I currently live in Brooklyn with my three little boys and husband. What can I say, I’m the unofficial -but official - Queen in my house. I love weird combinations of food (more on that later), going out (MOMS CAN DANCE TOO), and seeing the "A-HA" look on a founder's face when they unleash the story that has been buried in them and their business for way too long.
Last week of school over here.
And turns out when all of your parent chains are in Portuguese, keeping track of the 8,987 different theme days and “special parent” get together things is even HARDER.
Welcome to my Whatsapp Dark Side.
Tee shirt. Nature. House. (got it.)
We good.
But also not.
I’m in a state of perpetual confusion.
Good news is I am now out of MY dark side of being depressed here, so I actually want to learn the language.
So stay tuned on yet another uncomfortable thing I’m about to do.
The list never ends!!
And happy end of school year to all of you as well.
WE almost made it through June.
And SO. MANY. PERFORMANCES this month?!
Quick email flow recap as always.
1. In My World: my time to share with you something personal in my life
2. A Story Audit: I take submissions each week and will audit anything you send from a storytelling and marketing perspective. (SUBMIT!! This is like free coaching. Give me your post, your email, blog post, video….)
3. Why This Works: a mini case study, a storytelling phenomenon. Here I will show you IRL how these principles apply to real businesses
4. Real Resources: what I am reading , listening to, programs I am taking. What or who can help you in your business.
5. Inspire that Founder’s Fire: motivational quotes and anecdotes to make you think differently.
A Story Audit
Meet Katie.
She runs a State Farm insurance agency in MI.
The only female-run insurance agency in her town, Katie infuses her quirky personality, her FOR REAL love of her industry and her local ties to the community as differentiators in her business vertical.
Katie has taken a few programs with me and I can say that not many insurance agent founders think like her.
She is funny in that quiet way where she’s not loud but she will just deadpan a line, make everyone pause for a half second and then everyone starts to laugh.
Her journey into the insurance industry is a great story and I will post her Founder video another week.
She recently put together this Instagram Reel through my Business Storytelling Society and we’re going to break it down.
The theme week for my challenge I gave to my members was COURAGE.
I told them to use my Storytelling AI Bot (more to come on that but it’s seriously AMAZING).
Current students are testing it out on their content.
And Katie chose to focus the reel above on a moment in her life that SEEMS mundane.
Her kids taking taekwondo, Katie having an inner desire to learn and join in for a Moms on the Mat promo the club was doing but never doing it….because of all the thoughts in her head.
The good:
Could be better:
Why This Works
Ok, we’re going to talk about the Identifiable Victim Effect and why this is effective for your marketing.
People are more likely to empathize with and respond to one identifiable individual rather than a large, anonymous group.
It’s why when I was producing at the TODAY show we always had to “hook” a story on ONE character.
It’s far more effective and your audience is likely to FEEL the story.
Charity organizations do this often. “A lot of kids are hungry” doesn’t have the same effect as “Meet Sara, who is dying of starvation.” (credit card OUT.)
Airbnb uses this tactic a lot in their social media. They focus on ONE host as opposed to “all the hosts.”
The key for you to take away is the more specific you can get, the better.
Use names, give context, show images and a video if you can.
You want to individualize what you are doing. This helps your audience connect emotionally with the story, making your message more impactful and memorable.
REAL RESOURCES
I am reading this book right now.
It’s a bit “old” meaning I was surprised that the copyright was from 2013.
But what’s interesting is I am learning new things and look forward to reading it.
Turns out that the foundations of virality and so much of all this trending stuff is built upon tried-and-true methods.
Much like good marketing is built on tried-and-true storytelling techniques.
Speaking of storytelling techniques, if you want a 1:1 with me to go through your business and how your content strategy and storytelling relates to it, you can schedule a one hour power hour call with me here.
Inspire that Founder’s Fire
I made a reel on this quote from Brianna Weist. It spoke to me deeply.
Content tip: reading out loud a favorite quote and putting images or video over it is a great way to build connection.
See how I did it above!
Ok, Godspeed on the march into summer.
May your months be filled with childcare and freetime for YOU!!!
I will see you next week and please see below for how to work with me or get going on your storytelling journey.
It is never too late to improve on a skill that will give back to you in spades.