How You Can Use Story in Your Content Marketing to Connect with People

If you’re in marketing of any kind, whether that be marketing someone else’s business, your own business, or networking marketing, I’m sure you have been told over and over how important it is to use “story” in your content marketing.

But what does that really mean? It took me many many years to figure this out, but basically, you want to get really specific and really vulnerable in your communication (especially on social media) because that is going to help people connect with you on a deeper level. Once they connect with you they will grow to trust you, and when they trust you they will be STOKED to buy from you!

Telling your story in detail might feel self-indulgent at first, but you’ll get over it.

Wait – so you don’t feel comfortable rambling on and on about yourself in a social media post that’s going out to the entire internet and having no control over who sees it or who *gasp* might comment on it?! I can 100% relate.

But guess what – once you rip off the bandaid and start talking about yourself, your past, your opinions, in great detail, people will start reacting. The whole point here is to encourage engagement, and STORY is your best tool.

Try Reverse Engineering Your Marketing Content

Start with your end-goal (what you want to sell, what you want someone to download, where you want someone to go, etc.) then think about the emotions someone might be feeling around that, and work backward.

Example: I want to have someone by one of my Crash Courses. The person I want to buy one is a small business owner who doesn’t know where to begin with content marketing. When was a time that I didn’t know where to begin with something so I started small? Ah, I know, hiring a business coach. I wasn’t sure, so I bought a couple of low-cost courses, learned as much as I could, and then jumped in with the investment. There’s my story.

Switch “A” to “My” – Switch “How to…” to “How I…”

You’re basically going from general to personal by making this little switch. Making the title more personal will draw them in to start reading or watching, and then keeping your content about you throughout will captivate your audience, and they will be more likely to consume the whole thing. Or at least most of it.

Examples:

“An easy way to get more followers” < “My top 5 secrets to getting more followers”

“How to fix your finances” < “How I went from making 3K per month to 3K in a day”

Get Super Specific

This is an improv trick I believe… but the more specific you can get in your story-telling, the better. It will paint a picture for your audience, and they will see themselves in their version of whatever of the story you are telling. Use colors, brand names, people’s names (calm down Susan, these can be made up). Then they will feel closer to you, trust you, and trust that whatever action you are trying to have them make (buy, call, jump, etc.) is in their best interest.

Example:

When I was 16 and it was time for me to look for my first car, I set my sights high. Top-end, nothing but the best… an early 90’s Neon. Ideally red or purple. (I liked the Neon’s logo, and clearly know zero about cars.) Much to my chagrin, I ended up with a 1989 Silver Honda Civic from some little old lady down the street who only drove it to and from the grocery store. AKA – a great price for a car that was barely driven. Luckily I’m not exactly a “car person,” (obviously – my “dream” car was a Neon) so I gratefully accepted what I was given. And I freaking loved that car! His name was Vic and he served me very well for many years to come.

…you’re thinking about your first car right now, aren’t you? I thought so.

Moral of the STORY.

See what I did there?

Using story in your marketing is a great tool for making personal connections with your peeps. And that’s what it’s allllll about in this business.

If you’re curious about how this applies to your unique business or brand, and how to incorporate story into your messaging, I would be happy to help. Contact me and we can set up a strategy session to get your story-telling game on POINT. Just email amy.a18media@gmail.com

And just one more thing – I’m a strong “repurpose your content” advocate. It saves SO MUCH time and effort when creating all the social media posts, emails, landing pages, email funnels, etc. for your business. I made this “Spread Your Magic” Free Guide that gives you 20+ Ways to Repurpose Your Soul-Driven Content. YOUR words deserve to be read by more people, on more places and platforms. Grab your copy HERE.