By Janet Wentworth
Stories for marketing have become very trendy. Isn’t this ironic?
Humans have been using story as a communication tool for over 100,000 years. Now that marketers have discovered their power, stories are all the rage. But, stories are not just another handy tool to use. Stories are too important to be treated so frivolously.
Stories are power and should be the foundation of your marketing, not the sprinkles on top. Have you fallen for the idea that stories are merely for fun and overlooked the rock-solid ways that purpose-told stories can ensure your business success?
Stories create empowerment
You may not think about it, but you tell yourself stories all the time. That endless chatter in your head revolves around stories. What stories do you tell yourself about your business? Thinking you don’t have what it takes? Feeling you are not a natural marketer? Being uncomfortable talking about yourself and your business? Wishing you could just work on the business and ignore the marketing? These negative stories cause you to hesitate. To question. To hold you back. The problem is not with your abilities. The problem is your stories.
The solution? Create new stories!
Start with your passion (or your purpose) story. This story is only for you so don’t worry about perfection. Just be sure to turn down the volume on that nasty editor (the one who sounds like your high school English teacher). This story is about you. Why you care so much. Why this business is important. Why you are the one to do it. Perhaps why you are the only one who can do it!
Don’t be surprised if you transform your relationship with your business once you can articulate—and own—your story. I have seen it with many clients. It can happen to you.
Once you have your story, use it. Before meeting an important client, tell yourself your story. Every time you doubt, tell yourself your story. Put this story on an endless loop with no air time for that old negative story. Your story will keep you grounded, focused and positive.
Successful marketing requires good ideas consistently applied. Stories can make that happen.
Stories provide marketing focus
As a newbie business owner if you don’t have a marketing background you don’t even know what you don’t know. On a tight budget? You may need to do everything yourself. A solo entrepreneur? You are on your own for ideas and advice. With these handicaps, it is no wonder small businesses often have disjointed, and ineffective, marketing.
But you do know your customer’s story.
You know what you are offering and why. You know who is perfect for this project and service. Maybe this business sprang for you own needs. You are one of your ideal customers. You may have friends who are ideal customers.
Take one of the ideal customers out for coffee. Why do they need what you offer? What solutions have they tried before that didn’t work? What are their fears? Their values? Their dreams? How will their lives change when your business is there for them?
When you know these answers, you can write their stories. You know their language. You know the change they are seeking. Once you know this, the rest of your marketing is built on this knowledge. No longer are you flailing around when making marketing decisions. Your every decision is measured against this story. Will it speak to this person?
Stories attract and engage customers
Not just any customers, the right customers. Two very powerful forces are at work when you use stories for your marketing.
First, you are dealing with the human brain that is hardwired for story. This hardwired curiosity to know what happens next triggers a rush of dopamine when a story is detected. This forces the listener to pay attention. You can’t get that same dopamine-fueled attention with a PowerPoint presentation, a list of features and benefits, or even a limited-time discount.
Second, when we hear a story we hear our own version of it. We add missing bits that make it relevant to us. We leave out parts that don’t apply. We include our own motivation. We don’t retain the story you told; we have created our own story.
Well-crafted marketing stories are written specifically for your ideal customers. Using their language. Calming their fears. Inspiring their dreams. Solving their problems. Stroking their egos. Sharing their values. These stories attract your idea customers and they will listen. While listening they create their own version of the story you told. They are actually selling themselves. Then they buy.
Successful marketing requires good ideas consistently applied. Stories can make that happen.
One day you will look up and wonder what happened to that doubting business owner and hesitant marketer.
About Janet Wentworth.
It’s always about the story. The story you tell yourself. The story your customer is telling herself. The story you tell your customer. And the version of that story that your customer hears. I work with small business owners, “encore-preneurs” and nonprofits to help them identify their stories and use that wisdom to build an Unstoppable Brand.
In addition to private clients, I work as a Small Business Development Center Advisor in Napa, Sonoma and Marin counties (Northern California) and teach Marketing and PR for Nonprofits at Sonoma State University. Have written two books: Your Unstoppable Brand: The practical guide to engaging your ideal customers through the power of stories
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