My guest in this episode, Rand Fishkin, is the founder of SparkToro and was previously cofounder of Moz and Inbound.org. He’s dedicated his professional life to helping people do better marketing through the Whiteboard Friday video series (which is why I asked Rand to join us), his blog, and his book, Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World. When Rand’s not working, he’s most likely to be in the company of his partner in marriage and (mostly petty) crime, author Geraldine DeRuiter. If you feed him great pasta or great whisky, he’ll give you the cheat code to rank #1 on Google.

Rand is full of insights for storytellers and start-up founders. One great tip: Be purposeful where you put your story.

"We always strove to put the content first on our own website where we could own and control the user experience. then we would stagger the distribution to social media. Own your home. Don't build your house on rented land, which is really what you're doing on YouTube or Facebook." - Rand Fishkin on content placement

In this episode, we hear from video marketing expert Rick Cesari. Rick has actually helped major brands like GoPro and George Foreman build billion dollar brands through Brand Response advertising and strategic video marketing. His book Building Billion Dollar Brands aims to put valuable knowledge of the big brands into the hands of inventors, small business owners, entrepreneurs, Amazon sellers and others to help create innovative, successful marketing campaigns. A bestselling author – Buy Now and now Building Billion Dollar Brands, speaker, consultant, and marketing & brand strategy guru, Rick is bringing his expertise to us today to talk branding, marketing and storytelling with video.

Before his current focus on internet based video, Rick mastered direct to consumer marketing, including traditional television talk shows. He booked his partner on a show in New York, where they promoted a juicer, offering recipes if you sent in a self-addressed envelope with a dollar in it. About a week later, a mail truck pulled up to their office. 

"... a mailman gets out. He has a 3-foot high canvas sack over his shoulder like Santa Claus. He drops it off, goes back to his truck and gets another. In all he brought 4 sacks in. We had 18,000 responses." - Rick Cesari

In this episode, we hear from a storyteller I’ve had the opportunity to personally work with over the years. From the newsroom to the marketing department, Bill Krupka and I have collaborated a FEW times. Bill spent 22 years at a CBS affiliate in a top 40 TV market as a photojournalist. He’s interviewed heads of state. He’s covered – and told the stories – of tragedy, triumph and everything in between. Then he came to work with me in marketing, helping hopeful home buyers navigate their experience.

Today, Bill becomes the subject, a title he’s not always willing to put on, in order to share with The Storytellers Network his storytelling craft, his experiences and tips… in other words, HIS story.

As the CEO & Co-Founder at a Boston start-up called “WePlayed,” Rob Ciampa has a vested interest in telling a great story. Using his skills, Rob convinces financial supporters, early team members and others to believe in the mission of a untested company. Where did his chops come from? Experience. 

Rob has been VP of sales and then CMO of a video marketing company called Pixability – which is where we crossed paths and I got know him – as well as an advisor to a group of media, advertising and marketing technology companies. He's also co-author of YouTube Channels for Dummies. Rob definitely believes in the power of story – especially video. 

"It was the 50th anniversary of the peace sign. We had everyone dressed up in 60's garb [at the conference]. We had our support staff in tye-dyes but we hired actors to come in, in various garb. We broke the rules and had live 60's music. All of a sudden everyone is coming to the booth... telling their stories of the 1960s... and we had an 8,000% improvement year over year for that show." - Rob Ciampa on the power of story

Villy Wang had a crazy dream: to create a new kind of social enterprise that helps kids who, like her, grew up in the projects. Raised by an immigrant single mother in New York City, Villy’s desire to tell her story forged a passion for using the digital media arts to capture stories untold and to create social change. That’s why she founded BAYCAT, leveraging her impressive 25-year background in education, arts programming, nonprofit business and law.

Villy received her double B.A. in Engineering and Economics from Brown University, J.D. degree from Northwestern University, and her teaching credential from San Francisco State University. Villy filmed and produced a short entitled, “Unplugged,” that was featured in the 2005 Marin Environmental Film Festival. She is also fluent in Mandarin.

This social entrepreneur believes deeply in the power of story, especially video, to help connect people. 

"You want to be like everybody else because there's this sense of belonging that every single person wants. There's something about the lack of story that makes someone feel invisible. Every person's story matters." - Villy Wang on the importance of stories

Kevin Romeo leads a team of video storytellers at Rhino Media - a video storytelling company in  Kalamazoo, Michigan. This team of storytellers has done some amazing work. Kevin shares with The Storytellers Network his personal storytelling craft, how he manages creatives, collaboration, the evolution of video storytelling and so much more. In other words, Kevin shares HIS story.

Kevin even shares who his favorite storyteller is, and why.

"Johnny Cash is fascinating because he did everything he possibly could to ruin [his life] in every way... [but] God saw to it that he could stay on earth long enough to have an artistic redemption. " - Kevin Romeo reflecting on a great storyteller

Using video for a form of "edutainment," George B. Thomas helps other learn a complicated marketing and sales software, a new strategy and a fresh way of driving business growth. A recovering youth pastor and former pub bouncer, George has always helped people...it’s just been at different points of their journey.

Now George is an inbound evangelist and creates training videos for HubSpot users. But they're so much more than standard training videos... You have to see it to believe it. He’s a branding guru, a video marketing ninja, an inbound marketing Jedi (yes he’s a total nerd and that’s awesome) and a HubSpot accredited trainer. The energy he brings is infectious and the knowledge he drops is inspiring. And he doesn’t need coffee to do it all — but it does help.

You are absolutely more powerful, more smart, more anything that you think that you're not. You have the potential to be great. You just need to find 'that thing.' You need to find that passion. You need to find that consistency. The most important part of this, you need to find that belief in yourself." - George B. Thomas on motivation

He's an award winning digital media content producer, director and editor. He's also a huge supporter of the podcast community. Meet Niel Guilarte. The filmmaker specializes in high end media creation and post production. He also works with entrepreneurs and creatives and developing and bringing their visions to life, so he's also a collaborator and a coach.

The documentary he directed, The Messengers: A Podcast Documentary, is on iTunes and Amazon. That's where Niel first crossed my storytellers radar. He's also host of the All Things Post podcast and a founding member of the Florida Podcasters Association.

Niel is also a core organizer and promoter of Podfest Multimedia Expo, the second largest podcast conference for beginners and Indie podcasters in the country. 

In this bonus episode and final finale, we take a detour from the “podcasts” season and hear from a writer, a speaker, a content creator… and an “igniter” with Simon Sinek’s organization. He’s a co-writer with Simon, a coach, a speaker and an evangelist of the “Start with Why” movement. After years of developing content to help Simon share his ideas, David Mead began speaking and facilitating workshops in 2012 to help shift people's perceptions about leadership and culture.

Today, David shares with The Storytellers Network his storytelling craft, his successes and stumbles, his take on story in our world today, and more.

"The thing that I love most about about stories is it gets us to feel something. That's really where connection is made, where trust is built and where the foundation of 'relationship' is. - David Mead on the power of story

In this Season 2 bonus episode, we hear from a critically-acclaimed podcast host who dives deep into the untapped wisdom of the world's top performers -- from intelligence operatives to legendary musicians, iconoclastic writers to visionary changemakers. Jordan Harbinger brings his experience and passion for story to the show to inspire and teach.

The world of podcasts and the availability of technology have crossed paths for Jordan, like many others, allowing him to make a living on the shoulders of podcasting.

"The problem with democratizing things... you end up with a lot of people who maybe didn't have a voice before because they're not really trying hard and it's a crappy product. But I'm glad we democratized [media] because it allows a lot of people, myself included, to create a name for themselves and create a nice livelihood." - Jordan Harbinger 

They've been in radio for years... sometimes on the same show in some form or fashion. Now, they produce a podcast that covers local happenings, cool stories and lots of laughter. It's kind of like a morning radio show without the corporate to-do list. For the season finale of Season 2: Podcasts, Steph, Scotty Bud and Diane welcomed me back to their show, Southwest Michigan’s Fake Radio Show for a fun experiment. This is like a DC-Marvel crossover… I got to take over their show to ask them my questions about storytelling. We dive into podcasting as their chosen medium, how it compares to radio, how technology shapes storytelling and even some personal stories. 

Wally Carmichael is a husband, father, retired Army Medic, Department of the Army Operations Specialist and Podcast Host of the Men of Abundance Podcast. He was born and raised in Phoenix Arizona and joined the Army to travel the World and to escape what was clearly a destructive lifestyle. Wally is grateful to have traveled to 23 countries on five continents. He and his family have lived in Panama, Germany, Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, and currently lives in Hawaii.

Next to family, his greatest passion is hosting his Men of Abundance Podcast - The Pay it Forward Community, where he has conversations with other Abundant leaders as well as up and coming entrepreneurs, authors, and thought leaders doing amazing things in their community. He's been a professional connection who has developed into a friend, and is a master storyteller.

Kim Moffat is a podcast co-host, a podcast producer, a filmmaker, a television industry worker, a songwriter, a published author, a talker and an all-around storyteller. Her podcasts For Love of Show and Kim Knows Nothing explore different sides to her life. She works on Fuller House. She's worked on Hart of Dixie and Southland, among other projects. Her novella December is a beautifully tragic tale. Kim took time to share her storytelling life with Dan Moyle - who happens to be family as well as a fan. In short, Kim tells stories and loves the craft. 

You want to be really protective of your story... to say, this story is really personal to me, so what I want to do is I'm going to hold your hand as a reader... But I think that the biggest challenge is saying ... Once that book is done, it's not for you now. So you, I don't want to hold your hand too much because you're not going to be able to connect with it in that way. - Kim Moffat on the challenge of storytelling

Without Jaime Jay (and Sara Parrish), The Storytellers Network would not exist. From Jaime and Sara's Podcast Pilot and Castrly, to Jaime's guidance and encouragement, to his show Stop Riding the Pine, this little show would still be just a dream. Jaime Jay is an amateur hockey player and a "starter geek" who founded Slapshot Studio back in 2013, combining the business of building websites with his love of hockey. Jaime also runs Bottleneck Virtual Assistants, helping businesses find virtual VAs to help their business. And if that wasn't enough, Jaime is a generous soul who loves to help those around him, making the world a better place. As an entrepreneur and podcast host, Jaime says storytelling is huge in his world. Rising above the noise? He has a tip...

I think personalization is everything. That's how you rise above the noise. If you're trying to do everything for everybody, and you're just saying, 'It's for everybody. Everybody can use it,' well, I think you're missing the boat there. The more specific you get, the better off it is, the easier you'll find it is to convey your story to others - Jaime Jay

He's the host of The Marketing Book podcast. He's interviewed hundreds of thought leaders in the sales and marketing space. He's a voracious reader. Douglas Burdett brings knowledge, expertise and an inspiring level of humility to the podcasting world. Douglas also owns the marketing agency Artillery Marketing, runs a HubSpot User Group (HUG) and speaks around the country. This sharer of stories. To him, stories are a powerful communication tool.

I was in Chicago giving a talk to a lot of manufacturers. Instead of standing up there and giving the standard PowerPoint presentation, I started with a story... Their guard comes down when you're telling a story and it activates much more of the audience's brain. - Douglas Burdett on the power of story

He's a podcasting expert even though he doesn't currently have his own show; it's because of how many shows where he's actually been the guest! Tom Schwab, author of Podcast Guest Profits and founder of podcast interview marketing pioneer Interview Valet, says he'd rather be the guest than put in all the work it takes to produce a podcast. In fact, Tom estimates his podcast interview count at well over 1200. Hear why he says podcast interviews are the next gold rush in marketing, and how to truly get value from being a guest on podcasts.

Gamertag Radio founder and co-host Danny Peña joins host Dan Moyle for this episode of The Storytellers Network. This guy is a legend in the podcast world, at the forefront of the video games community, starting an Internet radio show back before podcasts or even really a thing. In fact, Danny is such a legend, he was inducted into the podcast hall of fame in the inaugural class. He's also been a keynote speaker at Podfest Multimedia Expo. He's toured the world. This guy just is an evangelist for the gaming community. To date, Danny and his team have recorded more than 750 numbered episodes of Gamertag Radio, plus bonus episodes that they just put out there not numbered. Needless to say, Danny is big in the world of podcasts.

When I started my first radio show, because I started in 2001, it was a radio show. I started doing that in New York City and then Gamertag Radio in 2005... throughout the years I got to share my story of like the stuff that I've been through because I would love to inspire other people. - Danny Peña on his longtime love of podcasting

Former-teacher-turned-marketer... and teacher of podcasting Jeff Large hosts his own show and helps others launch podcasts through his podcast production agency Come Alive Creative. Also a dad, he wears a lot of hats. One of those hats that he proudly wears is storyteller.

"I usually tell stories to my kids every night as part of our bedtime routine. We have like kind of ongoing Tolkien or C.S. Lewis type woodland characters ... They've been ongoing for years now and it's crazy how much it's progressed." - Jeff Large on his storytelling passion

Jeff also says he loves the power of story, board games, and creating awesome things with other people.

Established in 2005 if you want to learn about podcasting, Dave Jackson brings knowledge and expertise of a podcasting hall of fame legend to his show School of Podcasting. He works tirelessly for the world of podcasting - including as a customer support specialist for Libsyn - helping to develop a culture of giving. Dave has been helping people understand technology and has been called "The Analogy King." 

"When I see the light bulb come on for somebody, that scratches my itch like nobody's can. If I can do that in an entertaining way, whether it's using stories or something of that nature, that's to me like the best of both worlds."

David Hooker is Head of Evangelism for a company that helps us tell stories more effectively with a powerful visual software, Prezi. He's also the co-host of Prezi's The Narrative podcast with Nadjya Ghausi, a Tedx speaker and storyteller in general. David shares his storytelling craft, his successes and stumbles, his favorite story... in other words, his story.

"I think you have to have perseverance and persistence. If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again. If you've seen my TED talk, but that's not the first one I've ever done." - David Hooker