing local economies. But there are still a few hold outs. While it is clearly to our collective benefit to support local businesses, many people still patronize national chains. And the reasons don't all have to do with pricing. If you are a small, locally-owned business trying to compete with the big guys, you might want to consider the following parable. read more

10 Quantum Leap Actions to Create a Stand-Out Brand

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 8, 2024 | 12 Days of Branding, Branding | 1 Comment

Ten Lords a-Leaping... It’s Day 10 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 ten quantum leap actions from ten "Lords" of branding on how to create a stand-out brand. Laura Ries...

How to Keep Bears from Eating Your Business

How to Keep Bears from Eating Your Business

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 8, 2024 | Branding, Ideal Heroic Client | 12 Comments

If you've ever been camping in bear country, you know the drill. Lock up your food. Keep your trash safely stowed. And for cryin-out-loud, don't feed the bears! When it comes to your business, it's also a wise idea to safeguard something important: your values. Why?...

Case Study: How to Conquer the Blank Page and Write Better Sales Copy

Case Study: How to Conquer the Blank Page and Write Better Sales Copy

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 8, 2024 | Case Studies, Writing Tips | 1 Comment

Writing copy for your website or other marketing materials isn't always easy. And unless you're a professional copy writer (and sometimes even when you are), the blank screen of your computer can feel like it's taunting you: You've got no idea what you're doing, do...

Uncorked: Bonita Richter Says Size Doesn’t Matter

Uncorked: Bonita Richter Says Size Doesn’t Matter

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 8, 2024 | Reader Spotlights | 0 Comments

Welcome to Corkers Uncorked. These are some of my most treasured interviews -- mostly because I get to know my readers (you!) on a whole different level. We focus on your astounding biz-related superpowers and origin stories. Bonus: you get to learn more about your...

The Hero of the Story: How to Keep Your Dinner Guest in Mind

The Hero of the Story: How to Keep Your Dinner Guest in Mind

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 8, 2024 | Ideal Heroic Client, Storytelling, Writing Tips | 3 Comments

If you're the kind of host who cares about your Aunt Sally, you don't knowingly serve her shellfish when she's allergic. By the same token, any marketing message you try to deliver should also be created around your knowledge of your prospect. read more

How to be an Entrepreneurial Chef (not a Business Cook)

How to be an Entrepreneurial Chef (not a Business Cook)

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 8, 2024 | Creativity | 7 Comments

A few weeks ago, I finished reading Seth Godin’s Linchpin and was immediately struck by this passage: The future belongs to chefs, not to cooks or bottle washers...A cook is not an artist. A cook follows a recipe, and he’s a good cook if he follows the recipe correctly. A chef is an artist. She’s an artist when she invents a new way of cooking or a new type of dish that creates surprise or joy or pleasure for the person she created it for. I'd been mulling that over until what finally came out was my Entrepreneur's Manifesto, which starts off: Be a Chef, not a Cook. read more

Gratitude, Goals and a Turkey Day Business Tip

Gratitude, Goals and a Turkey Day Business Tip

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 8, 2024 | Creativity | 5 Comments

Gratitude is everywhere this time of year. Especially online. I've seen posts on Facebook every day since Nov 1st (it's that 30 Days of Gratitude thing). Twitter is clogged with #Gratitude tweets. And today, multiple posts around the blogosphere hit my RSS feed. There...

Table Talk Q&A: How Do I Expand My Local Business to the National Level?

Table Talk Q&A: How Do I Expand My Local Business to the National Level?

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 8, 2024 | Ideal Heroic Client, Market Research, Marketing Budget, Marketing Strategies | 1 Comment

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...

6 Ways to Spice Up Your Copy Writing and Sell Without Even a Dash of Hype

6 Ways to Spice Up Your Copy Writing and Sell Without Even a Dash of Hype

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 7, 2024 | Writing Tips | 1 Comment

This is a guest post by Marcia Yudkin If you hate screaming headlines, exaggerations and a hard sell, you may find it hard to know how to write copy that presents you and your offerings in an interesting way. Simply describing what you do in no-frills fashion may seem...

5 Ways to Keep Your Marketing Costs from Boiling Over

5 Ways to Keep Your Marketing Costs from Boiling Over

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 7, 2024 | Marketing Budget, Marketing Strategies | 0 Comments

This is a guest post by Samar Owais Marketing is a lot like cooking— easy for those who enjoy it and hell on earth for those who don’t. Until a couple of years ago, I sucked at both. While I didn’t kill my business or food poison anyone in my family, I came...

Writing Prompt: Your Soap Box

Writing Prompt: Your Soap Box

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 7, 2024 | Storytelling, Writing Prompts | 9 Comments

What do you stand for? Questions to get you started: What's bugging you about how your competitors operate? What do you see happening that needs to stop? What positive changes need to be made in your industry or line of business that everyone else seems to overlook or...

Perform a Random Act of Kindness

Perform a Random Act of Kindness

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 7, 2024 | Bloom Your Online Relationships #BYOR30 | 1 Comment

This post is part of the 30-Day Bloom Your Online Relationships Challenge. If you'd like to play along, you can sign up here (don't worry -- it's FREE). We're all working through these small, powerful actions together and sharing our questions, learnings and...

What The Beatles Can Teach You About Telling a Story With Your Home Page

What The Beatles Can Teach You About Telling a Story With Your Home Page

by Erin Howard | Jul 7, 2024 | Storytelling | 1 Comment

How can a rock supergroup who broke up 45 years ago help you tell the story of your business? Turns out, they can teach you a lot. I’m a huge Beatles fan, even though they split up before I was born (which would come as a surprise to my 7-year-old, who recently asked...

Feed Us a Story

Feed Us a Story

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 7, 2024 | Features and Benefits, Storytelling, Writing Tips | 5 Comments

Stories are food. Feed everyone and be willing to let them feed you, too. Remember humans love stories — it’s hardwired into how we learn and grow. Why did you start your business? That’s a story. Who are your best customers (and what makes them the best)? That’s...

Bigger Bang for your Marketing Bucks (and grocery dollars)

Bigger Bang for your Marketing Bucks (and grocery dollars)

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 7, 2024 | Marketing Budget | 8 Comments

A guest post by Nicole Fende, the Numbers Whisperer™ We’re going to start by talking groceries. Don’t worry, I’ll sneak in the finance. Since Tea is the Chef, groceries seem appropriate. When you go to the grocery store you may be like me, and have a list. Big shout...

Book Marketing Lessons from a Finance Rockstar

by Téa Silvestre Godfrey | Jul 7, 2024 | Case Studies, Creativity, Ideal Heroic Client, Marketing Budget, Marketing Strategies, Podcasts | 0 Comments

As the President of Small Business Finance Forum, Nicole Fende, aka the Numbers Whisperer™ is a credentialed actuary with experience as a Chief Financial Officer, Investment Banker, and successful entrepreneur. She's also the author of the new book, "How to be a...