Local advertising executive Park Howell, founder and president of Park&Co, has partnered with digital and social marketing expert Jay Baer, founder and president of Convince & Convert, to create a podcast that showcases the power of storytelling for business. “The Business of Story” will explore a pragmatic approach to storytelling and how marketing and communications professionals can use universal story structure to better connect with customers and move people to action.

“From Aristotle to Hollywood to neuroscience, I have studied how stories fundamentally impact our thoughts and behaviors,” said Howell. “Since humans are hardwired to use stories to find meaning in our lives, I’ve often wondered why more business and marketing professionals have not taken advantage of this proven tool to connect with their audiences.”

The podcast launched today with three episodes and initial guests include:

  1. Jay Baer, speaking on the importance of storytelling in today’s fractured environment
  2. Jonah Sachs, Chief Storytelling Officer at Free Range Studios and author of Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell – and Live – the Best Stories Will Rule the Future, discussing how to be the best at the storytelling craft
  3. Kevin Richardson, game designer and film producer, exploring the creation of positive story loops
  4. Vincent Stanley, director of philosophy at Patagonia, discussing how to turn customers into brand activists through the stories you tell
  5. Zain Raj, international advertising expert and author of Brand Rituals
  6. Robert McKee, legendary screenwriting coach and creator of Storynomics

Future guests will include prominent experts in industries ranging from marketing and business to neuroscience and filmmaking.

To bring the podcast to life, Howell enlisted the expertise of Convince & Convert, a leading social media and content marketing firm. The company already produces some of the top marketing podcasts available today; they’re known as the “go-to” team for production and promotion of successful shows.

“In today’s mashed-up, tech-saturated attention economy, I love the irony that the ancient art of storytelling remains the most potent way to connect and persuade,” added Howell.

“The Business of Story” launched today on iTunes with three episodes. A new show will be released every two weeks. Guests to the show’s website, TheBusinessofStory.com, will find a number of storytelling tools, including an interactive 10-step story cycle PDF, an e-book that explains the story cycle process and a worksheet that guides communications professionals in using the story cycle to craft a brand strategy. Additional tools will be added with the advent of newly released episodes.