How to tell a story that compels instead of sells

Posted on by Laura
How will you tell your story?

Have you ever thought about how often we tell stories throughout the day?

“You’ll never believe what happened to me this morning!”

“Hey, guess what?”

Whether at work or at home, stories connect us to others, make us human, show our personality. They enable us to share ideas and experiences with others.

But, I can’t tell stories for business, can I?

Why not? How is telling stories for business any different than sharing them with our friends and family? After all, we’re all drawn to interesting people, scenarios and stories. And we shouldn’t discount the power that has to make people want to partner with us.

Besides, simply selling our products and services isn’t enough to make people want to connect with us. And…if we ‘sell’ too much, it can even work against us. I mean…how do you like it when people constantly try to sell you? 😝

How to tell a story that compels instead of sells

The good thing is, there’s an excellent way to think about the stories you tell – whether verbally, in a blog post or a marketing slick – however you’re connecting with your customers. It’s the simple anatomy of a story, and it goes something like this:

1. Once upon a time…
(I finally did it! I started my own company.)

2. Suddenly…
(Now what? I have people asking me when I’m going to get a website, get on social and have some information about my business. But, I don’t know where to begin.)

3. Luckily…
(Thankfully, I talked to Ripple Effect, and they helped me map out my entire marketing strategy and develop a few easy templates I can use for my marketing efforts.)

4. Happily ever after…
(Now, I have a plan and the tools I can use to market my business.)

The same approach can be taken for your business. If people are looking to you for answers, it means they have a problem or challenge they need to solve. And they want your help. So…

…tell your story. Your way.

(Psst…If you’re still unsure how to start, Meet Bob. This follows the anatomy and – hopefully – piques the interest of those seeking marketing strategy and communications help for their business.)

Don’t forget the ‘happily ever after’

With all of that said, don’t forget how important it is to make sure your audience understands their next step. After all, all of us in business are there to provide a product or service. And if we don’t ask our audience to take action, we’re doing ourselves and our potential clients a disservice.

So, what’s next?

If you’re ready to learn more and want to create your own ripple effect, give us a call at 847.245.3236 or shoot us an email today.

And be sure to click FOLLOW in the sidebar today to make sure you don’t miss out on future posts about creating your own ripple effect.

Don’t change. Be who you are.

Posted on by Laura
Source: gathutopper.wordpress.com
Source: gathutopper.wordpress.com

I was reminded today that it’s important to be who you are and not change for anyone. After all, when we do that, we give up a little bit of ourselves. And that’s not fair to us – or anyone else.

I had been in the process of writing a blog post about a topic I ‘thought’ was something I ‘should’ write – instead of embracing who I am, how I sound and what I believe. It was only when I offered advice to someone else saying, “No, no. Don’t change who you are to please someone else. Be you. You’re awesome. And people will dig it,” that it dawned on me: I was doing the same thing. Ugh. ◔̯◔ So, I stopped writing the post, re-centered and decided to embrace me.

Who are you?

Businesses are no different. You have to figure out who you are, how you want to sound – formal, casual, somewhere in between – and what makes you different from everyone else. After all, that’s the way we connect. That’s how relationships are built, whether business or personal.

Above all else, we have to be us. Period.

So…who are you? Who do you want to be? How do you want to get there? Are you ready to create your own ripple effect? Contact us today.

Click FOLLOW today to make sure you don’t miss out on future posts to learn how you can create your own ripple effect.

The forest for the trees

Posted on by Laura
See the forest for the trees
Source: Rachel Olshausen

Why is it that it’s so easy to fall into the trap of focusing on only one tree when there’s an entire forest around us? It happens all the time. We get caught up in one thing we’re trying to accomplish and forget to broaden our view a bit to take in the big picture. And when we do, we miss the forest for the trees.

So, how can we stop doing that? 🙂

How to see the forest

  1. Before you start any endeavor – whether a simple meeting, a new project or a new marketing piece – ask yourself: What is my objective? What am I trying to accomplish with this meeting? project? communication piece? This will help you realize that while you may want to check off a single task, each action item has a ripple effect.

2. Then ask: What do I want the meeting participants/project participants/audience to do? What action do I want them to take? In other words, what is your overall objective?

Simply keeping those two things in mind can make the difference between seeing a single lovely tree – or a realizing there’s a huge, beautiful forest all around us.

Ready to learn how to create your own ripple effect? Contact us today.

Click FOLLOW today to make sure you don’t miss out on future posts to learn how you can create your own ripple effect.