The power of storytelling is all around us. Storytelling informs almost all aspects of our lives – whether it’s the story our religion tells us or the story science tells us, the stories worth repeating have a few things in common. If you can match these features of a great story, you can ensure that you’re telling stories that will be repeated.
The fact is, if you cannot convey a story about your business and about the point of your business (why you do what you do and why you’re the one to do it), then it will be hard to promote your products or services to others. We’re simply wired for stories. That’s why so many important things we learn are learned through stories.
When you know your story you can incorporate it into all aspects of your content – from blog posts, to videos, to white papers, on your “about us” page, and so forth. You can weave your story throughout everything you do, making it a solid foundation on which to build your business.
Some of this you learned in high school English but maybe you need a refresher. You’ve probably heard of the six C’s of storytelling. Well, it fits in with whatever you’re doing. Whether it’s the written word or a video, these six C’s pack a powerful punch.
Commitment – It’s important that in everything you do that you take the time to nurture your story. Share it with others, respond to comments, and build on the story over time to make it even better. You might even need to share different elements of your story with different segments of your audience. As long as you are committed to the story and the message, you will get across what you want to.
Clarity – You want every story you tell to focus on one goal. That might be to sign up, to buy, to join a group or something else. Maybe you just want them to engage with you and respond to your story. That is good. The key here is to keep it simple. Try to separate a story into three parts or acts to keep it as simple as possible. Think in terms of problems and solutions.
Concept – Every story you tell needs a point, an overarching message that you want your audience to leave with. Plus, a next step that they can take to complete the story. Your message might be that perseverance pays off, and the story may be a story of you and others and how you persevered, and the next step might be that they can persevere too and this is how, so do this next.
Creative – Whether you use inspired words, artistic visuals or a combination of both to tell the story fully to your audience, it needs to be creative. You want to come at the message from more than one angle so that you can get the message across and through to all five senses of your audience.
Content – It doesn’t matter if your marketing method is old or new; the content you use must be valuable to the user in such a way that they feel like they can’t stand to be without it for more than one minute more.
Connection – Find a way to make an emotional connection to the audience that you’re sharing your story with. Engage them in every aspect of their journey through the buying cycle. If you can identify where they are in the buying cycle, you can tell the right story at the right time and connect with them on a new level.
These six C’s of business storytelling can help change how you tell all your stories from here on out. Just remember to keep it simple, focused on one problem at a time, and always remember the next step or call to action.
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