Presented at Interactive Connections 2012 Conference in Orlando. http://intconnect.wordpress.com/

1. Marketing Using
Digital Storytelling
Rhonda Carrier
Interactive Connections Conference 2012

2. Prayer for the Internet
 Almighty and eternal God, who created us in Thy image
and bade us to seek after all that is good, true and
beautiful, especially in the divine person of Thy Only-
begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant, we
beseech Thee, that, through the intercession of Saint
Isidore, Bishop and Doctor, during our journeys through
the internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to
that which is pleasing to Thee and treat with charity and
patience all those souls whom we encounter. Through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

3. Incarnation Catholic School, Tampa, FL

4. Storytelling at No Cost
 Email
 Website
 Blog – personal reflection and perspective
 Facebook
 Animoto – video slideshows
 Vimeo – for videos

5. Power of a Website to Market:
Window to the School

6. Power of Storytelling:
A Graduation Speech

7. Seth Godin says
Marketing is the art of telling a story to a consumer that
they want to hear.
You have to have something that they want – you can’t
force it on them.
You have to be authentic, you have to tell them the truth.
Your story has to be so remarkable that people want to
tell it to other people.

8. Who are we? What do we do?

9. We
Evangelize, Catechize, Educate

10. Our ICS story
In keeping with our tradition,
we at Incarnation Catholic School:
 Inspire life-long learning;
 Challenge each individual to be a disciple of
Christ; and
 Strive to live our Catholic faith through service
to each other and the community.

11. Defining Markets & Strategies:
Different Viewpoints

12. Problem: Additional children?

13. Internal Market:
Current Families

14. External Market:
Children We Could Serve.

15. Pope Benedict:
The Digital Continent
 “I would like then to
invite
Christians, confidentl
y and with an
informed and
responsible
creativity, to join the
network of
relationships which
the digital era has
made possible.

16. Modern Day Missionaries
 “St. Paul knew that to preach in person is best.
However, he also realized that a letter read in a
church assembly and then repeatedly copied is
more effective in spreading the message of
Christ.”
 “Although St. Paul did not use the term
“media”, he certainly realized that there was a
desire and a demand within the Church for
written documents that could be copied and
distributed.”

17. Distribute our story?
 Email
 Website
 Blog
 Facebook

18. Step 1: Principal’s Weekly email
to Parents

19. Step 2: Website Animates &
Tells Our Story

20. Home Page Blog-like Format:
Refreshed Weekly

21. Step 3: Principal’s Blog
Links from web&FB

22. Step 4: Facebook Versions with
2-way Responses

23. Using Social Networking
 View Social
Networking in Plain
English
 http://youtu.be/6a_KF7TYKVc

24. What is the Message?
Who is the Audience?
 Who created the message?
 What is the target audience?
 Why is this message being sent?
 How might different people understand this message
differently?
 What values, lifestyles and points of view are
represented in, or omitted from, this message?
 What creative techniques are used to attract attention?

25. Other Storytelling Tools
Animoto
Vimeo

26. Video Slideshows on Animoto
 View Catholic Saints
 http://animoto.com/play/XjZC7dXqOBa7Cn
HZPJxBVw
 View Search for the
Christ Child
 http://animoto.com/play/YTFXtQI8shVLjCW
qXUkuDg

27. Animoto how to:
Select Style

28. Animoto how to:
Import Photos, Select Music

29. Be authentic.
Connect emotionally.
 “The truth of the Gospel is not something to be
consumed or used superficially; rather it is a
gift that calls for a free response. Even when it
is proclaimed in the virtual space of the
web, the Gospel demands to be incarnated
in the real world and linked to the real faces
of our brothers and sisters, those with
whom we share our daily lives. Direct human
relations always remain fundamental for the
transmission of the faith!”

30. ICS Videos on Vimeo
 Kindergarten Angels
 http://vimeo.com/29789754
 Blessing for Grade 2
 http://vimeo.com/23912672
 Fr. Michael’s Jubilee
 http://vimeo.com/23405623
 ICS Field Day
 http://vimeo.com/24933508

31. Movies in Vimeo
 Use the best quality camera available
 Use a tripod.
 Edit. Start filming before it starts.
 Import to Vimeo. Takes 30 minutes before it is
approved.
 Make sure you have permission to use people in
anything posted online or printed.
 Vimeo has less distractions than Youtube.

32. Vimeo how to:
Create & Edit Movies, Import

33. Vimeo how to:
Control Privacy

34. Vimeo how to:
Download or Share

35. Be Professional.
Look Professional.
 Poor communication is one of the most
common problems within parish
communities. And as the Vatican reminds
us, if New Media is used wisely, it can
become “a valid and effective instrument
for authentic and profound evangelization
and communion.”

36. Kodak Top Ten
Photographic Tips
 Down at their level
 Plain background
 Flash indoors
 Vertical also
 Lock the focus
 Move from the middle
 Know the flash range
 Be the picture director
 Watch the light

37. Deconstruction:
Assess the technical elements
 number of shots  sound track
 length of each shot  backgrounds
 camera angle of each  lighting for each shot
shot & location of the
camera for each
 visual transitions
 effects of close-  special effects or
animation
up/medium/long shots
 framing (rule of thirds)  script/message

38. How successful are we?
 “Going viral is the phenomenon by which
unknown information becomes commonly
known through a repeatable medium.”
 “Just as a virus enters a living body and then
rapidly reproduces itself millions of times over
so also a message has the potential to rapidly
reproduce itself within a culture.”

39. How successful are we?
 “The viral success of a story depends on
the willingness of a potential audience to
copy and paste that information through
their own media outlets.”
 Kindergarten Angels viewed 294 times
 Fr. Michael’s Jubilee viewed 233 times
 Field Day viewed 342 times

40. Seth Godin asks,
“1st thing in the morning?”
 “Do you check your email or traffic stats or messages
or Facebook?
 You’ve surrendered not only a block of time but your
freshest, best chance to start something new. Your goal
is to be the first thing people do when they start their
day.
 If you’re seeking to make a difference, the first thing
you do should be to lay tracks to accomplish your
goals, not to hear how others have
reacted/responded/insisted to what happened
yesterday.”

41. Not a Popularity Contest
 “The task of witnessing to the Gospel in the digital era
calls for everyone to be particularly attentive to the
aspects of that message which can challenge some of
the ways of thinking typical of the web. First of all, we
must be aware that the truth which we long to
share does not derive its worth from its
“popularity” or from the amount of attention it
receives. We must make it known in its
integrity, instead of seeking to make it acceptable or
diluting it. It must become daily nourishment and not a
fleeting attraction.”

42. Evangelize, Catechize, Educate 1
Child at a Time

43. Recommendations
1. * Clearly identify your story. 1. Secure the assets you
need.
2. * Define your market.
2. Begin with a few initiatives.
3. Establish a New Media
group. 3. Commit to helping
parishes, schools.
4. Evaluate current strengths
and gaps. 4. Sponsor and host
gatherings.
5. Create New Media
partnerships. 5. Make it multilingual.

44. Thank-you

45. ICS Resources
 ICS Website
 http://www.icstampa.org/
 ICS Facebook
 https://www.facebook.com/icstampa.org
 ICS Wikispaces
 http://icstampa.wikispaces.com/home
 ICS Blogs
 http://icscatholicedu.blogspot.com/
 http://rcarrier.edublogs.org/

46. Other Sample ICS Stories
 Vimeo: includes links to science videos.
 Vimeo: Hail Mary Full of Grace
 Vimeo: Incarnation Grade 3 on All Saints Day
 Vimeo: Kindergarten Sings Good-bye
 Wikispaces: Grade 5 Science
 Wikispaces Grade 5 Science e-journals
 Wikispaces: Grade 3 Saints Presentations

47. Recommended Websites
 Catholics Come Home
 Message from Pope Bennedict XVI: 45th World
Communication Day
 Prayer for the Internet – Fr. Z’s Blog
 CommonCraft.com for tutorials
 Kodak Top Ten Tips
 Animoto.com and Animoto tutorial
 Vimeo.com

48. Recommended Books
 The Church and New Media by Brandon Vogt
 Tribes by Seth Godin
 The Mac is not a Typewriter or The PC is not a
Typewriter by Robin Williams or Beyond the Mac is Not
a Typewriter by Robin Williams
 The Nondesigner’s Design Book by Robin Williams