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.