What We Do
Show Your Story, formed in 2013 by award-winning film director and writer Doug Conant, is all about helping you tell the most compelling visual stories, for both business and individuals.
Working with you and your marketing team, we can help:
- Discover and cultivate your brand identity
- Create effective visual content and visual content marketing strategies
- Align your internal communications with your mission and story
- “Show” your unique story cinematically
- Help to develop your proposals and presentations by applying classic storytelling techniques
Want to learn more? Contact us.
What’s So Important About Story?
According to metrics from Stage 32—a premiere social networking and online learning site for filmmakers—the top three favorite movies of its users are 1) Pulp Fiction, 2) The Godfather, and 3) The Shawshank Redemption. It’s no coincidence that each of these movies were nominated for Best Screenplay Oscars. It’s easier to see why this would be important for screenwriters and filmmakers, but why is it equally important in business? What do these movies teach us?
The irresistible power of a well-crafted and executed story can make all the difference, leaving a lovemark on your audience that will never fade.
It takes a lot of moving parts working together in perfect harmony to make a business, or a film, successful. Take our Oscar winners—those films aren’t accidents. They succeeded like they did because they started with the correct foundation. The bones. They started with human-sized and classically-structured stories, designed from the very first line in the script to bring about a specific emotion and response from a broad audience. Nothing was left to chance. And even then, well-crafted bones aren’t enough. They then had to add layers of living, breathing tissue, in the form of flawless performances, brilliant cinematography and visual design, strong musical themes, and thoughtful picture and sound editing. The clear strategy and skilled technique behind these movies are why we watch and love them again and again.
It’s the same with business. If you want your business to succeed, you need to start with a clear and well-structured story, and you need to know how to tell it, market it, and bring it to life in everything that you do. We aren’t just talking about having a clearly-written mission statement. We’re talking about the story—the purpose—behind every piece of content your company produces. Each exchange you have with a prospective client, customer, vendor, investor, member of the press, tells a story. You owe it to yourself and your team members to ensure that it’s the story you want and need to be telling. Your story needs to be a good one.
And that’s where Show Your Story comes in.
As an award-winning film director and writer, I understand the power and effectiveness of a good story, well told, and I can help you learn and apply these skills to your personal brand or business. Skilled storytelling is something I have always been passionate about and I believe it’s the single most effective tool for individuals and companies today.
Now, more than ever, audiences are seeking out compelling video content. The most successful ads are really mini-movies. You must be able to compete in that space, but how do you stand out from the noise? The answer is strategic storytelling—the bones and the tissue. It’s a timeless skill—we’ve been hungering for good stories for more than 20,000 years now—and a skill that every business and micropreneur needs to master. Yesterday.
Whether you are a business owner or an individual looking to develop your unique brand identity, you are ultimately looking for the same thing from your audience: love. You want them to love your company, your product, or your brand so much that they can’t keep away. And make no mistake—once you connect to your audience on an emotional level, they will buy that product or service; they’ll happily spread the word to their friends and colleagues; and they’ll be excited for whatever your next roll-out will be. They’ll return to you again and again, just like we return to Pulp Fiction and Shawshank.
Story gives you the edge—the secret sauce—that you need to succeed.
In order to achieve that, your content must be king. You must know your story. You must be able to craft your story. You must be able to sell your story. And, above all else, your story must be a good one. It’s that simple, but it’s not easy. Every king needs an army, and when it comes to content, skilled storytelling is it.
The goal, now and forever, is to connect, affect, and engage your audience. Show Your Story can help.