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
- 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?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
