Personal Blog - Jane R Shelton

Storytelling

Create Content Marketing That Sells — Tell a Good Story.

Stories are the glue that make ideas, memories, choices, motivations and decisions stick in your mind. Stories are the reason that instantaneous images pop into your head and direct your actions. Stories are timeless and reiterated from one generation to another.

But what makes a story so powerful?

Humans process information better when it is in the form of a story. We remember stories. We’re less likely to recall a dry delivery of facts. So, how do we tell a good story?

For starters, you need a main character or protagonist. This emotionally engages your reader. Secondly, you need an antagonist. This someone or something adds conflict. This is the enemy of your main character and the goals they set out to achieve.

Next is the struggle — preferably an active struggle in which protagonist and antagonist are determined to be the victor.

Okay. So what does this mean to your content marketing message? How can I use a great story to make my content marketing message motivating, even inspiring to my audience?

Here’s a story about Rupert, a fairly successful umbrella salesman.

Rain or shine, Rupert had been selling umbrellas on the corner of Main and Elm Street for 11 years. He had umbrellas in every color and for any occasion. Rupert’s customers came from all over town because they knew he had the best quality umbrellas money could buy.

One day in early October, the start of the rainy season, Rupert noticed another umbrella salesman named Sloane just one block away. His competitor had set up a booth with a red canvas awning, selling umbrellas at half the cost!

Three weeks later Rupert noticed his business was slow because many of his customers were buying from Sloane. The rainy season was fast approaching and this was usually Rupert’s most lucrative time of the year. Then as if things were not bad enough, he noticed that Sloane was printing “Sloane’s Umbrellas are #1” on his products.

Rupert became very depressed and decided to stay home one very rain day. Feeling blue as he sat in his overstuffed chair and petted his cat, Tilly, Rupert heard a knock at the door. To his surprise, it was one of his best customers, Mr. Biggs, who asked if he could buy 10 umbrellas.

It seemed as if Mr. Biggs had purchased several umbrellas from Sloane to give to family members as gifts. When the umbrellas started to fall apart during a heavy downpour, his family began to complain. All he wanted was to replace the poor quality umbrellas with Rupert’s fine quality umbrellas. That would surely make things right.

Inspired by this event, Rupert happily got his umbrella cart and headed down to Main and Elm – after selling Mr. Biggs 10 new umbrellas of course. That day and days following, Rupert enjoyed record sales and lots of smiling happy customers.

Left with little or no business, Sloane soon closed his booth and moved away.

The moral of this story is “Make sure you have a quality product to back up your pitch.” Successful content marketing pros know this. After all, your customers are really the ones who decide if you’re #1.

Now, get your content together and go tell your story.

Influencers

Teachers Who Influenced My Life

Thinking back to my early education, I realize that some of my life choices have been largely influenced by a few notable teachers.

Sixth grade was rife with growing pains for me, accented by the usual social woes that befall kids that age. I was no different from most kids, not ugly, fairly smart and sweet-natured; however, many of my peers saw me as the teacher’s pet and not nearly roguish enough to be in their clique. I started wearing glasses at age four to straighten a ‘lazy eye’, which never fully corrected itself, hence I got the moniker of ‘cross-eyed bat’ compliments of ‘the clique.’ But in spite of this, I had someone in my corner — a mentor named Mrs. Yount. She was tough but fair-minded and deemed such slurs simply unacceptable. She instilled in me a sense of courage and self-worth that prepared me for even fiercer battles to come. She taught me to stand up to indignation and be myself no matter what. I also think she was largely responsible for my being chosen as one of two recipients of The American Legion award for good citizenship that year.

Thank you, Mrs. Yount.
_________________

Middle School ushered in the angst and growing pains of the teens, yet for all the ‘fitting in’ we attempt at this age, the lingering questions remain of who our true friends really are. When I was in Mr. Thompson’s science class, it didn’t matter. My mind was instantly distracted by the wonder of science, the chemistry of life and higher, more cerebral pursuits. Mr. Thompson had a way of making even the most difficult assignment seem amusing and fun. He was an adept storyteller and engaged our minds in unrelated tales of life and discovery while in the midst of learning how to separate and store agar plates or control your Bunsen burner. A bit of levity made the hard stuff much easier to digest. Teen worries were set aside for the hour we spent in Mr. Thompson’s science class and we adventured into the other-worldliness of science, the universe and most importantly, our imaginations.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson
________________________

My senior year in high school made up for many of the challenges I had in earlier years.
I was co-editor of our yearbook, head cheerleader, a member of student council, a member of the special singing ensemble, “The Mellotones”, and a solid “B+” student. Oh, yes, I even won the crowning glory of being selected “Miss Warrior” in a beauty/talent pageant patterned after the Miss America event.

But, alas, nothing is without its price. Some of my fellow cheerleaders fought me at every turn, envious of my leadership and making it difficult to be a cohesive ‘team’. We did okay but could have been much better. When the new principal (whom few liked) declared ‘no pep rally’ against our biggest arch rival in football, I led a peaceful protest of about 50 or so students, standing in the street out front of his home singing the school alma mater. This got some attention and some of the teachers joined forces to get the matter resolved to our satisfaction. There were three teachers who helped to shape the ‘future me’ that year: Miss Moss, Mrs. Hendrix and Ms. Tosh.

Miss Moss was widely respected and had been a teacher most of her life; she was a small, hunch-backed lady, not even as tall as most of her students, who had learned to endure ridicule early in life and win. Oh, but how she knew English literature. She also supervised the yearbook staff, and she was tough when it came to getting it right. But you wanted to get it right because you knew she was pushing you to be your best. She upset me as many times as she instructed me, but thankfully so much of what she taught me actually stuck. I learned perseverance and courage from her in a big way, not to mention some key points about good journalism.

Thank you, Miss Moss.
_________________________

English has always been a favorite subject of mine and having Mrs. Hendrix as an English composition teacher was a blessing of major proportions. She made gerunds, infinitives and dangling participles fun, if you can believe that. Diagramming sentences was more pleasure than pain for me, and she always had time for a raised hand in the classroom. Mellow, confident, caring and intelligent best describe the qualities Mrs. Hendrix exuded. And the fact that one of her daughters, Lynnette, was a good friend and singing buddy of mine had little to do with Mrs. Hendrix being one of my favorite teachers. She earned that all on her own with qualities that are innate to a truly fine teacher and mentor. I think of her often and feel fortunate to have been one of her students.

Thank you, Mrs. Hendrix
_____________________________

Music has forever been a major force in my life. My parents started me on piano lessons at age four, a bit too young in hindsight, although my music teacher (Mrs. Murphy) said I had natural ability. I still love the piano, singing, dancing and generally exploring different kinds of musical expression. Acoustic guitar is a listening pleasure, but I don’t play. My music teacher in high school was Miss Tosh — a rotund woman with a dazzlingly beautiful face and coal black (dyed) hair. When she smiled the room lit up. When she was unhappy with your work or the class in general, it rained daggers. Often out of breath due to her size, she would forge ahead through the daily scales and vocal exercises that were sure to make us all stars one day. When I was chosen to be one of the three sopranos in the special singing group, “The Mellotones”, I felt so important and honored. A bit nervous and unsure, at first, we worked through our self-doubts and became a solid musical unit, working together as one voice, and participating in concerts and competitions.

Miss Tosh helped me to realize my vocal skills in such a capacity I might otherwise never have developed the confidence to perform. Because of this, I was in several high school musical productions, plays, school events and won the title of “Miss Warrior” with my musical adaptation of “It’s a Big, Wide Wonderful World”, as performed by Raggedy Ann in full costume. I went on to participate in the women’s chorale in college, and won the “Miss Caddo County” title that sent me to the “Miss Oklahoma” pageant in Tulsa. Competition was stiff and I had a health issue (ovarian cyst), so that was the end of my beauty pageant days. But music will always be a passion and a motivator in my life and one brilliant teacher in particular paved the way for my discovery.

Thank you, Miss Tosh.

On cats

Everything Worth Knowing I’ve Learned From Cats

Cats are more than just mystical creatures. They seem to understand the moment–the now. Dignity, I think, was invented by cats. And they teach you important life lessons without your knowing it, as if by osmosis. Just being in their presence makes you wiser somehow.

I’ve been privileged to know about 29 cats in my life, so far. And each one planted a memory seed that will remain intact as long as my gray cells hold out. Funny, because as a child, I had allergies, especially to cats. At least that’s what I was told. But as an adult, I have always been drawn to cats, as though I might secretly be one of them. They can sit and stare, seemingly into space, for the longest time, causing you to try without success to zero in on the subject of their focus. And, why, without discussion, does a cat suddenly decide that sleeping in this chair or that corner is better than the other one. And a sudden burst of speed that unsettles the household is never quite clear, but sometimes seems tied to a trip from the litter box.

And what remarkable trainers cats are. You know the moment she saunters into the room, just when you’re at the best part of your book that you might as well drop what you’re doing and follow her. After all, she may need a treat, or a brush, or maybe just your undivided attention.

Being the well-trained cat owner you are, you know exactly what to do — follow like a good cat slave. A phone call prompts any member of the feline household to spring into action, even if they’re sound asleep when it rings. Like perpetual two-year-olds, they’re committed to disrupting your phone conversation. And don’t they do it well?

Multiple cat households are definitely a challenge, but well worth it if you know how to be the ‘bigger’ cat. That’s right. You must get that across to them; otherwise, you totally lose control. There should be a slight element of fear when a certain tone is spoken, or a stance taken. Cats understand this. The alternative to doing nothing is to let them rule. And I’m not sure that any of us are ready to give up all of our humanness.

It’s a beautiful relationship between humans and cats once the ground rules are clear. And it takes a commitment from pet owners to make mutually beneficial choices. It really is worth taking the time to do it right. Believe me. Some of my best friends are felines.

Cat friends

Cats are People, Too!

If you’re not a ‘cat person’ then don’t bother to read this. On the other hand, maybe you should read it and possibly understand furry felines a little better.

Cats have been part of my world for most of my adult life, and they have rewarded me with companionship (when they wish), learning the art of compromise, understanding a different language and confirming the psychic connection to name a few.

A cat can sit and stare at you or something outside a window or at each other for countless minutes. One can only imagine what they are thinking or planning.

A cat will cuddle up to you when they feel safe and all of the their needs are met. It matters little that you might be trying to nibble away at a meal while watching your favorite movie. After all, you only need one hand to feed your face, right? Why not brush the cat with the other hand? Perfectly reasonable (to any cat).

If a cat doesn’t like the food you present to them, they will often turn their back and sit there waiting to see if you can do better. One trick I learned after years of opening many different cans of food: outwait them. If that’s all they’re going to get, somehow it’s not so bad after all.

A cat will come and tell you to ‘change the litterbox’. If you are off schedule — yes, cat’s are very much about schedules — they will let you know.

And cat owners can attest to merely thinking of something cat-related, and suddenly a cat appears (or disappears, depending on circumstances).

Possibly a cat’s most human-like trait is waiting until you’re on the telephone, then raising a full roof-raising ruckus! If that isn’t reminiscent of a two-year old child’s behavior, nothing is! In fact, sometimes I think of cats as perpetual two-year old children, regardless of their feline age. It’s all about me, me, me, and they do know how to say no, no, no, even if it is spoken in feline.

But regardless of their wiles and woes, we love them. We love them because they are a lot like humans. Independent, stubborn, unpredictable, yet lovable enough to make us keep on caring. Those are some of the same reasons some people prefer dogs. Ah, but that’s another story altogether.