How do potential clients ask questions about your project? Do they finish the conversation ready to buy? What’s the message you send to make them want your product?
In the marketplace, the toughest obstacle is explaining to customers who you are and what you provide.
When customers ask questions and hear a jumbled message, you lose their interest. That is the hardest thing to do: hold people’s attention! If your message doesn’t attract people, your business is worse off than a leaky boat you can’t fix!
Some of the reasons people lose interest are:
- People fail to see how the message is relevant for their lives.
- The message is too vague, broad, or “wordy.”
- People get confused about the product because it’s poorly defined.
There are many ways to generate money, but none of them will succeed without a straight-forward brand. Entrepreneurs understand that income is made by those who focus their effort on one skill, and your brand has to convey one message. Otherwise, your results are varied, and it’s not going to be pretty for anyone!
To find a community of value-driven professionals who can help simplify your message, visit our website or apply to join one of our mastermind groups online.
Clarifying Your Brand
When you look and see clear skies, you want nothing more than to cancel plans and go enjoy time with your family! Just like how good weather makes people go and enjoy their time, a clear message draws customers to your business.
By clarifying your message into “small bites,” you’ll be leaps and bounds ahead of the herd. Value-driven professionals understand this better than anyone: the simpler your message is, the greater success your brand will achieve.
By delivering small bites of information to your audience, it becomes digestible. Even great marketers don’t stop there. They incorporate storytelling to deliver their points across.
The average person spends 30% of their time daydreaming, which means people are guided through experiences. When we get bored, we mentally “check out” during classes, while scrolling on our phones, and even while eating a meal! Imagine the success you’d achieve by engaging people’s attention with your brand.
Using storytelling to drive their message, value-driven professionals deliver a refreshing and clear brand every time!
5 Steps To Story-Driven Branding
After reading this, maybe you think, “Big A, every word you’ve written is exactly what I need! So, how do I get started? My brand is not clear and my message is confusing people. I need help!”
I understand. It’s tough to see a business struggle because of a confusing message. Especially when your livelihood is on the line! But, the good news starts here, you can learn to tell your story to attract the people you need. Through understanding, discipline, and an inspiring group of people who support you, you will start to see the results of a good story.
In his book Business Made Simple, author Donald Miller says if you clarify a message, people will listen. By knowing how to filter your marketing message through the elements of a story, you can engage your audience.
1. Manifest Power In Story
Most people don’t tell good stories, let alone know how to filter their message to grab people’s attention. A value-driven professional knows how to orchestrate words to illustrate to the audience what’s really important to them.
According to Miller, to command attention, you guide people through a series of situations by making them the character in the story:
- The character that wants something
- “Every gentleman wants a suit that reflects the meaning of the moment.” - The character encounters a problem
- “The problem is that most suits are poorly tailored, and it leaves you feeling insecure at events.” - The character meets the guide
- “At Twelfth Way Custom Suits, we’re tired of poorly tailored suits and have developed a process in which every suit that is bought fits perfectly on the customer.” - The guide gives the character a plan.
- “To work with us, simply schedule an appointment, come by the shop, get fitted for your very own suit, and set up a delivery straight to your door!” - The guide calls the character to action
- “Schedule your appointment today!” - Define the stakes - Success
- “If you do, your guests will be astonished at the quality of your suit and keep coming back for more.” - Define the Stakes - Failure
- “Don’t let your suit bring you shame. Schedule your appointment today.”
2. Make Your Customer The Hero
As you clarify your message to your audience, position yourself as the guide. In stories, the heroes who start weak become strong from overcoming obstacles. Start by positioning your customer the hero in your message, guiding him along the journey to his goals.
By positioning your brand, project, or yourself as a guide, people engage in the message. A guide needs to understand:
- Empathy. The guide understands the hero’s pain and challenges. He cares about the customer
- Authority. The guide is ready to help the hero solve his problems. He knows what the customers are doing.
3. Address Your Customer’s Problem
When you know your customer’s problems, you bring clarity to your message. A value-driven professional devises the solution to his customer’s problems.
For storytellers to hook their audience, they must introduce the challenge for the character. Any good story is about the hero overcoming conflict, the movie, “Field Of Dreams.” The main character spends all his efforts in building a baseball diamond in a cornfield. He has to face tremendous adversity from family, strangers, and himself to reach his goals.
The more you talk about the problem you solve, the more value people see in your product or service.
4. Create The Call To Action
When you take time to make a clear call to action, your message finishes strong. People then buy into your brand and create success! As the adage goes, “People will go where you tell them to go.”
Value-driven professionals seek to instill confidence in a message. They offer a solution to people’s problems with certainty. As Hollywood filmmakers know, people always follow a well-told story.
5. Create Urgency
Storytellers create urgency by defining what’s at stake. Without tension, there is no story. It’s what makes stories great! The greatest books, films and sagas all rely on constant tension to keep people glued to their seats.
If you want people to engage with you, define what’s at stake if the audience chooses you over somebody else! Start to find out how to define the stakes by asking:
- “What will people’s lives look like if they engage with my message?”
- “What will people’s lives look like if they don’t engage with my message?”
Value-driven professionals use engaging stories to raise their business' profile. You can achieve these same results in your life too! Take time to offer solutions and analyze the problems of your customers and your message. Through creativity and discipline, your message will resonate with the right audience.
Take time to surround yourself with other value-driven professionals to help you define your brand for your success, today! Reach out to us at our website and apply to join one of our mastermind groups online.
