Stories make up a huge portion of everyone’s life. We are all told stories, tell stories to others and are the owners of the story of our own life.
Storytelling pervades popular culture too—where the human interest story is seen on local news and read in magazines and papers, slice of life stories dominate modern advertising, and reality TV showcases the stories of everyone from pawnshop owners to alligator farmers and even single people looking for love.
Just look at the phenomenon that is Fifty Shades of Gray to see how a simple story can sell. That fictional book series drove hordes of women to a certain kind of store they would previously not have been caught dead in…in search of a fantasy.
Stories are more persuasive than straight facts and more people know fiction than fact. Can you name a Supreme Court Justice? If you can’t then you’re in the majority.
Fewer than 10% of Americans can name a justice that sits on our country’s highest court, but pretty much everyone knows the story of Robin Hood and can name at least three or four characters.
Despite all this evidence, most businesses and salespeople still rely on product pushing, facts and figures, and price. Yet, they find themselves losing the interest of the prospects they worked so hard to engage.
Consider instead the brands that rely on story telling.
Campbell’s Soup is one of those brands and we’d bet everyone has heard of them and even sipped one of their soups. That’s because the company has strategically interwoven its brand name recognition with the stories of happy and healthy American families.
Another is GoPro. This camera company has exploded in the years since it was founded in 2002. Their advertising strategy simply uses footage from actual users filming with their cameras to showcase adventurous stories in the first-person. And those stories are what sell the brand.
That same strategy can and should be applied to every business out there.
Create your story and then use that to make people remember you and want to buy what you’re selling. Sell your story rather than your product and the product sales will follow.
Selling through your story is the absolute key to being successful and in our next blog we’ll talk about how to identify the right story for you.
