Marketing used to consist of enormous amounts of ad dollars, hundreds of spammy emails, and a few TV commercials.
But that’s not the case anymore. Now marketing requires permission. Instead of fighting for eyeballs, we need to create something of value that interests our prospects.
Enter the story. And to show how important the story is, let’s take a short walk down memory lane.
Think way back. Like you are two years old. I would bet that one thing you loved was having a story read to you. We start our lives learning through stories.
And it doesn’t change as we get older. Watched a movie lately? That’s a story. And if it was a good movie, it kept your attention the whole time.
Now, back to marketing. Instead of the hard sell, you need to sell with story. Invite the prospective customer into the narrative. Through the elegance of words, you can tell people what you do, who it’s for and they can envision themselves using your widget.
This is an extremely strong marketing tool. You can use stories in social media posts, on your website, and even in printed materials. People will want to read what you have to say when you lead with a story.
People will also start to feel more connected to you through the story. If I told you a story and the same thing had already happened to you before, I would become instantly more relatable. My trust factor also went up. And when my widget solves the problem, we just made a sale.
Yet as the saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility.” You notice in nowhere have I told you to lie, cheat or make up a story. The stories need to be believable and factual. People can spot a phony anywhere.
Find stories by listening to your customers. Share stories to gain customers. Embrace the power of stories.