Kathy Klotz-Guest
Kathy Klotz-Guest
For 20 years, Kathy has created successful products, marketing stories, and messaging for companies such as SGI, Gartner, Excite, Autodesk, and MediaMetrix. Kathy turns marketing "messages" into powerful human stories that get results. Her improvisation background helps marketing teams achieve better business outcomes. She is a founding fellow for the Society for New Communications Research, where she recently completed research on video storytelling. Kathy has an MLA from Stanford University, an MBA from UC Berkeley, and an MA in multimedia apps design.
Naked Storytelling
Stories are currency. They travel, persuade and differentiate. They speak to who we are and what we value. Sometimes the best stories require us...
A Marketer’s Hu-manifesto on Humor
Humor is about as human as you can get. It is one of the best ways to connect with an audience as well as...
Create a Marketing Movement from the Inside Out
I've always joked that marketing is a not missionary position! There is truth in comedy. Marketing is about preaching to the already converted. Your...
Every Company is in the ‘Simplicity’ Business
A client at The United Way Silicon Valley said the following to me after a recent storytelling workshop I gave: 'You made the topic so...
Marketing Multiplier: Empowering Advocates with the ‘Right’ Stories
There is a big difference between customers and advocates. Advocates are the passionate fans that talk about you and, by doing so, scale your...
Yes, and
I am a marketer. I am also an improviser. That means I am also a storyteller. Like improvisation, all great marketing is ultimately storytelling. Before...
How to Eliminate Marketing Jargon-Monoxide Poisoning ™ Before It Kills Your Business
Jargon gets between you and your customer and it's one of the biggest challenges in marketing messaging today, regardless of industry. As I've written about...
Marketing Lessons From the Comedy Stage, Part II
This post is part II of II. To read part I, click here. Truth and authenticity. Truth makes compelling comedy. Great comics talk about what...
Marketing Lessons From the Comedy Stage, Part I
Comedy and marketing have much in common. Well, comedy is marketing, really. And some marketing is pretty comical, intentionally or not. Comedy is a...
Marketing Is Not Your Logo! It’s Your Story
Marketing is about the story you tell your customers, and the stories they tell about you. If there's a big gap between who you...
Hey Marketers! Every Company Must Be a Storytelling Company
I wrote and posted this article well over one year ago. I find that it has become even more important! In fact, I just...
Today’s Executive Communicators Must Be The Company ‘Purpose Keepers’
A new era of executive communications is here, thankfully. Move over sound bite-spewing CEOS. Fragmented media compete for increasingly divided customer attention. The decline of...
Creating a Core Marketing Story that Matters- It’s Much Bigger Than Your Company
Keeping marketing human means your core story is never about you, your technology, or your products and services. As Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos,...
Secrets of Executive Communications Jedi Masters
Executive communications is an area undergoing rapid change. The best communicators have the uncanny ability to connect with their audience on such a visceral...
Humor Me! Lighten Up B2B Marketing and Get Results
If you read my blog or any article I've written, you know this is mission of mercy for me. As a marketer, storyteller and...
Great Marketers Communicate ‘Upside Down.’ Give the Human Headline First
If you took a journalism class in school, you know how important the inverted pyramid is. Give people the top headline first – then...
Successful Product Videos Aren’t About Products
Think Un-Product I was waiting to see the movie, "Lincoln," last weekend when the this "trailer" played in the theater. "Oh no," I thought, another…
6 Ways Poor Communication Kills Customer Value and Your Business
The way you communicate with your audience either creates or destroys value. And communicating doesn't mean that you're successfully connecting with people. When marketing...
Marketing Success – Plan, Then Improvise
I was at the Applied Improvisation Network conference in San Francisco last week as a speaker, attendee, and conference organizer. I – like many...
Human-Centered Design: Where are the Product Storytellers Today?
Great marketing IS storytelling, and it is the essence of connecting with your audience. So why aren't there more storytellers in product – especially...