One of the latest developments in the brain of my favorite three year old on the planet is the ability to tell stories.

Once the obligatory “once upon a time” is out of the way, we hear simple tales of what she loved from a trip or hike or normal day in the Blanchard family. Yet, I love them. I love them because they’re hers, but I also love them because they’re stories.

“Popular tales do far more than entertain, however. Psychologists and neuroscientists have recently become fascinated by the human predilection for storytelling. Why does our brain seem to be wired to enjoy stories?”

That’s from one of my favorite articles about telling stories.

It’s a simple reminder that stories are one of the neatest, most influential packages of information humankind has ever created. Our love of stories and the impact they have on our behavior is wired deeply into our brains.

http://stories.
Sometimes as marketers we overcomplicate things that don’t need to be.

I find this especially true with our blogging strategy. I remember in the early days of SlopeFillers seeing monthly contests hoping to crowdsource cute, clever names for resort blogs. Thousands of comments poured in. They were clever, but almost entirely unnecessary.

Even more, they were often harmful to their overall blogging strategy because it distracted them from one of the simplest, purest forms of content: stories.

Take strava, for example.

Notice the URL of their blog – “stories.strava.com” – notice the call to action – “subscribe to stories” – notice the lack of need to sell people on what the content is because if it’s a story, it’s already understood.

I love this because it’s simple, but I love it even more because it works.

It’s also why I love Jay Peak’s magazines.

Keep in mind that these stories don’t have to begin with “once upon a time.”

A press release can be a story depending on how you structure it, so can a snow report, or a brochure. But starting with the concept of writing a story helps keep the content structure coherent, informative, and easy-to-consume.

Need Direction?
If your resort’s blogging needs a little direction, why not drop the idea of “blogging” altogether and rename your blog “stories” instead.

Let that simple word guide your content strategy, let that simple word sell your readers on taking the time to consume, let that concept extend itself when you ask for an email or a like or a follow and keep you on track when you click “new post.”

Stories are powerful things. Let’s not make them more complicated than they need to be.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.