Unlock the Magic in Your Story Now
Get the Free 20 questions to Ask Before Launching Your Idea workbook when you sign up for occasional updates.
Get the Free 20 questions to Ask Before Launching Your Idea workbook when you sign up for occasional updates.
Articles filed in: Marketing
The Story Advantage
filed in Marketing, Story Skills, Storytelling
How can we get more attention for our idea?
How can we increase brand awareness?
How can we make people notice our work?
These are the questions I am often asked by the people and companies in search of a message that will give them a competitive advantage.
I don’t need to tell you that getting more eyeballs on your work won’t get any easier. Every day new businesses are launched and more videos, podcasts, articles and books are published. There will never be less competition for people’s attention than there is today.
But I’d argue that getting attention and building awareness are misguided goals. Fulfilling careers and thriving businesses are built on more than being noticed. And that’s good news for all of us.
We don’t need to go in search of some elusive message that might gain fleeting awareness. We already have an inherent competitive advantage—our unique, true stories about our life and our work. Those stories, well told, enable us to share messages that build strong ties with the people we hope to serve.
Our goal must always be to do what it takes, not just to be seen—but to matter. We don’t have to manufacture a message to get more attention, we have to create more affinity by getting better at saying what’s true.
If you want to get better at telling your stories, please consider joining us for the upcoming Story Skills Workshop.
Image by Clem Onojeghuo
Storytelling Is A Skill You Can Learn
filed in Marketing, Story Skills, Success
Do you remember the first time you rode a bike without training wheels? You might recall who taught you and the street you were on. The colour of the bike. The exact moment you took off. The wobbling, the delight, and cheering as you pedalled away.
One minute you couldn’t do it and the next minute you were off. You had acquired a new skill and the confidence to keep practising—so you got better and better at it.
Learning to tell your story is a lot like learning to ride a bike. There are basic principles and tools you can use to get started, and the more you practice the better you get. Story skills are essential for people like you who want to make their ideas matter.
That’s why I’ve been working with Seth Godin for almost a year to create a workshop that will help you to discover, craft and tell better stories.
The Story Skills Workshop launches next week.
Sign up here to be notified when registrations open.
Image by Eli Christman
The Value Of Discernment
Picture the scene. You’re at a networking event or a party. The room is buzzing—it’s packed full of people who you could strike up a conversation with.
Of course, you’ll never get around to speaking to everyone that evening. So you have to choose who to walk up to and introduce yourself. You don’t want to meet just anyone. You want to spend your time speaking to the people you can really connect with.
Now, picture that packed room as potential customers for your business. You can’t have a conversation with every one of those people. Who would you choose to speak to, and how will you know that person when you see them?
The better we are at discerning our right people the more shared value we can create.
Image by Railway Summit
Exactly Who Do You Serve?
The most successful restaurant on the shopping strip close to where I live is a vegan taco restaurant. Other restaurants come and go, but the taco place endures. Rain or shine, day in and day out they’re always busy.
As you can imagine, every time I walk past I wonder why. Why has the taco place succeeded where so many others with bigger marketing budgets, fancier fit-outs, and more extensive menus have failed?
I think it comes down to the fact that they know who they’re for.
They can describe their customer with such clarity that they don’t have to second guess their menu, decor and pricing.
It’s easier to make room at the table for the right people when you know who those people are.
Who, exactly are you in business to serve?
If you’re not sure, my Story Strategy Course will help you to answer that question.
Image by Vince Fleming
Effective Change
filed in Marketing, Story Skills, Strategy
Even though nine of her children emigrated to England in the 1960s to find work, my grandmother never travelled outside Ireland.
She refused to taste cucumber, even though my English aunt insisted on making cucumber sandwiches whenever she came to visit.
Even after her doctor told her cigarettes were bad for her angina. Granny still smoked forty cigarettes a day, until the day she died of a massive heart attack.
My Granny didn’t see herself as the kind of person who would get on a boat or try food she’d never eaten. And her enjoyment of smoking outweighed the downsides in her eyes.
Changemaking isn’t as simple as taking someone on a journey to something different. Effective change engages someone in the act of being the kind of person they want to be.
When you know who your people want to become, you can tell a more relevant and resonant story.
Image by Tiago Murano
On Persuasion
Why are travellers paying to offset carbon emissions of their flights in record numbers?
Is it guilt that’s fueling this carbon offset boom?
It’s hard to persuade anyone to change their beliefs or behaviour.
But we all like to act in ways that feel consistent.
If we find ourselves liking a climate crisis Instagram post, or nodding when we hear Greta Thunberg speak, we’re more likely to pay to offset our emissions next time we fly.
Persuasion is less about making people have a complete change of heart and more about finding common ground.
The most persuasive people convince us incrementally—not by trying to change us, but by reminding us who we are.
Image by Li-An Lim
Faith Vs. Proof
filed in Marketing, Strategy, Success
In a digital world, where customers have infinite choices, and loyalty is precarious, it’s easy to believe the more information we give people, the better.
It turns out that the opposite is true. We’re more likely to retain customers, get repeat sales and be recommended by simplifying the decision process.
What people want is the quickest way to discern if they can trust us and our offering.
Our customers don’t always want more proof—often what they need from us is more faith—not just in us, but in themselves.
Image by Sam Wheeler
Better Marketers Show And Tell
filed in Marketing, Story Skills, Strategy
Every day, we sell ourselves in adjectives that sell us short.
Leader, expert, communicator, specialist, efficient, experienced, better, faster, cheaper.
We’ve forsaken the effort of showing, for the convenience of telling.
There is a better way.
Don’t just tell us about the features and benefits of your product.
Show us how that product changed the lives of the people who used it.
Don’t just tell us about the services you offer.
Show us how you helped your client achieve the outcome they dreamed of.
Don’t just tell us about your skills and expertise.
Show us the impact those skills had on someone or something.
Your work matters. Show us why.
Image by Susan Jane Golding
Being Heard Is Overrated
It’s easier to be heard when we shout. But being heard needn’t be our ultimate goal.
What if we aspired to be listened to instead?
To be embraced rather than just noticed.
To be valued rather than used.
To be sought out and remembered.
To be recommended and treasured.
To be loved.
Image by Felix Koutchinski
Your Brand Is What You Consistently Do
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
‘There’s nothing remarkable about what we do here,’ my hairstylist Leanne says, as I take a sip of the iced water, flavoured with fresh lime, placed next to a pile of new magazines and the coffee menu, by the receptionist who shows me to my seat.
‘It’s just what we do.’
And that’s the point. It’s what they consistently do—every time, without fail, that differentiates this business from the twenty others in the same suburb, where I could get my hair cut faster and cheaper.
The kind of people they consistently employ.
The type of products they consistently use.
The service they consistently deliver.
The promises they consistently make and keep.
Choices greater than the sum of their parts, that combined create a brand clients are loyal to, and a story they want to tell.
Image by Guilherme Petri