Okay, so yesterday I got off on a tangent in the middle of my niche marketing piece and started on the importance of your ‘story’ in the marketing process. I made the commitment then to go into depth about this today. And I promise, I will not inflict any more Julie Andrews moments on you 
In order to understand why you use your story at all in your marketing, it is probably easiest to consider the process in an offline context first. Because ultimately, the principles that underpin both on and offline marketing are the same.
If you owned a business offline, you would most likely have a shop front or office. When you advertised for clients or customers to visit your business, it is very likely that you would, at some stage, have the opportunity to meet that person face to face.
Now, for some business models, that is not necessarily the case. For example, if you owned a McDonalds (or similar) franchise, there would be no expectation on the part of the customer, to meet the owner. After all, they just want their super sized Mcgreasy meal pronto. They don’t care who you are, or what kind of person you are.
On the other hand, if you are a professional, or in an industry that sells higher value goods or services, chances are that your potential clients or customers will want to do business with you personally. They will want to be reassured that you have the knowledge, experience or expertize that your advertising suggests you do. They will want to get to know you, and get a feel for whether or not they can trust you, before they commit to any type of commercial transaction or partnership.
Testimonials will also help to facilitate this development of trust. Having other people endorse the claims you make about yourself is what we call “social proof” in marketing. And it is very powerful.
Now, when your potential prospect or customer visits you in your business, they will get to see you face to face. They will be able to shake your hand, look you in the eye, talk with you, and in general, get a sense of who you are, and what you are about.
This is where you have the opportunity to build some rapport with your prospect, deliver them the information they need to make an informed decision about you, your product or service, and buy from you.
When you meet people in the context of an offline business, you will be sure to ‘put your best foot forward’. By this I mean, you will make sure you are dressed appropriately for the context of the situation.
For example, if you are an accountant, you will not turn up to your office dressed in a T-shirt, boardshorts and flip flop shoes. In that instant, you would have shot your own credibility in the foot.
You are more likely to be wearing smart business attire, or even a suit and tie, if you are in the market for higher income individuals. Because this dress code denotes respectability. We expect to see people who perform at a higher level presented in this way.
It is kind of an unwritten rule. It is a form of ‘social intelligence’ to be able to understand how to present yourself in a given situation. And it is probably even more important online.
Why?
Because when people are surfing online, they are impatient. They jump all around different websites, and will only stay on a site if it delivers what they are looking for. You literally only have a split second to make an impression, to compel them to stay and learn more about you.
Trust me, if they don’t like the look of you, they are gone.
Now, I realize that I seem to have wandered off topic a little here, but bear with me. Using your image in conjunction with your story is an incredibly powerful (and mandatory) combination, and you will want to have one “profile” or “signature” photo that you will use in your marketing, on landing pages, or the home page of your website, on emails etc.
It is the online equivalent of meeting a prospect, face to face offline.
So, your image should be a demonstration that firstly, you are a real person. Legitimate business people should not be ‘hiding’ behind their landing page or website. Your prospect will want to see who they are potentially going to be partnering with in a business.
It is important that you are dressed appropriately. Nothing with a ‘busy’ or fussy pattern that detracts attention from your face.
Your prospects will want to see your eyes (looking into another person’s eyes is one way we unconsciously establish whether or not they are trustworthy), so no sunglasses, or a hat or cap that shades your face.
Smile. This is huge, and I know that many people are uncomfortable about having a photo taken, but it is important that you are smiling (right up to your eyes) in your profile photo.
Try to pose in such a way that you appear relaxed, confident and approachable. For tips on how to take a great photo, go into the CCpro back office and watch the videos under the Account tab -> website settings -> How to take a great photo.
Back to your story.
When you tell your story, you are basically allowing your prospect to get to know a little more about you. So you will want to cover things like a little of your childhood and background and your career to date.
As you write, it is important to develop the aspects of your life that you were unhappy about, that were perhaps causing you ‘pain’. Now this all sounds a little negative, but the truth is that we all make changes in our lives on the basis of some type of ‘pain’ we are feeling.
And when you think about it, no-one is ever compelled to make life changing decisions if they are perfectly happy, are they?
So start to tap into the aspects of your life that you weren’t happy with, and which prompted you to start looking for opportunities to change.
e.g. “I was so tired of working in my 60 hour a week job. I no longer loved what I did, and I never got to see my growing family. I hated being the only mum/dad in my child’s class who could never go and watch them at sport/ dancing/ school etc etc….time was slipping by, and I knew that I was trading it for money. I felt like a failure as a parent and I just didn’t want to do it any more”
By outlining the ‘pain’ of the experience, you are also giving your prospect something to relate to. If they have had any experience in their life that is even a little bit similar, on an unconscious level, they will be thinking “this person is just like me”. They will begin to form a connection with you.
And this is where having identified your niche well in the first instance is important. People who are more like you are going to be able to relate more easily to you. They will begin to see themselves in your shoes.
Now, there is a fine line between tapping into the pain and wallowing in it. You don’t want to be laboring the point about how terrible things were for you, as you run the risk of either boring or depressing your prospect. Or worse, coming across as a victim. And that is the last thing you want.
So after you have identified the aspects of your life that you wanted to improve, you then use a simple sentence that I believe is incredibly powerful. It goes like this…
“And I decided that I wanted my life to be different”.
Now this is a key concept to grasp. Being decisive requires personal vision, clarity of thinking, and the courage to follow through and make changes. And these are all characteristics of leaders.
In that one sentence, you are announcing
I am a leader.
I don’t tolerate circumstances that cause me discomfort.
I make decisions, and follow through with change.
And that is what we are all looking for. A leader. Someone to show us the way.
From this point you might talk about your journey of change ( a good example is if you had an experience with another business opportunity that did not work well because of poor marketing training).
A small but important side note here – do not blame other people for the negative aspects of your life. This is definitely not what a leader does. If you have had a particularly difficult situation, you might summarize it by saying “that was a very painful/ difficult experience for me at the time, but what I learnt from it was….”
When you get to the part in your story about how you found CCPro you must follow this rule. Ignore it at your peril…
Do not pitch!!!!
By all means, expand on some of the things you are learning.
e.g. “Now I am learning how to leverage social media like Twitter, Face Book and My Space to generate leads to my business” or “Now I am being trained by the same video marketing guru who works personally with Tony Robbins and Paula Abdul and promotes them online”
(PS that is Mike Koenig – if you are not making the most of his training in the back office may I suggest that you are wasting your monthly membership – his keyword research tips alone are gold).
The second thing that you will never do is try to be flashy or impressive. It is not necessary, and it is not the point. It also screams “scammer” at one hundred decibels.
By following the structure I have outlined you will be showing your prospects that
1. You are a real person.
2. You are nice, and possibly a little (or lot) like them in your circumstances.
3. You are decisive (which is a leadership quality).
4. You can show them how to get what they want as well.
When you combine a well presented personal picture with a story that your ideal prospect can relate to, you will be streets in front of the average marketer, online or off.
Make today a great one.
Cheers,
Tan
