Story-selling is an art. It can help you strategically grow an online information based business from the comfort of, well, just about anywhere. You can also use story-selling as a way to build other businesses, gain brand recognition, establish yourself as an industry expert, become a public speaker, and so much more. Story-selling takes your content marketing and copywriting to the next level, supercharging your sales capability. Storyselling gets people to take action.
So what is the difference between story-selling and storytelling?Anyone in this world can be a storyteller. I'm sure if you think about it, you can tell me who in your family is a storyteller. Is it an uncle, and aunt, mom or dad, a cousin, a sibling, grandparents, in-laws? I'm sure you can tell me about one or two occasions when this person spent an hour or two telling stories about the past, or about events they witnessed, and sometimes they tell stories that are so far-fetched that they cannot be true.
Telling me about the storytellers in your family makes you a storyteller. After all, you aren't just going to stop at, "Uncle George tells stories all the time." I am sure you are going to elaborate on this comment. Even if you don't, most people will ask you for more details, or for an example. That's when you go from telling me about a storyteller to becoming a storyteller who is telling me a story about a storyteller. Read that one again.
Story-sellers are people that become so good at storytelling that they can build an audience for their stories which is willing to pay for the stories. Story-selling is the act of selling a product or a service through the art of telling a compelling story. Think about brands like Nike, Apple, McDonald's, Weight Watchers, etc. Think about the giants in story-selling, such as Hallmark and Disney. They sell you something you may or may not need by telling you a story that makes you want that thing.
This is the simple definition and description of story-selling. Yet there is so much more to it. Story-selling finds a way to pull at the heartstrings and feelings of a person when selling, hoping that the story is so compelling that it encourages the person to look past need, and act on want. Don't believe me? Do you really think that buying a pair of Nike sneakers is going to make you a better athlete? Can you do the same with a pair of less expensive sneakers? You can buy a pair of sneakers endorsed by Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Stephen Curry, or any other great basketball star today and they will probably run circles around you on the basketball court barefoot. You can buy the best new iPhone, iPad, MacBook, etc. but that does not mean you are automatically a better business person than Steve Jobs was. You can certainly buy a Weight Watchers product because of the stories and testimonies you see on commercials and marketing pieces, but that alone won't make you lose weight.
The Wolf of Wall Street and Karate Kid effect:
After watching the stories told on Wolf of Wall Street and Karate Kid, numerous people with aspirations of becoming a huge Wall Street Stock Trader, or becoming a Karate champion found the courage to begin their journey. What World of Wall Street did for trading firms, and Karate Kid did for Karate dojos was the result of great story-selling. Jordan Belfort and Ralph Macchio are still telling stories about those movies. They are using their story-selling skills to use old stories to get you to buy into new products and services.
Stories sell. Great stories sell even better. So story-sellers are true professionals who have found a way to get story watchers, readers and listeners to buy their products. They found a way to put add humanity and character to the often boring and impersonal field of sales. Story-selling creates a personal connection between the product or service provider and the prospective client or customer. It no longer sells the person through a faceless corporation, but rather connects with the person in a P2P (Person to Person) environment where trust is earned, relationships are built and decisions are made. Story-selling turns strangers into friends.
Are story-sellers involved in the actual sales process?
While storyselling is an important tool when it comes to sales, it doesn't automatically connect to the actual sales process. The people that write stories for Hallmark, Nike and Apple are not manning their retail stores or managing their corporate sales departments. A good story-seller creates stories around the product that build interest and relationships with the general public. Salespeople then use this to generate more sales. So the story sellers are often faceless entities themselves who simply generate interest in a product of service by using their attention grabbing skills.
Storyselling is a great way to make a living online as a writer. Anyone who works in advertising, marketing, publishing, or any other another relationship-driven creative field can become a professional story-seller and work for anyone, from anywhere, at any time. Great writers and storytellers can provide storyselling services for businesses to drive traffic and encourage the public to take action. Businesses are often looking for great story sellers to build their businesses future business pipeline, as well as build brand awareness across different mediums and platforms. Hey, if you are a great blogger and can put together stories that people want to read, you too can be a story seller.
Can I use my BLOG to become a storyseller?
If your blog is product-centered or service-oriented, then yes, by all means, you can use it to sell your online story-selling service. If your blog is not centered on products or services, but you feel like you are an avid storyteller who can be a valuable story-seller, then perhaps starting a blog to promote your services is the way to go.
By the way, if you are the products or services provider, you can be your own story-seller. This requires you to be a great storyteller, and have free time on your hands to start a blog yourself and begin storyselling. You must be able to tell captivating stories about the products or services you sell online. If you do not write well, if you wouldn't be described by loved ones as a great story teller, or if you do not have ample time to put these stories together, then consider hiring a great story seller. We can help you find the right one at GC Rosario Group.
One of our best clients has an amazing business. It is a service oriented business that helps divorced fathers find resources to help them get back on their feet after a divorce. The business was born out of need. Jacob, the CEO & Founder of the business, divorced after 20 years of marriage. He was an excellent father, a dedicated husband, and a great provider for the family. But, as many men before him, divorce led to depression and separation anxiety, terrible credit and the financial stress of having to support two households on one income. Losing his job of 22 years didn't help either. Within months, Jacob was so depressed that he thought of throwing in the towel.
His downward spiral was destroying his relationship with his children, created huge debt, left him homeless and soon drove him to contemplating suicide. Jacob didn't want to add to the statistics of divorced fathers who commit suicide (the highest demographic group in the United States who take their own lives). So he started seeking help.
Seeking help was easier said than done. There are almost no government programs that help divorced fathers deal with the financial stress of child support, alimony and regular living expenses for himself and his ex-spouse & children. There are almost no government programs that provide psychological help in the form of counseling for these men. Being unemployed and homeless left him without any money to seek help from the private sector.
It was then that he met a divorced father who had gone through the same issues but who had managed to lift himself up with the help of friends, community and other divorced men. This man introduced him to other men who wanted to help men become better fathers, better ex-husbands, better providers, better community members and to thrive in life. Jacob, still homeless, sought help from these men. They helped him get a job and a room.
Jacob saw an opportunity to give back, so he used his free time between visits with his children, work and counseling to write his story. He then used his story to launch a company from home that helped connect divorced fathers to resources to help them get back on their feet while still providing financial and emotional support for their children.
Today Jacob's organization helps well over 100,000 divorced fathers find the right help to continue being active dads, proper providers and community leaders. Even more important, he's repaired his relationship with his children, he is on good terms with his ex-wife, he provides adequately for them, and he has purchased a home for himself and another home for his children to live in. Jacob's story has a happy ending and is creating happy endings for other divorced families.
If these few paragraphs about Jacob made you want to read more about him. or you feel compelled to support his efforts, then you've just seen proof that storyselling works. I can tell you a lot more about him and how to support this effort privately. Just click here.
How do I become a GREAT story-seller?
Blogging is much more than a hobby for some of us. At GC Rosario Group, we take this form of communication seriously. Fist of all, find areas, fields and interests that you can relate to. If you don't know enough about a topic, don't try telling stories that you'll be able to sell. Your time and energy matter, so why waste them on subjects you can't relate to?
Let's look at 7 steps to use storyselling a way to turn your blog into a business:
STEP #1: Copywriting
Good copy is key. Stories don't sell themselves. If you are going to start a good blog that becomes a business, you have to tell the story right. People find great products and services through great advertising and marketing. Stories make the advertisements or marketing pieces come to life. But even if the story is great, it has to find the right audience. So step number one is identifying who your ideal buyer is. Remember that your story will reflect you speaking directly to another person. If you've ever tried dating, you know the importance of this. How do you keep this other person engaged?
To identify the right person, you must identify a few things about them:
- Identify a problem they have.
- Identify a need they experience.
- Identify ways to help them.
- Identify how they communicate.
- Identify where their attention goes.
- Identify what peaks their interests.
- Identify what motivated them to act.
- Identify who they confide in.
- Identify who helps them make decisions.
- Identify past products or services that failed.
- Identify why those others failed.
- Identify how you are different than others.
- Identify things you have in common.
- Identify their goals.
Once these things are identified clearly, we can then create a writing and storytelling plan to use the right words for your blog. Choosing the right language, lingo and word content is critical. It's difficult to build a real bond with an IT driven person talking about chicken and goats. It's difficult to build a real bond with a farmer talking about SEO, KPI's, DATA, IT and writing code. Know your audience.
In knowing your audience, know the difference between long copy and short copy. Some blogs are better long (like this one) while others are better short, like some I've written in the past. All can be productive if they are what your target audience is looking for. Historically, long copy blogs work better for storyselling purposes.
STEP #2: Content Marketing
Have you ever watched a commercial, a movie, a play, a game that sucked? Have you ever joined a webinar or seminar that simply didn't peak your interest? Have you ever read a book that could not capture your interest past the first chapter?
Good copywriting is not easy. Creating great copy for a blog, a vlog or a marketing piece takes skill. Copy refers to the material for a newspaper or magazine article, the text in a blog, and advertisement or a marketing piece, or anything that is expected to be read by a targeted audience with the intent to motivate or inspire the reader to do business with the writer or presenter. In easier terms, copy refers to the words that make people buy into your product or service.
The best copywriters are diligent in their work. They are open to doing research, filling in the blanks, spending lots of time putting their thoughts down on paper (or type), and then organizing everything with the reader in mind. It requires dedication and creativity.
So where does content marketing come into play. If you scroll back up to the top of this blog post, there is a photograph that captured your attention. Once you started reading, that image may or may have not stayed in your mind. But if you look, there are other images in this blog that break up the text. Those images are meant to drive content marketing. But the images alone will not get you to visit GC Rosario Group online, or will it? What if the photo is of me on the beach? Perhaps not. But what if it were a picture of your favorite celebrity on the beach? Forget the celebrity. What if it's a photo of a cute dog on a beach? What if it's a cute dog on a surfboard? What if it is a cute dog riding a dolphin as a surfboard?See how perhaps you might want to click on GC Rosario Group to see if the photo is on there? No, I don't have that photo on my website. I don't own it. But since I spoke about it, why not include it here. If you click on it, it will take you to my website, and no, I don't have cute videos like this one on my website. But I certainly do have great ways to make your business just as interesting.
The image above is an example of content marketing (you can watch the original video at https://youtu.be/kjKjlLRoLHw). The words before it which peaked your interest to get you to want to click on it is copywriting. The text is copy. The image is content.
If you own a company or run an organization that needs good content marketing and good copywriting, we can provide this for you. Just go to GCRosarioGroup.com.
What we provide with content marketing is content that becomes so valuable that you'll never want to take it down. You can add it to all your social media platforms (TikTok, FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.).
Copywriting is what talented writers do to get the reader to take action. Sort of what I did to get you to click on GCRosarioGroup.com by telling a guided story of a dog on a dolphin and pairing it with an image. It's the art of being persuasive through writing good copy.
What's the key to good content and good copywriting? Empathy! Putting yourself in the reader/audience's shoes is key!
Content marketing is grandma's fancy china. Copywriting is grandma's pasta and secret sauce. The fancy china is the great content that holds the pasta and secret sauce which is the persuasive.
Here are 5 things to focus on when choosing great content marketing:
- How can I empathize with our prospect's interests?
- How does this reinforce the person decision making?
- How does this content make the person feel about you?
- How easy is it for the person to remember and talk about this?
- How does this content align with your person's values and likes?
Ethical sales is not about convincing clients, but rather about creating inspired fans. Persuasion is an art. It is not a predatory practice. If you do not care about the community you serve in your storyselling and blogging career, you will soon find yourself unpopular and broke. In order to ethically persuade someone to take action, you have to develop intimate knowledge of the audience; know how they think, what they need, and how you can help meet that need.
When attempting to persuade a reader to take action, don't use vague language or useless, unnecessary jargon. We spoke about this in the first two steps. You need to be specific and intentional with your approach and your language. Do you know who your ideal client or customer is? Great! Become your this individual's friend?
Here are 6 things you need to know about your targeted audience in order to ethically persuade people to do business with you:
- Who are you (describe the person you are)?
- What are you offering (what's the goods)?
- When can they expect to see results?
- Where is the person in the buying process?
- Why should they do business with you?
- How will this help them?
- And the closing statement... what do they need to do next (call to action)?
Step #4: It's ALL In The Tagline
When you have something to say, make sure your target audience is paying attention. If your headline or title doesn't grab the person's attention, you can speak until you run out of breath and nothing will happen. Writing great copy and using great content marketing will be a waste of time if no one is reading, watching or listening.
Imagine you are on a podium at a great big conference hall. You've taken the time to write a great speech, pair it off with great visual aids (photos, slides, props, demonstrations, etc.), and you have dressed up in your best outfit, got your hair done, got plenty of rest, drank some water, drank an energy drink, done some breathing exercises to get the blood flowing to the brain, and you are ready to go. Now imagine the room is empty. What happened? Perhaps your headline, the title, the "attention grabber" did not grab anyone's attention?
Make the title one that catches your target prospect's attention. Make it inviting. I titled this story-selling because I wanted people to know exactly what I would be speaking of. I included "7 Easy Steps" in the title to let you know that this was easy, and it could be accomplished in 7 easy to follow steps. I included a picture of an open book with a piggy bank on it to reinforce the title by creating curiosity.
Here are 5 things a good title does:
- It sparks the reader's interest in reading the copy.
- It makes the reader want to share your story.
- It is clear and forward enough to set the stage.
- It has a couple of keywords in it (for SEO KPI).
- It isn't too long to bore or too short to ignore.
Here are some ways to create a great title:
- Think about who you want to create interest in.
- Think about who should care about the story you're telling.
- What will make you stand out as an expert amongst others?
- Make sure it introduces a topic that there's a real need for.
- Write a few first drafts and choose one after writing your story.
- Sometimes a small variation in the title can make all the difference.
- Choose a topic that is current, useful and beneficial to the reader.
- Don't make it to complicated to follow. KISS (Keep It Simple Silly).
- Don't sound like everyone else. Make your title uniquely noticeable.
- Don't lose sleep over it. Test it and if it doesn't work, change it.
When you are clear about your product or service's benefits for the reader. Make sure you are clear on the features that make your product or service different. Explaining the features helps the reader understand the offer. Explaining the benefits will persuade the reader to make a decision. Let readers know what they can expect when they do business with you, what they will get, how it will benefit them, and if you are brave (secure) enough in your product or service's value, disclose the cost upfront.
(SIDE NOTE) I am a big fan of letting people know what you charge immediately. It shows them you are transparent and let's them know you stand behind your product or service's true value. It also quickly removes the imposters, tire-kickers, window shoppers, fakers, time-wasters and wannabes from the list. I don't know about you, but I personally do not like wasting valuable time on people who don't see the value in what GC Rosario Group offers. Just as importantly, I don't want to waste someone's valuable time if they cannot afford my services. So, I offer pricing upfront.
At GC Rosario Group, we offer 3 customizable packages:
- Entry Level for $5,000
- Most Popular for $18,000
- Best Value for $65,000
CLICK HERE to book a FREE 30 minute consultation to discuss this further.
Step #6: Learn how to overcome objections
I am a firm believer in exposing possible objections immediately when story-selling. The best way to to this is by using stories and analogies within your story. What do I mean?
Let me tell you about Tom's buying story. He was a possible client (prospect) who's business I wanted to earn. When I met with Tom, he was unsure if he should invest money into his business' growth by hiring a consultant (George L. Rosario via the GC Rosario Group). He didn't see the value yet. He didn't understand how I would help him identify problems and traps within his organization that were costing him money and stopping him from growing. So I told Tom Jason's buying story.
Jason has an organization that relied heavily on referrals and invites in order to grow. Jason had been running his organization for five years, and although he had experienced steady growth year after year, he hadn't experienced the massive growth he believed his organization could experience. So he called us in to help. After a 30 day evaluation (a $5,000 investment), we discovered a few flaws in his organization's outreach efforts, his team's customer follow-up, and his organization's customer retention. We tweaked a couple of things for Jason and within months, he started experiencing the level of growth he had dreamed of five years prior.
Jason was so impressed with the results that he decided to hire us for an entire year. While $5,000 for one month seemed like a high price when we first got started, $65,000 for a year's worth of consulting all of a sudden became a bargain for Jason. His organization saw 400% growth that first year. Jason is still our client 4 years later. He gladly pays us $65,000 a year to help him continue seeing the massive growth his organization has experienced. He has now expanded his territory from one location in his small town in Georgia, to 48 locations throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.
When Tom heard of Jason's results, he felt confident in hiring us. He decided to skip the $5,000 package and opted in for the $18,000 package we offer. Guess what? Tom has been with us for 2 years now and gladly pays us $65,000 for our Best Value package. We are helping him experience greater growth than he'd ever imagined. Tom is so satisfied with our services that he's convinced his two sons, who are both entrepreneurs, to hire our services to grow their own businesses. They are just starting out so they have opted for the Most Popular $18,000 package. I am sure they will upgrade when they experience the GC Rosario Group difference.
See how I told you the buying story of Tom, by telling you the buying story of Jason, and reinforced it by adding the buying story of Jason's two sons? Tom was not sure our services were worth what we charge. So he tested the waters. But, Tom needed some ethical persuasion. So Jason's buying story helped him make the decision to buy. And just so you know, Tom, Jason and the two sons are all real people. Their names have been changed for legal purposes. Still, they would gladly speak to a prospect to help them see GC Rosario Group's true value, as long as that prospect is not their competitor.
Here are 5 things that can help you overcome objections:
- Provide Case Studies
- Share Client Testimonials
- Offer an Affordable Start-Up Package
- Offer Live Demonstrations
- Offer Seminars, Webinars and Tutorials
Step #7: Incorporate CTA's (Calls To Action) Into Your Story
If you haven't noticed yet, I've included several CTA's into this blog. I've given you quite a few opportunities to visit our website GCRosarioGroup.com by either including a link in the copy, inviting you to "CLICK HERE" in order to book a complimentary (FREE) 30 minute consultation, or by letting you know that you can be redirected to our site by clicking on any of the images, such as the one below:
CTA's are crucial to the buying process. If you just offer a fun story, with great content marketing pieces and excellent copy, and even if your story makes the reader want to know more, but you do not give them a way to take action, you've missed the mark. CTA's give your reader the opportunity to make a decision, find more information, connect with you directly, or in a perfect world, buy your product or service.
Here are 5 more CTA's for you:
- CLICK HERE TO CONTACT US via our website.
- CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE about our products & services.
- CLICK HERE TO EXPLORE A CAREER at GC Rosario Group.
- CLICK HERE TO BOOK GEORGE L. ROSARIO to speak at your next event.
- CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW GEORGE L. ROSARIO on Instagram.
CTA's can be as obvious as you see above, or as simple as including links within your copy that the reader can simply click on when they hover over them. If you click on the word "click" in the previous sentence, you'll see how it works. CTA's can also be creative. They can be presented to the reader with some fun content like a photo or graphic included within your copy, such as the one below. Make sure you imbed a link into your graphic or photo so that when your reader clicks on it, they are redirected to where you want them to go.
The CTA graphic or photo doesn't even have to be that serious. It can be something a lot more fun that still invites the reader to make a decision. Just look at the picture of Gunner the Runner below:
RECAP:
In short, storytelling can become storyselling if you use some creativity, have great content marketing material, include great copy, use the power of ethical persuasion, answer questions, show value, handle objections and have great CTA's. Start telling great stories and you'll see some powerful growth in your storyselling ventures.
Would you like some help in learning how to use story-selling as one of your business building tools? We can help with that. Let's schedule a FREE 30 Minute Consultation today. Let's talk about it.
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