Stand Out or Fade Out: The Storytelling Strategy for Experts with Park Howell

Park Howell 00:00:00  AI by itself is crap. You by yourself are amazing, but you're being stifled by the massive amounts of noise that you have to compete. And that's the whole point of this show today. Find your point of view. Use AI and a tool like you know, the Story Cycle Genie to hone that message.

 

Tom Schwab 00:00:36  Hey, it's Tom Schwab and welcome back to the podcast Interview Marketing Show.

 

Tom Schwab 00:00:41  Have you ever felt like your message is drowning in a sea of sameness? Well, you're not alone. And today's conversation, well, this is going to be your lifeline. On this episode of the podcast Interview Marketing show. I sit down with the world's most industrious storyteller, Parke Colwell. We dive into how storytelling isn't just marketing. It's not just a buzzword. It's the oldest tech in the book and still the most powerful when used with intention. Whether you're professional services, a coach and author, the difference between being heard and being forgotten comes down to one thing it's your clarity.

 

Tom Schwab 00:01:21  Park shares his proven story cycle system and the simple yet powerful and but therefore the Abt framework that can make every podcast interview not just a performance, but a transformation. You'll learn how to craft a brand narrative that resonates. How to harness AI without losing your voice and why your story, not your credentials, is what builds trust. This episode is about more than being a better podcast. Guess it's about becoming a category of one. Let's get started. We'll park. I am so excited to talk with you. And really, this is the same conversation you and I'd be having if we were just sitting down, right? Storytelling and what it means today, especially in the world of AI.

 

Park Howell 00:02:13  Absolutely, Tom. It's great to be here. And, you know, you and I got acquainted at the very beginning of my heavy duty storytelling training journey, and that was back fall, I think, about 216 maybe, following or during the, the social media marketing World Conference in San Diego. And we were walking back to the hotel and you were walking alongside me and very, you know, graciously introduced yourself and interview valet.

 

Park Howell 00:02:41  And then you introduced me to Christopher Lochhead, who was one of your customers had him on the Business of Story. Actually, I've had him on a couple times. His book, Play Bigger is one of the best books on category design I've ever read. And he and I have become friends because of you, so it's great to be back on your show. Thank you for that introduction. Well, almost 20 years ago now.

 

Tom Schwab 00:03:06  And it's amazing because as I think about that, I remember meeting you and I recognize your voice before I recognized you, because I'd listen to the podcast and all of a sudden I was walking down and I'm like, I know that voice. And I stopped and it was like seeing a celebrity. It's like, that must be Par Cowell. Because remember, back then there was no video. So, it was all audio and what you were talking about there ten years ago with what Lochhead was to was so powerful, and I think it was powerful then and even more powerful now, this idea of storytelling, standing out, letting people know what you believe.

 

Tom Schwab 00:03:45  And so can we start right with that, your whole story cycle system. Because I remember hearing that the first time and going, that makes so much sense. It's not a gimmick, it's just a. It has always seemed like it was an obvious thing.

 

Park Howell 00:04:00  Yeah, well. Absolutely. We'd love to. Now, I've got to just mention a trend that I'm seeing just at the end of last year and kicking off this year, and it's almost like storytelling is this marvellous new thing. And I was talking to my buddy Shawn Schroeder, my co-creator of the story cycle. Jeanie and I go, Shawn, what are they talking about? I mean, I've been preaching and professing this for almost 25 years now. Why does it seem like it's so new? And he goes, I hate to tell you, Park, you're old. You've been doing this for a long time, and now it's coming back around full circle, but it never goes away. And one of the questions I get asked when I'm on podcasts like yours a lot is people say with AI how storytelling evolved.

 

Park Howell 00:04:42  And I say storytelling itself has not evolved. It's the same practice, the same structures and frameworks that are ancestors use to navigate and survive the savanna 75,000 years ago, and it's the same structures we use today. But what has evolved is you and I as the storyteller and these marvelous new tools that we have available to us to amplify our stories, not to completely create them for us. And so I think that's what we're going to talk about today is whether you're on a podcast, if you're a guest, or if you are hosting a podcast or you're just trying to get your message out to the world, I really believe that you need to have a point of view that really separates you from everyone else out there, and then wrap that POV in real life stories that make your business point for you.

 

Tom Schwab 00:05:42  It's it's timely and timeless, right? everybody is telling their story, which is not the same thing as storytelling, right? And I hear people say, well, you just go out there and you tell your story and you keep repeating it and people will come to you and it's like, nobody cares about your story, right? Your dog will listen to your story, but telling your story is not the same thing as storytelling.

 

Tom Schwab 00:06:09  There's that framework, that thing that engages the audience, but then also makes it uniquely you. And as you said, that that point of view, so many people are just drowning in this sea of sameness. And with podcasts, you know, you want people to turn you up or turn you off for the worst thing that you can have is to be ignored. And so many people are being generic and they don't have that point of view. They don't know who they are, so they are having a hard time telling that story. So talk about the framework a little bit of how you think of putting that in there.

 

Park Howell 00:06:47  Yeah. so let me ask your audiences right now whether you're listening or watching this show. Do you feel maybe a bit adrift with what's happening around you with AI? And, I mean, everything is just seems to be so turbulent. And the thing is, you don't have to go along in those rapids without oars. You can guide yourself through this tumultuous change. And I learned that very powerful lesson back in 2003.

 

Park Howell 00:07:18  And what happened back then, which led to my storytelling and the structures that I use that I've proven are super powerful, is that I had run my traditional ad agency, meaning, you know, we produced a lot of TV, radio, print, outdoor, direct mail, public relations, and we had a real core strength, that brand story development. But we weren't calling it brand story or brand narrative back then. It was just brand development. But what we were really talking about, about storytelling. Well, with the advent of social media and e-commerce and websites proliferating in the early 2000, our agency was set adrift because I realized, Tom, that our work, the way we used to do it in the traditional realm of advertising, was no longer working. And the primary reason why is our clients used to own the influence of mass media through paid media and public relations. But the masses were becoming the media, and today the masses are the media, and they have a tendency of drowning out any kind of inept, mundane, you know, basic mediocre story out there.

 

Park Howell 00:08:28  You have to be able to hack through the noise and hook into the hearts of your audiences. And what does that is the very first technology that any of us, our whole species, was introduced to. And that was the power of storytelling, because it's how we made meaning out of the madness of being human beings. And I argue that stories are more, consequential for our evolution than our opposable thumbs, because it's what got us out of messes. It's what helped us invent fire and wheels and everything else to where we are today. So I went looking for an answer back in the early 2000. Went to Hollywood. Our son Parker was going to film school at Chapman University in the Dodge School of Film and Arts, a very prominent film school. And I said, hey, Parker, send me your books. And you recorded lectures when you're done with them, since I'm paying for them because I want to know what is Hollywood know about storytelling when they are constantly competing with other stories in the world? And of course, that's when I found the Hero's journey.

 

Park Howell 00:09:34  Joseph Campbell, The Hero's Journey A lot of story theorists talk about that. But to me, Tom, it was like a revelation because I was like, well, this is a customer journey. This is a podcast. Audience journey. This is the podcast host journey. We are all on these journeys. So I took it upon myself to map it to business. And that's when I created my ten step story cycle system that I launched at about 2008, and I've been working at using it with clients to build their overall brand narrative strategy ever since. And the reason why I believe it works is because this hero's journey, or monomyth, that Joseph Campbell found is a basic, fundamental architecture on how our brain is built to make meaning. And I'll say it again, out of the madness of being human beings. And so for the past 20 years, I've been using the story cycle system. We've grown brands by as much as 600%. Using this narrative driven process that I didn't invent, I just simply molded it into the business world.

 

Park Howell 00:10:43  So it made more sense for that logic, reason driven business brain. And that's what I'm here today. Talk about that. And of course, the very, very powerful and but therefore which I call the DNA of storytelling.

 

Tom Schwab 00:10:58  So let's jump into that. The and but and therefore because I've, I've talked to people I've referenced you on this before on podcast interviews because you have to get your story straight. You can't rely on a PowerPoint. and if it's not straight in your mind, how are you going to ever share that with a podcast or audience? Especially when they're listening? Listening sped up. So talk about the Abt framework.

 

Park Howell 00:11:31  Yeah, and I love the Abt because I first learned the the complexity of the hero's journey, you know, which is 12 to 17 steps depending on who you believe about it. And oh, by the way, I just recently on the Business of Story podcast, my 550th anniversary episode had John Booker on there, and he is the executive director of the Joseph Campbell Foundation.

 

Park Howell 00:11:56  So his whole world is to propagate the hero's journey. And he and I had a marvelous conversation about how the hero's journey entwined in all of our lives. And I was even a little bit worried that he thought I might be bastardized the hero's journey with my story cycle system, and he was quite the opposite. He said no, Campbell said this was a basic, universal structure. Now use it to your own needs and your own delight. So I was happy to hear that. But it's complex. It takes a while to figure it out. Then back in 2013, I met doctor Randy Olson. He was a Harvard PhD evolutionary biologist. He gave up tenure and in his mid 30s. Did something crazy. Went to USC film school. He graduated. He produced three documentaries on climate change and global warming. But in his work he recognizes fundamental story structure called the and but therefore. And it works because it takes this big gigantic hero's journey, which is three acts, you know, set up problem resolution, but it boils it down to the three forces of story, of agreement, contradiction and consequence and our pattern seeking, problem solving, decision making, buying.

 

Park Howell 00:13:15  Limbic brain loves to get information in this order. Set up the statement of agreement. What do we want? What's our collective vision together? Now let's introduce the problem. But we don't have that collective vision yet because of this thing that's standing in our way. Therefore, what's the way forward? What do we need to do about that? Set up problem resolution. It's again, the way our pattern seeking, problem solving limbic monkey brain works. So for a guest on a podcast or a host on a podcast, I would always encourage them to find one problem that you are going to solve for that day on that episode, for that audience, and then think of it as an an. But therefore. And what that makes you do is places your message from the point of view of your audience. And I guess the best way to to demonstrate this is what can I can I try it on you? Can I have let's build an Abt for your audience. All right. And then people can hear how it comes together.

 

Park Howell 00:14:24  All right I'm going to take some notes while we do this because I'll be winging it. So, Tom, let me ask you for your podcast. Who is your number one. Audience. Describe them.

 

Tom Schwab 00:14:36  Audience are humble heroes. These are people that have something to share with the world. They often are introverts, right? They are out there doing relationship sales. A lot of professional services. They've got something burning in their heart that they want to share with people, and they realize their point of view takes more than a mean. It takes a conversation. And these, you know, Eddie Yoon would call them missionaries, right? They want to change the world. They don't want to be seen as one of many. They want to be seen as a category of one or the only choice. they're not looking to blend in. They're not looking to add to the noise. They're looking to stand out and make a difference and make an impact.

 

Park Howell 00:15:26  Okay, perfect. I'm just saying. Make a difference.

 

Park Howell 00:15:31  Make a difference in impact. All right, folks, I'm just writing here.

 

Tom Schwab 00:15:35  And you know me. I can answer a true false question in under two minutes.

 

Park Howell 00:15:39  Well, that's our and that's our and statement of agreement. And I'm going to come back to that in just a second. Let's now introduce the problem that they have that they come to you to help solve. So what is the problem you are solving for them.

 

Tom Schwab 00:15:55  For them it's often that they are the best kept secret. It's that they get thrown into the sea of sameness where they can't step out and be be seen differently. and also, I think they're not there for ego, so they want to do it in a professional way that builds their brand. they're focused more on building respect than just doing a transaction.

 

Park Howell 00:16:25  Okay. And then therefore. So that's our but statement of contradiction. So now we've just introduced to our limbic brain the problem and it's begging for the solution says okay, so what do we do about that, Tom? That leads us to our therefore statement.

 

Park Howell 00:16:41  Therefore let's first start from their point of view. Therefore, if they do what you are about to ask them, what is going to be the positive outcome they get?

 

Tom Schwab 00:16:52  So therefore, you will get the trust transferred from the host. You will get to talk directly to your ideal clients and those people that refer them. You'll be able to set yourself apart, and have people either turn you up or turn you off. Right. You'll won't just be getting attention, you'll be earning authority. And, you know, I always say, if fame is your game, go for it. Right? But, we're always working with people that are making impact and impact. Finally, if you make if you make enough impact. what was it? Zig Ziglar said. Right. solve other people's problems. all your problems will be solved. I believe that profits come after making the impact.

 

Park Howell 00:17:39  Yeah, I help people get what they want, and they'll go out of their way to help you get what you want.

 

Tom Schwab 00:17:44  Exactly.

 

Park Howell 00:17:44  Yeah. So finally, then what is the ultimate call to action? What do you want them to do in order to achieve all this?

 

Tom Schwab 00:17:52  I want them to. Have the courage and the bravery to show up on audiences where their ideal clients are listening, and to use a proven system so that they can get the results right. One of my things that I signed all of my emails with is a reminder to me and the other person is, stay strong. The world needs to hear you now more than ever. So I see them as the hero introducing ideas to the world, just like you said at the beginning. Right when? When Christopher Lochhead introduced the idea of, category design to. You and your audience when you went on his podcast and described the whole Abt thing. That's the hero, right? You, you can you evangelize that and it changes people's world.

 

Park Howell 00:18:48  So ultimately, Tom, your call to action, excuse me. Battling a little cold here is that you would like them to take advantage of the interview.

 

Park Howell 00:18:58  Val, a systematic coaching approach to showing up and being your best in a podcast, interview or hosting scenario.

 

Tom Schwab 00:19:10  Yeah, I wouldn't I don't like the word coaching, but I would say sort of strategy. It's a strategy.

 

Park Howell 00:19:18  All right. So and you notice how I actually put your absolute call to action at the very end. The second clause of the. Therefore. Statement. So let me go back to people listening in on this. So what we've done is we've built his pitch in an ad, but therefore and is the statement of agreement, you always begin with your audience because you want from the storyteller perspective, you want to make them the the focus of your story from their point of view. What do they want relative to your offering? They don't even know what you're offering is yet, so you're foreshadowing what you're going to deliver. What do they want relative to your offering, and why is it important to them? You're raising the stakes. It's a statement of agreement because we just want to get people nodding, saying, yeah, boy, you understand me? You appreciate what I want and why that's important to me.

 

Park Howell 00:20:09  Now, the plot twist. But you're frustrated. You're annoyed. You're some sort of negative emotion because of the problem, because your voice is not being heard. You are, you know, dog paddling in the sea of sameness and your core expertise is not being found. You know, and so that's like you and you want to build as much contrast between that statement of agreement, statement of contradiction as possible because it triggers that problem solving, decision making, buying limbic brain that says, okay, well, what do I do about that? Therefore, is the statement of consequence to this. You know, therefore, build trust through the host and be able to share your unique point of view as powerfully as possible by using and preparing with our systematic interview valet strategy program. Boom. So that puts you on. So we might start, you know, you are probably a humble hero, a person who has something to share with the world. And if you had a systematic approach to having the proper conversations, then you would stand out beyond your wildest imagination and have the impact on the world that you seek.

 

Park Howell 00:21:36  But you're frustrated. You are the best kept secret because you are drowning in a sea of sameness, because you haven't yet found that proven, systematic approach that gets you dialed in on every interview you do. As the thought expert leader you are. Therefore, imagine your world opening up and people finding you, you becoming their favorite because you are able to share your story in a very profound, systematic way. And we can help you do that at Interview Valet. With our systematic, strategic approach to interviewing. So I've just kind of swung that we could certainly tighten that up by 30%, if not 50%. But now you have a point of view. If you don't have a system, you're not going to get your voice out there. Here's a system that we know works. Are you ready to try it?

 

Tom Schwab 00:22:40  That's that's perfect. And that's clarity that you have there. And sometimes, you know, one of my favorite phrases is what's ordinary to you is amazing to others. And by you taking that outside viewpoint, you know, I can ramble and you pull out the words of wisdom and it's like, oh yeah, that's what I meant.

 

Tom Schwab 00:22:58  And I see so many clients have that, that they're confused about their brand, their message, their story. And I wanted to make sure we touched on the brand intelligence assessment, because you were kind enough to do that for me. I don't know if it's a friend or is a podcast host, but you ran that on our website, and it was so interesting of what we're telling the world about who we are. And it was interesting because there were certain things where I'm like, yes, that is totally us, and other ones where I'd say, that's who we used to be, you know, 11 years ago when we started. But we haven't updated that story or that vision of where we are. And, you know, I could go through a website redesign and never catch that. Right. but you were able to do that. And I think that's an important thing and an outside audit to really make sense of how the world sees you. Can you talk a little bit more about that brand intelligent assessment?

 

Park Howell 00:24:03  Yeah.

 

Park Howell 00:24:03  Let's set the stage for your audience here. Okay. So as I mentioned, I have been a student of story now like big time for the past 25 years. understanding. And I'm, I'm a big believer that we are all intuitive storytellers by being homo sapiens, but I want people to become intentional storytellers using the frameworks and the structures that I know the about. Therefore, is the very first one. Get that one down. I've got the five primal elements of a short story for big impact. That's to tell a little anecdotal story in under a minute that will make your business point persuasively for you. And then finally, it's all built on the big grand story cycle system, or ten step process that I've done all of this in the analog world, you know, teaching people one on one. But of course, starting about two years ago, just over two years ago, we started to incorporate it into our own AI platform called the Story Cycle Genie. It is the only AI driven, narrative native platform that is guided by our story cycle system, and it has the and but therefore at its core.

 

Park Howell 00:25:10  So all I did, Tom, is and we launched it in July. So it's been out there and a lot of agencies are using it now, and we're having great success with it. What I did is I asked it, I said, here, Genie, here is the interview valet website. Go and look at it and give me a brand narrative assessment on what you see. So it's a little bit like holding a mirror up and it says yo, mirror, mirror on the wall, how's my brand showing up for all. So in about two minutes it gave us the initial brand assessment gives you a grade as it does it. And what we're finding is it does three main things for you. It validates what you're already doing well. So you're going right on. Cool statement of agreement. Right. but then it shows the gaps, the sayings that you like, you were saying, well, we used to do that, but we don't do it anymore. And if it's seeing it, it means it's still being communicated on your website and your story.

 

Park Howell 00:26:03  So that's that's a gap you're going to want to clean up. And then it validates it. It validates it reveals the gaps and then it inspires you with new ways to think about your brand story, and that all happens in about two minutes. Then. All I did is I told it. I didn't make any changes to that brand assessment because I don't know, your brand is intimately as you do, but I asked her to say, okay, now let's say this is 90% accurate. I want you to run the entire brand narrative strategy for interview valet following our story cycle system. And it takes about four minutes. And then it ran and it produced a document for you. That was, what, one of 66 pages long. And it takes you into everything from your audiences to your position in the market. It provides you a unique value proposition. It develops the brand personality traits that you will then use for storytelling triggers, all the way down to creating your your absolute purpose statement. You know why you exist to elevate people.

 

Park Howell 00:27:08  Why do you exist beyond making money. So that's what we've done. We've simply taken all of the theory and the science of story frameworks and structures that we know that works because we've been training them for well over 20 years and put it into an AI. But without our knowledge of that stuff, the AI is just going to crank out slop. Now you've got an AI that will help you craft your brand, narrative strategies, and your stories based on your own experiences in the world.

 

Tom Schwab 00:27:39  I love that because it's like AI, as you said, slop, right? Sometimes it's slop at scale and it's like, that's putting you further out in the sea of sameness, right? It doesn't differentiate you. And I'm a big fan of technology, right. We're here. We are talking, beginning of 2026 just for somebody that's listening to this in a few years. Right. But at this point, unless it knows you. Knows your story. Knows your beliefs. Knows your point of view. It doesn't sound like you, right? And to me, that can be a huge, huge break in trust and break in authority.

 

Tom Schwab 00:28:20  And you know, what's the Hippocratic oath that the doctors take first? Do no harm. And I think a lot of people have used it the wrong way and been harmful to the trust in that relationships. What I really liked about this is that it made it a tool that amplified me, not replaced me, and that was so powerful.

 

Park Howell 00:28:41  And you iterate right inside of it. Tom. So with every iteration, the story cycle genie gets smarter about you and your brand and your voice. It works. It has an ecosystem of over three dozen experts. And what I mean by that is the first three experts, the brand story experts, the audience story Genie, and then the content playbook all worked together to build the brand brain. That's its knowledge about your brand, your voice, your audiences, what they care about, how you go to market, and so forth. And then from there, that's backed up by another 30 experts, from blog writing to content calendar creation to overall marketing strategy creation to social media strategy creation, to newsletter writing, to your own audience voice profile that you can work with so it learns Tom's voice specifically, it on and on and on.

 

Park Howell 00:29:36  In fact, there's even one genie that we have not yet put up expert, but we've used with you, and that is a pride podcast prepped, Jeannie. And all we do is say, hey, I'm going on Tom show. tell me about Tom as the host. What do you expect, he will ask? Here's my point of view, and it gives you a complete prep or the opposite way as a host. And I think I did one for you from your point of view. I'm having park on the show to talk about storytelling in AI. Help me prepare some questions from his body of work. Pulling from my books, pulling from his podcast, pulling from his blog posts. And so in under five minutes, you have a complete prep ready for you to go, whether you're a guest or whether you're a host. And because it knows your voice, the genie and it knows your brand, it's going to even write questions as you would normally ask them.

 

Tom Schwab 00:30:37  It's it was amazing. now, if I wouldn't have known and we wouldn't have talked before this, the prep would have been a lot different, right? We're friends.

 

Tom Schwab 00:30:46  I know the background. we have talked about what you're doing right now, but that little three, five minute prep that was magical, right? There are there are podcasters right now that, you know, the big ones that have a team of 20 producers trying to get that information, and now you can just pull that up and have a meaningful conversation on what's most important to your audience.

 

Park Howell 00:31:14  Well, how many producers do you have on your staff that work with folks like me? Because I've been a client of yours. To folks. Just so you know, we interview Val a year or two ago. It helped get me on 12 very prominent podcasts, and I worked with an individual there. How many do you have on staff?

 

Tom Schwab 00:31:31  So right now we've got a team of 20 of those. let's see, seven of them are account managers. So we break up the work. We've got account managers that deal one on one with our clients. We call them the guest, the talent. Right. Then we've got, about another nine that are podcast relationship managers.

 

Tom Schwab 00:31:55  So when somebody reaches out to you, at the business of story, it's always the same person that knows park that talks to park, right? That introduces clients and then, you know, the remainder, like me are overhead, right? so that's there. And I even as you were talking about that, it's like, yes, you could see how you could use this tool to reach out to hosts and say, here is the guest that we have and connect the dots there, because today we've got so many people that are robo pitching, right?

 

Park Howell 00:32:31  Oh, God, I get them all the time, man.

 

Tom Schwab 00:32:34  I was, Joe Saul CI from Stacking Benjamins wrote an article about that where it's like, dear Joe, Dear Joe, Saul CI, dear stacking Benjamins, Cumulus media. Right. And he's like, it's just at scale, right? There's no connections of the dots. and it's transactional. It's not transformational. So it doesn't work. So that's a-I used wrong, but this is AI used intelligently.

 

Park Howell 00:33:01  Well, let's do the math. I'm pulling up my calculator because I'm not going to be able to do this in my head. So you just right off, you said you've got 7 to 9. Let's let's just round it off to 16 or 15. It's going to be easier for my math. You've got 15 people at Interview Valet that are responsible for really understanding a host, their show and preparing your clients to be guests on them. So let's say, how many hours do you think they take for one episode? For one show. And preparing and learning about it and getting your audience up and running.

 

Tom Schwab 00:33:42  It's a it's a ongoing thing. And we've got a database where we capture all the information, right? So we're always learning there. But I would say to prepare a client for, even after let's look at this after the client has been invited. Right. I would say we probably spend at least an hour preparing the client for the interview. Flip side is is before the invitation. we put a lot of time into.

 

Tom Schwab 00:34:16  We don't call it a pitch, right? We call it an introduction. There's a lot of thought that's put into that. I would say on that connecting the the guest and the host, you're looking at at least a half hour to make the introduction, and not every introduction comes back as a, as a. Yes. Right. So if you look at it as how many introductions to get a yes, you're probably looking at depending. depending on the market and all that rest that 2 or 3. So let's say on that an hour, hour and a half of prep work for each interview. Okay, let's get to get the invite.

 

Park Howell 00:34:57  To get to get the invite. Then they get an hour and a half to prep to get the invite. Then they get the invite they're going on. And now you've got to prep your customers at another hour, an hour and a half. So say you've got three hours into one person, one guest, one podcast, and you got 15 different people doing that.

 

Park Howell 00:35:19  Is that just fair? Just round it up, right. So for one show 15 different times, you've got 675 hours. That is that right? Let me try it 15 times three. Now I'm sorry. It's 45 hours. You. That'd be 15 episodes. 15 clients. Because each of your rep is spending about three hours to get that done. Right. So if you now have the story cycle GT and this is what we've been trying to solve for is to expedite, Take the minutia, the research and the discovery out of it, and even the writing from as long as it's being written from your brand voice. Get that first draft down. So then as you the user, you come in as the chief copy editor. And of course, every time you edit it inside the genie, it gets smarter about you. Your editing goes down. So what if we could take those 45 hours and say, you could do all of that in 45 minutes? Would would that be of interest to you?

 

Tom Schwab 00:36:28  Would be of interest.

 

Tom Schwab 00:36:29  And there's two ways I look at AI right now, Clark. And I think largely it was efficiency up to this point. Right. How can we take 45 hours and take it to 45 minutes? That's great. But I'm also looking at that as saying, how can we provide more value to the clients? Because what you gave me was a lot more in depth than we could come up with in an hour. So I look at that. The the cost goes down and the value goes up. So there's that even bigger delta there where it's not just saving money. Yeah.

 

Park Howell 00:37:07  Well people often confuse efficiency with effectiveness and that's not the case. And I mean AI has proven that out. It can make it can, you know, write for you in five minutes, five seconds. That would normally take you five hours. But it's crap and it's going out in the world and it's hurting you more than it's helping you. But what if you had AI like the Story Cycle Genie that creates that efficiency from 45 minutes down to 40 or 45 hours down to 45 minutes.

 

Park Howell 00:37:34  But because it knows you and it knows then the research that it's doing on, on, on the part of the brands or the story, I'm sorry, the podcast you want to be on brings that all together with your input and your iteration. Now you have effectiveness. That is just mind boggling. Great in Uber efficiency because you've got a platform that is working on behalf of of you, not because of you.

 

Tom Schwab 00:38:06  That's one of the things I always love about the learning with it too, because, you know, we we record all of our calls. We're big into data. And I'm so glad that we've done it for 11 years, because now we've got this data flywheel that we can draw upon. And, you know, every time we listen to a client's podcast, we learn something more about them. You know, we should never have to ask a question twice. If we've already got the answer. We should be able to to bring more and more value, to understand the client better and better.

 

Tom Schwab 00:38:41  And I think that's where the really, true hope of AI. And this intelligence is is not just to save me time, but be able to. Allow me to be more effective with the time that I do use.

 

Park Howell 00:38:57  Yeah. And the math that I like to apply to that is AI, emotional intelligence. Your emotional intelligence as a storyteller plus AI artificial intelligence equals a whole new ROI. And what that is, is your return on intelligence. AI by itself is crap. You by yourself are amazing, but you're being stifled by the massive amounts of noise that you have to compete. And that's the whole point of this show today. Find your point of view. Use AI and a tool like, you know, Story Cycle Genie to hone that message those stories so that you can go out and hack through the noise and hook into the hearts of your ideal customers to make the impact in the world you want to make.

 

Tom Schwab 00:39:49  Park was ordinary to you is amazing to others. I can't wait till the next time we're both in the same place.

 

Tom Schwab 00:39:55  And I hear your voice. And, we can continue this conversation. But until then, what's the best place people can find? Find you. What's the next step for?

 

Park Howell 00:40:05  Well, Tom, what I would love to do is offer your audience a free brand story assessment if they just simply go to story Cycle. That first button up there, it says, get your free brand story assessment. You put in your name, your email address in the URL that you want it to assess. There's no credit card, no nothing. and in under 60s, it's going to give you a grade from an A+ to an F minus an A 14 point story assessment on what you're doing. Well, where the gaps are that you could fix and inspire you with new ways to think about your brand story. Totally free. And like in under a minute, you are going to have your assessment just over at cycle II. And then of course, find me on LinkedIn, Park Howl, and I hope you tune in to my show.

 

Park Howell 00:40:55  The Business of story. We have a new story artist on every Monday, and we've been doing it for the past ten years.

 

Tom Schwab 00:41:04  Thank you so much.

 

Park Howell 00:41:06  Thank you Tom. It's a pleasure always.

 

Tom Schwab 00:41:09  So what's your story? And more importantly, are you telling it a way that your audience actually cares about and remembers? Today's episode with Park Hall was a great primer in intentional storytelling. If you took one thing away, let it be. This clarity is not optional. It's your superpower. As a podcast guest, it's not about sharing that same boilerplate story. It's about using storytelling to make your point hit home with the ideal listeners. Park reminds us that a framework like Abt and but therefore doesn't just organize your thought, it aligns your message with how our brains naturally make meaning. When you wrap your unique point of view with a story that matters, you don't just show up, you stand out. So here's the next step. Head over to Story Cycle AI and grab that free brand assessment, and under 60s you'll get a mirror held up to your brand.

 

Tom Schwab 00:42:16  You'll see what's working, what's not, and how to tell your story more powerfully. Don't just be another voice. Be the voice that your audience has been waiting to hear. The one they turn up, the one they remember and the one they want to work with.