MasterWing Creative Agency Delray Beach

Turning Storytelling into Story Selling

A powerful story will make people pay attention to your brand. Storytelling is a must-have skill in your marketing arsenal. People want to connect with story to help them understand a product and the brand: they want to have real, authentic experiences – not a hard sell. Authentic storyselling can attract the right visitors to your website and convert them into a customer.

Story selling is the ultimate form of content marketing. People like stories: they like to watch movies, read a book or talk with friends. A good story will make people want to listen… instead of mentally drifting off and wishing they were anywhere else. People can connect with your product through your story – and want to become part of your story by buying what you’re selling. 

People retain 65 to 70 % of information shared through stories
but only 5 to 10 % of information is retained when they hear facts alone.

Do you think you don’t have a brand story? Think again: why did you open this business, create this product or launch this service – what is your ‘why’ and how did your product or service solve your problem – and your customers’ problem? People want to understand your motivation and experiences – the good and the bad – to connect with your brand.

5 Tips to Boost Sales Through Story Selling

  1. Make It Personal

Use your personal experiences in your stories so people understand what makes you tick: why you sell this product or service. What was your motivation? What’s the real backstory? How does it solve a problem – your’s or someone else’s?

  1. KISS 

Keep It a Simple Story: Practice telling your story in a short, clear way that makes sense to your listeners. Whether you’re telling your story in person, in a blog post or on a YouTube video your story should be easy to follow and your listener should be able to understand the results you achieved.

  1. Show Emotion 

Use your story to emotionally connect with your listeners. Depending on what you are selling, you will want to elicit different emotions:

  • Fear: Does your story make people want to avoid what happened to you?
  • Envy: Will people want to have what you have?
  • Excitement: Are your listeners excited to get the same outcome you had?

Identify what emotions you want your story to target, and craft a story that speaks to those needs. Your story will likely target more than one emotion – but don’t try and make it connect with too many feelings.

  1. Understand Your Goal 

Your business likely has multiple goals:

  • to get new customers
  • increase your sales
  • attract more followers 
  • or some other tangible goal. 

Story selling marketing must have a goal: a great story that’s not related to your business and goals may be interesting, but it won’t help your sales. Make sure your story is related to your business goals.

  1. Craft a Headline That Connects 

Story selling is an art that you can learn. While some people are natural-born story sellers, most people are not. They have to practice – write and rewrite, tell and re-tell until they are able to make design a headline that captures attention and makes your audience want more. Whether your headline is written or verbal, think about how your audience will respond:

  • Will they click that link?
  • Will they watch that ad?
  • Will they read that article?

People remember more about a good story they connect with than they will remember about a hard sales pitch. Your story selling skills can be put to use at different times:

  • When you are first introduced to someone as part of your elevator speech: your 30-second self-introduction
  • In a blog post or video
  • At a presentation or pitch meeting
  • During a sales pitch

Practice your story selling skills so you can connect with your audience – and they can connect with your brand.