Why Conflict Resolution is at the Center of Compelling Brand Storytelling

Core Strength

At the center of every great story is a compelling conflict. For brand storytelling, this translates into an everyday life conflict for your customer and offers your brand as the solution.
Buddy Scalera is an expert storyteller, prolific comic book writer, and pharmaceutical content strategist. His career might seem like an odd combination of roles, but he illustrates that his fictional writing has only informed and improved his content strategy skills. He urges us all to remember that cultivating creativity and allowing ourselves to stay creatively fulfilled only helps our business mind become more passionately engaged.
Creativity lives everywhere, it’s up to you to see and use it for your brand.
Buddy discusses how to think from your audience’s perspective, why the written word is a major part of visual storytelling, and how to make your content more vivid. He also touches on why it’s important to combine your passions with your work, and how to weave conflict resolution into your brand story.

In This Episode

• Why it’s key to keep asking questions and keep learning
• How to combine your artistic creativity with your business creativity
• Why the core of all stories is conflict and conflict resolution
• How text is actually a visual medium and a part of visual storytelling
• Why it helps to continually deconstruct your work to improve your story
• How to step back and listen to your audience to better understand them

Quotes From This Episode

“I think in this day and age, the brand has to stop being the hub and the spoke and start being service-oriented and helping.” —@BuddyScalera
“It’s not just about a one-time delivery of your message. It’s about building a customer who will come back again and again.” —@BuddyScalera
“We can’t get people just by blasting ads at them. We have to give them something that makes sense to them and their lives.” —@BuddyScalera

“I think people need to fulfill themselves as creators and artists no matter what it is, from music to painting to comics to writing. You have to keep doing your art because that makes you better at your job. The study and exploration of any kind of storytelling and art makes you better, and if you’re waiting somebody to pass you the job bag, I just passed it to you. Go out and create and make stuff.” —@BuddyScalera

“The funnel is concept is old and broken and doesn’t work anymore.” —@BuddyScalera
“Have an opinion. As a creator, don’t just write stories to tell a story. Invest yourself and have an opinion and want to say something. You might say the wrong thing, but your audience will respect you more for trying.” —@BuddyScalera
“But there is sometimes good, valuable information in ads and in commercials that we are actually willing to listen to or engage with or watch because they matter and they’ll solve a problem in our lives. I don’t think all advertising is bad. I think there’s just bad placement.” —@BuddyScalera
“It’s not about talking at people. It’s about giving them a reason. Storytelling is about a hero and a conflict. Sometimes a brand is a solution to that conflict.” —@BuddyScaleraResources

Resources

• Buddy Scalera
• Buddy Scalera on Twitter, @BuddyScalera
• comicbookschool.com
• wordspicturesweb.com
• Marvel Comics
• Deadpool
• “Ogilvy on Advertising“ by David Ogilvy
• Seth Godin
• “The Hero’s Journey,” by Joseph Campbell
• “Your DIY Guide to Crafting and Telling Compelling Brand Stories that Sell,” by Park Howell
• BusinessofStory.com
• Park@BusinessOfStory.com