Tell the Story of You: Put the 5 Ws to Work

A friend once received a letter from a business that he read several times without ever figuring out what the letter-writer was selling. The letter was heavy on industry jargon, and the writer assumed the reader would automatically know what he was talking about. My friend didn’t. Hello, trashcan.

You can avoid mucking up messages about your business by following a simple formula that has worked for journalists for centuries now: The 5 Ws.

The 5 Ws are who, what, when, where and why. Reporters use the formula to make sure that even one- and two-paragraph stories have all the information the reader needs. Put the 5 Ws to work in your copy so your target audience knows exactly what you mean.

Let’s say you will have a special promotion to bring potential customers into your swimming pool store. To make sure you have all the relevant information, do an outline like this:

 WHO: Olympic gold medalist Eve Halibut

WHAT: Diving exhibition

WHEN: 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday, July 6

WHERE: Lazy Daze Pools and Spas,12 Main Street, Happyville

WHY: Halibut endorses Blue Paradise Pools, which will be 20 percent off Wednesday.

The opening sentences of a press release are right there: “Olympic gold medalist Eve Halibut will perform diving exhibitions at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday, July 6, at Lazy Daze Pools and Spas,12 Main Street, in Happyville. Blue Paradise Pools, which Halibut endorses, will be 20 percent off during her appearance.”

This works for sales copy too. In this example, the who would be your prospect, the what  (benefits) would be family fun in the sun for 20 percent off, the when would be Wednesday July 6, the where would be Lazy Daze Pools and Spas in Happyville, and the why would be a special sale of swimming pools in connection with Eve Halibut’s diving exhibition.

Use the 5 Ws for another W: winning copy.

Good Story Marketing’s Steve Hall is a marketing consultant, writing coach and author of the workbook Tell (and Sell!) the Story of You: Promoting Your Business through Writing. Contact him at goodstorymarketing@att.net.

Tell the Story of You: Pump up Your Facebook Fans

Don’t know how to promote your small business on Facebook? It’s easy, if you always keep your target audience in mind:

Create a fan page, not a personal profile, for your business. Fan pages create credibility and trust in your business when potential customers see a lot of likes and comments on your wall. According to Mashable, about 60 percent of consumers are likely to buy from, and recommend to others, businesses and brands they have “fan”-ed on Facebook.

A new visitor will look first at the photo of you or your business, so put something meaningful about what you do in the box underneath the photo. The page should have other basic information about your business and a friendly welcome message. Contact everyone you know and invite them to become a fan.

Consider what being a fan of your business says about a person. People get on Facebook to showcase their identity. For example, someone who becomes a fan of a wine shop wants to be seen as more sophisticated than a Two-Buck Chuck drinker. To play to that identity, the wine shop owner might post about the merits of new wines and exclusive tastings—which would keep that fan feeling special. Think about your target audience’s emotional connection with your product or services, and then address that in your postings.

Post at least daily to keep your fans engaged. Rosehall Kennel is a family-owned German Shepherd breeding business in Tennessee. One of the owners posts twice a day nearly every day, according to a recent All Facebook story (http://www.allfacebook.com/local-business-owner-use-fan-pages-to-explode-your-roi-2011-06). He does that to keep his posts high on the fan’s top news. But he also understands fans won’t keep reading if the posts aren’t good; he strives for 1.5% to 2% feedback to his posts within the first 24 hours.

Is the effort worth it? In six months of existence, Rosehall Kennel’s fan page has generated $15,000 in sales. Bow-wow.

Steve Hall of Good Story Marketing is a marketing specialist, writing coach and author of Tell (and Sell!) the Story of You: Promoting Your Business through Writing. Contact him at goodstorymarketing@att.net.

Tell the Story of You: The Lies Your Customers Tell Themselves

 

 

When promoting your business through writing, you need to tell an authentic story about what you do so prospects can lie to themselves about it.

Huh?

This weekend I read Seth Godin’s book All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World (http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/books.asp). Seth writes about how “marketers profit because consumers buy what they want, not what they need. Needs are practical and objective, wants are irrational and subjective … No matter what you sell … the path to profitable growth is in satisfying wants, not needs.”

One of the things about wants is that we lie to ourselves about needing them. For example, the last time I wanted a pair of sneakers I bought a pair of pricey running shoes. I justified the cost by telling myself, “If I get these running shoes, I’ll exercise more. That will help me lose weight. If I lose weight, I’ll look great. When I look great, I’ll have more self-confidence.”

Those are wants, spurred by tiny fibs I was telling myself. In reality, all I needed was a pair of shoes to protect my feet. Doubtless you

can think of examples from your own life, where you told yourself fibs about something you “needed” when you just wanted it.

You need to keep the wants/needs idea in mind when writing about your business and speak to your prospect on an emotional level.

For example, let’s say you sell shag carpeting, the kind popular in the ‘70s, and your target audience is older baby boomers. You could write about how durable and long-lasting shag carpeting is—the practical, objective approach. But I guarantee you will sell more if you play on baby boomers’ emotional associations with the use of that carpet in family rooms, dens and rec rooms during their childhoods. They associate it with fun, close family time, happiness—things everybody wants.

Marketing specialist and writer Steve Hall is the author of Tell (and Sell!) the Story of You: Promoting Your Business through Writing.

 

Tell the Story of You: You Never Know Where Writing Will Take You

Writing is a solitary pursuit. You might write at your desk, where it’s quiet with few distractions. Or you might need the hubbub of a busy coffee shop to unleash your creative energy. In both places, to bring your thoughts out onto a computer screen or paper, you need to turn inward.

So it’s unusual when a writer can watch people in a public place responding to something he’s written. I had that wonderful experience this weekend at the gala opening for National Geographic Treasures of the Earth at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.

This fun exhibit about archaeology features highly interactive, family-friendly recreations of the Terra Cotta Warriors dig in China, the tomb of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Seti I, and the wreck of Captain Kidd’s ship the Cara Merchant off the Dominican Republic.

There’s a lot to explain about these archaeological sites to kids. In part, the exhibit does that through videos—almost all of them shaped by the museum’s staff and yours truly. The “lift” video on the elevator descending to the exhibit, the videos at the front of each “site,” the animated “Story of Captain Kidd” … yep, that’s me.

I have written scripts for videos for everything from a German auto show to another museum’s corn exhibit.  But this was the first time I have watched people reacting to what I’d written: Laughing at the lift video. Smiling at the cheeky retelling of Captain Kidd’s story. Absorbing how the Terra Cotta Warriors were painted. It was incredibly cool.

Here’s my point: You never know where writing will take you. When I opened my business, I could not have predicted that one day I would write something that will be seen by more than 1 million people annually at the museum.

In the same way, you can’t predict where writing will take your business. It might lead to an unforeseen career as a public speaker. It might lead to more clients than you can handle. It will definitely lead to opportunities you can’t even envision now.

Marketing professional, writer and writing coach Steve Hall (goodstorymarketing@att.net) helps independent professionals, nonprofits and businesses better tell their stories to turn prospects into true believers. His new book is Tell (and Sell!) the Story of You: Promoting Your Business through Writing.

Tell the Story of You: Avoid Common Mistakes When Writing About Your Business

The other day I received my weekly e-mail from a service professional. He had an interesting story drawn from his experience and valuable tips for me. Unfortunately, instead of soaking up his knowledge, I was distracted by all the grammatical errors and misspellings in the e-mail.

Sloppy writing can detract from the message when you are promoting your business through the written word. Here are five other common mistakes, and how to avoid them:

Talking about yourself. “Wait!” you say. “How can that be a mistake? I’m telling the story of myself and my business.” Yes, but your target audience is interested in how what you do can benefit them, not you per se. Keep their interests and needs in mind when writing content.  Ultimately it’s about them, not you. Which leads to another:

Emphasizing features over benefits. Let’s say you make widgets and your latest model is the fastest widget ever invented and was designed by Vera Wang. Both of those are features. People make purchasing decisions based on how the object or service benefits them. See No. 1. Benefits in this case might include saving them time and money and making them feel younger, sexier or hipper. Always ask yourself: How would my ideal client/customer benefit from this?

Using business jargon. Technical terms from your field of expertise or industry buzzwords might make you feel knowledgeable and important—but will the reader understand them? You risk alienating the reader with technical language. Instead, say what you want in layman’s terms, so anyone can understand it. Which leads us to:

Not writing to your target audience. Who’s your ideal customer/client? Always have your ideal customer/client in mind when writing a blog, website copy, whatever. Use language familiar to them and a tone (sophisticated, breezy, etc.) that will appeal to them.

Not having a strategy when promoting your business through writing. For example, Facebook and Twitter are writing-based platforms. How does the story or stories you tell via social media integrate with those on your blog, website, etc.? Do they all tell the story of your business, your personal brand, in a consistent way?

Writer and writing coach Steve Hall (goodstorymarketing@att.net) helps independent professionals, nonprofits and businesses better tell their stories to turn prospects into true believers. His new book is Tell (and Sell!) the Story of You: Promoting Your Business through Writing.

Tell the Story of You: Crafting an E-mail Blast for Better Response

An e-mail blast can spread the word about a new product or service to everyone in your database   in a matter of seconds.

Instant delivery, though, doesn’t mean the writing can be hasty. You want people to consider buying the product or service. Consequently, all parts of this e-mail need to work together like the engine in a Ferrari—and should be built with the same care.

Before you write the blast, list all the benefits the prospect would enjoy by buying the product or service. These should speak to a potential buyer’s dreams/desires or a problem that keeps them up at night. Perhaps your product helps women lose weight. The benefits would include feeling more attractive, wearing a smaller dress size, being more desirable, etc.

Next, take the most time writing and revising the subject line. This is the most important part of the blast, since it determines whether the prospect will open the e-mail. It needs to grab attention, be no longer than 45 to 55 characters (characters, not words) and convey at least the biggest benefit.

In your subject line, avoid words such as “free,” “credit,” “offer” and “act now,” as well as punctuation and words in all caps, because they can trigger spam filters. You want the recipient to see your e-mail.

The body of the e-mail should be concise, to the point—and the easiest to write, since you already have a list of benefits. Build on the subject line’s promise by giving more detail. A bulleted list of benefits makes for a quick read.

The e-mail should end with a call to action, spurring the prospect to call you or click through a link to your website to buy the product, enroll in the seminar, etc.

Now blast away!

Writing consultant/coach and writer for hire Steve Hall (goodstorymarketing@att.net) helps individuals and organizations better tell their stories to motivate prospects to become customers. His new book is Tell (and Sell!) the Story of You: Promoting Your Business through Writing.

Tell the Story of You: Get the Coconut

You blog, e-mail, tweet and post on Facebook about your business, with the hopes of establishing yourself as an expert and attracting customers/clients.

But it doesn’t matter what you want. Everything you write about your business should come from the perspective of what your ideal customer/client wants. What keeps them up at night? What would make their life easier?

Easing/taking away a pain and/or fulfilling a desire are key factors in influencing buying decisions. Yet we often read sales copy about the features of a product, not the benefits to a buyer, or the process, not the benefits, of a service or workshop. We read “About” pages on websites with a long history of a company rather than an emphasis on how the company has helped customers solve X for years.

Avoid this problem. When you write about your business, think of getting the coconut.

Huh?

Imagine yourself marooned with another person on a tiny speck of land in the middle of a great big ocean. The only liquid to drink is rainwater you catch in your mouth; the only food is the fish you catch.

One day the other person grabs a coconut floating by. You imagine that sweet coconut milk going down your parched throat and filling your tummy, and you start to salivate. But the person holding the coconut is hungry and thirsty too. You must persuade him to share the coconut with you.

When you promote your business through writing, you are trying to persuade prospects to share their coconut—whether that is money, time or attention. And you need to get the coconut again and again for your business to survive and thrive.

Future posts will explore crafting your business writing to do this.  For now, start thinking: Get the coconut!

Writing consultant/coach and writer for hire Steve Hall (goodstorymarketing@att.net) helps individuals and organizations better tell their stories for a deeper connection with prospects and customers. His new book is Tell (and Sell!) the Story of You: Promoting Your Business through Writing.