About this episode

Simon Ostler discusses the importance of storytelling in business and how companies often misidentify their marketing challenges.

Episode 353 of The Business Development Podcast features Simon Ostler, a former newsroom leader, media strategist, and founder of Simon Ostler Consulting. With more than 20 years of experience in Canadian media, including senior leadership roles at Global News Toronto, Simon spent his career deciding which stories earned attention and which ones were ignored. In this conversation, he explains why most companies do not have a marketing problem, they have a storytelling problem. Kelly and Simon explore why people connect with human experiences, not corporate messaging, and why trust has become one of the most valuable currencies in business. They discuss earned media, reputation, thought leadership, AI, and why authentic stories matter more than ever. Whether you are a founder, executive, entrepreneur, marketer, or business development professional, this episode will challenge the way you think about attention, credibility, and the story your organization is telling. Key Takeaways: Most companies do not have a marketing problem, they have a storytelling problem. The story is rarely the company, the story is the human being impacted by it. People remember real people, not corporate…

People in this episode

Host: Kelly Kennedy

Guest: Simon Ostler

Topics covered

• storytelling
• marketing
• trust
• earned media
• human experience
• business development

Keywords

• storytelling problem
• human experiences
• trust in business
• earned media
• thought leadership
• AI content creation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Simon Ostler Consulting, Global News Toronto

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