Strategic Storytelling

"Every year I say I'm going to plan better. And it never happens." "I make great plans. But I never seem to finish carrying them out." "I'm a small business. My brand is ME…which means my planning is all about ME and what I'll do. All the planning advice seems geared to big business." How many times have you said that? If these scenarios resonate, you're hardly alone.  Planning can seem like a use...

You're a service-based business and the brand is YOU. So how will you keep growing your business while you're taking some downtime? For many of us, holidays mean vacation and downtime. We travel. We join family and friends.   You'll attend special seasonal networking events.   As a marketer for entrepreneurs, I see this time as an opportunity to make new and exciting connections. The least likely...

When you meet prospects, live or virtually, they often want to know more about you and your services.   Inevitably, they'll ask for your website. Research shows 80% of buyers visit a website before making a purchase.   But what if your website isn't ready? You may have good reasons for waiting to build a website. In fact, you might (wisely) want to avoid starting too early…before you know your cli...

A content creator named Kaleigh Moore posted on social media: When working to improve yourself: Is it better to do it in a public forum and post about progress along the way, or to internalize it, hunker down, and sort of *sit down, shut up, and DO THE WORK* on your own? This is a great question It really boils down to, "How will I tell my story?" In this episode, you'll discover the pros and cons...

When you introduce yourself as a business owner, do you give yourself a title? Or do you jump right in to explain how you serve clients? Many coaches tell you to skip the title. No need to identify yourself, they say. Clients don't care what you call yourself. They just want to know how you help. Sounds good, doesn't it? The truth is, the people sharing this advice most likely established their bu...

How to communicate your value by telling a story. Stories make it possible to communicate your value without coming across as boastful, obnoxious or unbelievable. Your story won't just explain: your listeners will see themselves in the story and exclaim the words you're waiting for: "I want what they're having." When your story works, you'll show how you deliver value. When a story falls flat, it'...

"Dramatic stories in your emails? Not a good idea!" That was the advice of a  marketing expert - not me!  In particular, he said, emails that begin with an edgy dramatic story face two problems. First, the story can overshadow your informational content. After all, people open your emails to get information and ideas they can use for their lives and their businesses. Second, and most important, it...

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to grow your business, especially if you are a small, service-based business where you are the brand.  These days we're hearing a lot about how to use stories to improve your email marketing. There's a lot of nonsense out there, such as "You have to start with a story." But you'll find some good marketers too. In this podcast episode, you'll get 3...

There's a lot of confusion about branding for small businesses and solopreneurs. Your brand influences the stories you tell, the promises you make, and even the advice you give your clients. Cindy Bidar has achieved considerable success in a relatively short time frame. Her brand builds on her story archetype - the Role Model. Cindy didn't set out to brand with this archetype. Very few people even...

When you're a small service-based business, you are the brand ... and you deliver the value to your clients. Prospective clients come to you with the question, "Can you really do the job?" They want to know about you as a person, because you're not a big faceless company.  If you're a solopreneur, they have to believe in you. You don't come with the implied authority of a big company. Why are you...

Content creation is one of the most important activities of a business owner, especially for online marketing.  As a prolific writer myself, I've found that anyone who writes a lot will sooner or later experience a challenge: how can I find ideas for my next article?  That article might appear as a blog post or be recorded as a podcast episode. It's the same problem I had when I was first doing co...

        Stories, by definition, evoke emotions. Strong stories encourage your audience to see themselves in your story.   But what does your audience experience when you share a story about your own struggles?   Maybe you want them to get the message, "I've been there." Maybe you offer a service to clients who seek help for difficult, sensitive problems. Maybe you've struggled in your own business...

As marketers - especially copywriters - we're taught to begin a project by asking, "What does the client need?"  Copywriting training usually includes a list of basic needs, such as "finance" and "love."   We get copywriting templates that encourage the question, "Are you struggling with..." But what if you offer a service that's not about struggle? Spa services? Wardrobe consulting? Interior desi...

It's happened to every consultant or coach.  A client shows up, enthusiastic and ready to rock and roll. But then they stop cold. They realize they're not Cinderella and you're not the fairy godmother. You won't just wave a wand. They have to contribute to the work.  Even if they've paid you, you're frustrated. You succeed when your client succeeds. No ethical professional wants to deal with a ros...

Here's something I see often. You're trying to explain a service to your clients. They don't get it. So...you tell them more about you. Your "why." Your origin story. And you tell them more about your process. What are the steps. What's the intake process. And they're still not clear on your offer. our solutions may not have existed last year...or you may have created a solution that nobody else o...

It's not a secret that potential clients get nervous before they decide to hire you. They know they're taking a risk, especially if you're a small business and they aren't coming from a referral. They're looking for reasons to trust you. Ideally, they'd find social proof - several warm, obviously genuine, signed testimonials from previous clients. - But you can't always get those testimonials. Som...

If you're marketing online, you probably know, "The money is in the list."   To grow your list in today's market, you almost always need to offer your prospective clients something of value such as an ebook, a recording, or an invitation to a webinar or workshop. This offering is known as a lead magnet (sometimes also called a "freebie" or "free giveaway"). Your lead magnet has two purposes: to at...

What makes a story grab your audience's attention? With all the stories going around, it's hard to make a story stand out. Just opening my email today, I got a handful of stories about people who took a cruise, went gardening, took the kids to the beach, went to the dentist, went for a medical checkup (with a little TMI) and …well you get the idea.  Each story was designed to hook my interest. Mos...

You're writing copy to target your ideal clients. But they may not be ready to hear you. They may not know they have a problem; they may not be ready to look for solutions. You may have heard of the 5 levels of awareness identified by iconic copywriter Eugene Schwartz. You write copy differently - and share different stories - depending on the client's level of awareness. In this episode, we do tw...

You know you need a change. A new direction in business...maybe a whole new business. A new career. A major move from corporate to entrepreneurship. You might be changing because well, it's time! Or you might be facing pressures from yourself or your market. You change. Your market changes. You're facing west and they're heading east, or vice versa. I've gone through many transitions myself, and c...

Business storytelling is just one more tool in your marketing bag. But sometimes it's harder to be objective about storytelling decisions than about other business decisions, such as whether to attend a networking event or how to price your new offer. In this episode, we explore a common challenge among business owners. You have a story you REALLY like. You're eager to share it.  Someone advises,...

Does someone want to connect with you on LinkedIn? Do you get messages like these: "It looks like you're doing some pretty amazing things with storytelling." "I'd love to learn more about your journey to success." "Let's get to know each other better." "I'm a huge fan of what you're doing." Or even... It was amazing meeting you at [event] and learning about your company. The conversation on [relat...

Business decisions and career decisions will be influenced by the way you tell a story. When you tell an old story because "everyone knows this" you make choices with less successful outcomes.  In this episode, we review the retirement story as an example. Many (maybe most) people make career and business decisions in the context of a retirement story. It's the story they've heard all their workin...

You've got a great story for business...and you're ready to write "The End." But it's rarely a good idea to end your business story this way. When you're writing a story to sell,  you'll get more results with a story that ends with the client's transformation. In this podcast episode, we'll talk about how to show your client reached a transformation. You'll discover ... how to tailor the transform...

When you're a solopreneur or small service-based business, the brand is YOU. The stories you tell will contribute to your brand and position, even when you're not intending to brand with them. A casual story gets remembered and follows you everywhere. I've observed several business owners over the years. As their businesses grow, they become more established. They develop a group of loyal follower...