Telling Stories To Sell 'Brand You' And Your Products
Telling stories and listening to stories is something that we all do. You might say that we are hooked on them! We love the emotions that a really good story stirs up in us, be they emotions of happiness or sadness, fascination or horror.
It seems odd now to think that in the West, it is really only since the 19th Century that the notion of individuality and our individual stories has even existed. Today, we take it as read that we should imagine ourselves the subject of our own biography, drawing upon photographs, video and audio recordings to aid our memories and rituals of storytelling.
And today, story telling has taken on a whole new dimension, having emerged as a key strategy in branding and marketing.
Creating Experiences
There is a big difference, however, between the stories we tell for branding and marketing purposes and the 'Once Upon A Time' stories we loved as children.
The big difference is that the stories we tell our prospects or customers are stories of experiences.
We live in an experience-based economy, where consumers want sensation-filled experiences that capture and engage them in a memorable way.
So, for example, rather than telling prospective social work students about the wide range of issues that they will be helping clients with, place them into the experience of being a social worker. This could be done by creating a series of video vignettes, where actors play characters in real-life situations, capturing a snapshot of the story and trauma of their lives.
This is called 'conditional positioning', where the consumer fills in the blanks, drawing on their own knowledge, experience and memory bank.
Getting Personal
The days of separating our business and personal life are long gone. Today, as Peter Sheahan says in his book Flip, all business is personal.
In 2007, Sheahan stated that we are fast entering the relationship era. I think we have well and truly arrived! Business is all about building relationships. Your consumers want to get to know you before deciding whether or not they like and trust you and want to follow you or buy your products or services.
They want to know:
Does this person share similar experiences to me?
Does this person relate to my experiences?
Do I relate to their experiences?
In other words, your prospects want to know if there are shared commonalities, if you care about them and if your experiences are relevant to them and what they are wanting. Conveying relevance is essential, if you want your prospects to invest their time and energy in building a relationship with you.
If you are promoting 'Brand You' and you are packaging your expertise and information, then it is critical that you tell stories that convey this information and build the relationship with your potential customers. This is step #1 in your campaign to sell your products.
Story-Starters
Here are some story-starters to help you generate ideas for the stories you can tell in blog posts, videos, interviews, workshops, etc:
When I first started out I dreamed of______ and then I was hit with the reality that... (i.e. similar to the experiences your prospects will be going through)
The greatest frustration I had when I set out on this path was...
The one strategy that flat-out didn't work for me in the beginning was______ and then I discovered...
There was this time when the most dominant emotion I was experiencing was...
And then I got this book and had this amazing light bulb moment when I read...
One of the best pieces of advice I got from _____ helped me to...
After ________(months/years) of struggle, I finally figured out that...
Once I figured out the answer to _____________, I was able to go on and complete the following steps....
I hope this helps get your creative juices flowing!
Kisane Slaney PhD - Master Coach To Women Entrepreneurs
http://drkisane.com
To learn the 3 'Must Tell' Stories to include in your story kitbag and the 4 Critical Reasons Why, view my post/video http://drkisane.com/telling-stories-to-woo-your-audience-sell-your-stuff
http://drkisane.com/telling-stories-to-woo-your-audience-sell-your-stuff
It seems odd now to think that in the West, it is really only since the 19th Century that the notion of individuality and our individual stories has even existed. Today, we take it as read that we should imagine ourselves the subject of our own biography, drawing upon photographs, video and audio recordings to aid our memories and rituals of storytelling.
And today, story telling has taken on a whole new dimension, having emerged as a key strategy in branding and marketing.
Creating Experiences
There is a big difference, however, between the stories we tell for branding and marketing purposes and the 'Once Upon A Time' stories we loved as children.
The big difference is that the stories we tell our prospects or customers are stories of experiences.
We live in an experience-based economy, where consumers want sensation-filled experiences that capture and engage them in a memorable way.
So, for example, rather than telling prospective social work students about the wide range of issues that they will be helping clients with, place them into the experience of being a social worker. This could be done by creating a series of video vignettes, where actors play characters in real-life situations, capturing a snapshot of the story and trauma of their lives.
This is called 'conditional positioning', where the consumer fills in the blanks, drawing on their own knowledge, experience and memory bank.
Getting Personal
The days of separating our business and personal life are long gone. Today, as Peter Sheahan says in his book Flip, all business is personal.
In 2007, Sheahan stated that we are fast entering the relationship era. I think we have well and truly arrived! Business is all about building relationships. Your consumers want to get to know you before deciding whether or not they like and trust you and want to follow you or buy your products or services.
They want to know:
Does this person share similar experiences to me?
Does this person relate to my experiences?
Do I relate to their experiences?
In other words, your prospects want to know if there are shared commonalities, if you care about them and if your experiences are relevant to them and what they are wanting. Conveying relevance is essential, if you want your prospects to invest their time and energy in building a relationship with you.
If you are promoting 'Brand You' and you are packaging your expertise and information, then it is critical that you tell stories that convey this information and build the relationship with your potential customers. This is step #1 in your campaign to sell your products.
Story-Starters
Here are some story-starters to help you generate ideas for the stories you can tell in blog posts, videos, interviews, workshops, etc:
When I first started out I dreamed of______ and then I was hit with the reality that... (i.e. similar to the experiences your prospects will be going through)
The greatest frustration I had when I set out on this path was...
The one strategy that flat-out didn't work for me in the beginning was______ and then I discovered...
There was this time when the most dominant emotion I was experiencing was...
And then I got this book and had this amazing light bulb moment when I read...
One of the best pieces of advice I got from _____ helped me to...
After ________(months/years) of struggle, I finally figured out that...
Once I figured out the answer to _____________, I was able to go on and complete the following steps....
I hope this helps get your creative juices flowing!
Kisane Slaney PhD - Master Coach To Women Entrepreneurs
http://drkisane.com
To learn the 3 'Must Tell' Stories to include in your story kitbag and the 4 Critical Reasons Why, view my post/video http://drkisane.com/telling-stories-to-woo-your-audience-sell-your-stuff
http://drkisane.com/telling-stories-to-woo-your-audience-sell-your-stuff
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