No matter how big or small, marketing is an essential component of owning a business.

But the idea of selling can send many entrepreneurs into an all-out tailspin.

I totally get it, though.  You don’t want your customers to think of you as being salesy, misleading,  manipulative or morally questionable.  That is not who you are and does not align with the energy around your brand.

That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to your words.  Because what you say and how you say it really matters.  Pretty much more than anything else that you do in your business, seriously.

When it comes to good marketing, it’s your words that pay the bills.

Here’s what I know for sure…

Marketing is an opportunity for your business to make a bigger difference in the world.  You’re basically saying, “Hey, I have something that will help you and I want you to know about it.”

Persuading people to take notice of what you’re offering is the tricky part.  But the kind of marketing I want to teach you is focused on doing good and helping people make decisions that are in their best interest.

Learn to stretch your empathy muscles

When you come from the perspective of caring for and protecting your audience you remove all negative undertones of “sales-y” marketing.

Begin by knowing who you’re “talking” to.  You must understand their problem and the pain that their problem causes them.

The simplest and most effective way to do this is to describe “the problem” in as much detail as possible.  You have to understand what they’re experiencing and know what they’re thinking and feeling.  Doing this will allow you to describe their experience as it currently is.

Basically, you have to join the conversation that is already going on in their mind.

When you feel the feelings of your audience they will feel it from you, too.

Tell the Story

When entrepreneurs fail at marketing it’s usually because all they talk about is how passionate they are about what they do and what their products or services mean to them.

The problem is, most of your customers don’t care about your business or your passions.

They are caught up in the stresses and pressures of their own life story and they are looking for ways to achieve their goals. When you forget that and write all about your products and services only, your customers tune out and you won’t see results.

Put yourself into the story your customers are living when you write your message.  Then you will discover how you can play a powerful role in THEIR story.

When you make that shift, something special happens. You start truly connecting with your audience in a meaningful way.

To start doing that, you need to create messaging that tells stories.  Storytelling is a rich means of engaging with people. 

Neuroscientists have watched the brains of people listening or watching a story while in an FMRI machine and discovered that listening to story narratives actually activates more parts of your brain than trying to process data or facts.

In fact, data makes our brains work harder (and use more calories!) to decode meaning.

But here’s something interesting about what happens in your brain while you’re watching a story: the brain doesn’t absorb the story as a spectator, it places you as a participant in the action.

That’s why stories hold our attention so well and are great to use for marketing.

Whatever is happening in a story you’re reading, is happening to you.

The success of all your brand communications and your marketing strategy is rooted in telling your audience stories.

Sell with Story

The key to an awesome, highly converting marketing message is aligning your brand story to the goals of your customer. 

Remember…this is not about you.  Customers don’t care if they fit into your brand story. They care if your brand fits into theirs.

Your customer’s story is also part of your brand story. Once you have all of these components woven together, your brand story becomes the hook in your marketing.

To build a highly converting marketing strategy, your brand story must provide real support, and value around your customer’s goals. 

A good brand narrative is the bright North Star of your marketing strategy. 

It helps you create messages that change the way people feel about your brand. It builds something incredibly valuable: a relationship with your customers.