Connect to Your Prospective Clients through Your Story
Storytelling is one of the most powerful methods of connecting to your clients without overtly selling to them. A good story can not only sell your products and services, but make your customer feel like they are doing a greater good.
Take fair trade products for example. You could tell a story of a poor farmer forced into selling their crops at inhumane prices. Then how your company found this hard-working farmer and finally paid them a fair wage. Not only that, but you might even be providing modern equipment and training on healthy farming.
A good story includes conflict and resolution. It connects your business with your customers in a primal way that humans have been using since the dawn of time.
And you have a story. Maybe you don’t even realize it yet – everyone has a story though. Nobody gets to owning a successful business without some conflict and struggle. It’s just a matter of communicating that story in a way that makes it relate with your audience.
Creating Your Own Story
Think about all that you’ve been through. What challenges have you overcome? Who encouraged you along the way? What good have you done in your life? Which mistakes have you made?
These are your conflicts. And every good story has conflict in it.
Perhaps its that poor farmer that you saved from losing everything? Maybe it’s a personal challenge you had to overcome? No matter what, it’s an experience that is uniquely yours. And that is inherently interesting to other human beings.
Connecting Your Story to Your Prospects
Now you have to take your unique experience and boil it down to the common human conflict. That could be a lot of things… Achieving success, helping the less fortunate, establishing relationships, etc…
Then build your story around that conflict. You’ll begin to connect with other like-minded people.
Using a story in your marketing is like sparking conversation in the checkout line. Your commonality connects you to each other with one common goal. Unlike the brief conversation in the checkout line, the action inspired by the story cements a deeper relationship. That’s the benefit of using a story.
Your Stories Resolution
Every good story has a conflict resolution.
It’s not enough to tell people about your conflict. You also have to tell people how you solved this problem. And give them hope that they too, can solve their own similar problem. Hope gives someone a reason to listen. And if someone is listening, they are paying attention.
For example, a cookbook geared towards helping parents to get their children eat their greens could tell a story about how the author got her child to eat vegetables.
The key is solving the problem. Of course, your business, company, product, or service should be that solution!
Using Your Clients Stories About You
Not only is it good to tell your own story… But sometimes a 3rd party story is much more powerful. That’s why testimonials and reviews work so well. Encourage your clients to share these with you.
At a Google conference I attended, Nector Economakis (Google Agency Lead) stated that 86% of people research their purchases online first. That’s a lot of people researching you. How often have you let a review or testimonial influence your decision?
Getting reviews is similar to the boyfriend/girlfriend effect. Once you have one you suddenly become more desirable. More importantly, businesses create a connection with the consumer and people are more likely to buy from a company with which they already identify.
Where Can You Use Storytelling
You can use storytelling to deliver any message and enhance your company’s image. You can implement storytelling on your website, in case studies, emails, social media and any other type of marketing you use to get customers through the door.
Marketing your business with a good story can help your business succeed swiftly. It creates instant recognition and connects with the listener. For small businesses or large ones, the storytelling method has been working for decades. Make sure your business takes advantage of this powerful marketing tool.
How have stories, reviews, and testimonials helped to shape your business? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
