Consider storytelling as part of your overall marketing strategy. Sharing your own story can be an effective part of your marketing strategy.
The days of broadcast marketing and using marketing as a sales tactic have gone – these days it’s all about building relationships. Whether it’s with customers, referral partners or suppliers relationships should be based on trust and likeability. We therefore already understand that casual conversation, sharing stories, anecdotes and some background information about ourselves is important to build that foundation.
However, there is more to storytelling for marketing purposes than ‘getting to know you’. Having a strategy underlining the stories you’re sharing and that all-important goal behind it, helps your story become effective at growing your network and consequently, your business.
The following questions should help you lay down the outline of your marketing stories:
• Who are YOU and What do you do?
• WHO DO YOU HELP and what problems of theirs do you solve?
• WHY DID YOU START your business and where?
• WHAT GETS YOU out of bed in the morning and why?
• What have been your GREATEST HIGHS, LOWS, AND LEARNINGS?
• What’s it like BEHIND THE SCENES?
• HOW CAN PEOPLE WORK with you or buy from you?
• Who or WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL for?
What do you want to achieve by telling your story?
Is it so you can grow a networking community that you have an affiliation with? Is it to demonstrate to potential customers that you ‘get it’? Perhaps if you share more about your reason why, your backstory, goals and even perceived failures people will recognise your authenticity and they will gravitate towards you.
All the above are great reasons to share your stories and having that reason clear in your mind before you start writing will help you keep the story relevant, clear and interesting.
I’ve shared my own story on my website in the ‘About’ section, I continue to share stories on LinkedIn and Instagram, and I’d like to encourage you to write your story for National Storytelling Month. Even if you don’t publish it, get it down on paper as a cathartic exercise. I believe that it will not only bring positivity, but it will also become a fantastic marketing tool when the time is right.
All the best for your future marketing, and I hope your stories will continue to fascinate.
Mike Foster
Entrepreneurs Mentor
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