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Christoph Trappe is Telling Stories at Confluence Conference

Chistoph Trappe, the first male Confluence speaker without a beard, never unlearned storytelling. Kids are the best and worst storytellers, and Christoph said he hasn’t really grown out of that. He shared some of his insight at Confluence Conference.

Storytelling has a continuum:

Content Marketing -> Storytelling -> Authentic Storytelling

You have to make a plan and care about it. Figure out who you need buy-in from. Find your advocates. Then ask more questions about real things. “If you’re in your office Googling … it’s not going to happen,” Christoph said.

If you’re telling authentic stories, they can’t be copies. If you tell a good story, a unique story, it literally cannot be commoditized,” he said.

What happens if somebody doesn’t like your story? Retreat? NO. “Not everybody is going to love you … and we just have to get used to it,” Trappe said. “If you’re being chastised in public, it’s a good sign. It’s fine. You’re not trying to be loved by everybody. You’re trying to build an audience around a topic.”

After that? Make storytelling a habit in your marketing plan.

Christoph’s take on various issues:

  • On the definitive rules of content marketing: “There’s so much crap out there about content marketing. Publish more. Publish less. Talk about this. Blog posts need to be 20 words, 2,000 words.”
  • On where to find stories: “Figure out what you stand for, what is it you can talk about, what you’re an expert in.”
  • On marriage: “Everything you say may potentially be used on my blog.”
  • On being controversial: “I can guarantee somebody will not like what you’re doing. Guaranteed. Unless you only have two people actually reading your stuff – your mom and your spouse. You just have to get over that.”
  • On getting your life together: “If you’re not confident, act like it.”

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