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As you’ve probably experienced, in a fast-paced world filled with constant information overload, it’s harder than ever to capture your ideal customers’ attention. So what can you do to bring that attention over to your brand?

You can continue with traditional, authoritative messaging and marketing tactics and hope for the best. Or, you can break through the noise and make sure your ideal customers remember your small business by adding a timeless and effective element to your marketing—storytelling.

 

How can storytelling help your small business stand out?

As people, we love and remember stories. While very few of us can retain lists of facts and statistics, research shows that when we’re presented information in a story-like framework, we are 22 times more likely to remember information. This includes brand messaging—or in other words, what a company does and how they can help us solve a problem.

And, this is because stories have the unique ability to bypass the analytical part of the brain and resonate with our emotions—which makes us more likely to remember them.

If you don’t believe us, we have a question for you. What did you study in history class as a freshman in high school? You probably can’t remember.

However, can you recall a seemingly random story your history teacher told you about his or her personal life—like how he found out he was diabetic at 19 years old after eating pecan pie his girlfriend’s mom made and how he had to be rushed to the hospital?

This might seem oddly specific, but again, the fact of the matter is that people enjoy and remember stories. Mr. Benner told Victoria’s history class that story years ago, and she still remembers it.

 

How can you make story part of your marketing?

If you’ve been anxiously waiting to hear how to make your prospects 22 times more likely to remember your small business, the answer is story. That said, how do you make story part of your marketing?

1. Create clear messaging using a story-based framework.

Regular Priority Pursuit listeners have heard us say this countless times at this point, but the key to effective marketing is clear messaging.

Clear messaging—which is communication that your ideal customers can understand quickly and easily—is critical because research shows that consumers don’t always buy the best products and services. They buy the ones they can understand most easily.

In other words, you can have the most amazing product or service in the world, but if you confuse potential customers by using industry language or talking over their heads, they are much less likely to buy your product or service. They will simply look for something similar that they can comprehend more easily.

With this in mind, before you can design and implement a successful marketing strategy, you have to determine your messaging. Because, without clear messaging, you won’t be able to connect with your ideal customers or hold their attention.

In fact, all marketing tools and tactics are useless if you don’t know what to say to convert your prospects into paying customers.

Marketing Guiding Statements

So, before you decide things like which social media platforms you’re going to use, how much money you’re going to invest in Google ads, or any other marketing decisions, you need to create what we call your “Marketing Guiding Statements.”

Marketing Guiding Statements are written guidelines that position your business as a trusted partner. And, the process of writing these statements allows you to get the information you need to write clear, concise, effective messaging in a story-based framework.

Essentially, by writing your Marketing Guiding Statements, you’ll have the exact copy you need to turn your messaging into a story that allows prospects to easily understand what you offer, captures their attention, and makes them much more likely to remember you when they’re in need of your products or services.

Then, once you have this copy, you’ll be able to use it on your website, in social media posts, in ads, and more to increase the effectiveness of your marketing.

Now, we’ve done several episodes about Marketing Guiding Statements, so if you’re a regular listener, yours may already be completed. But, in case you’ve yet to complete this critical step, we put together a free mini course breaking down exactly how to write your Marketing Guiding Statements.

By the end of this course, you’ll know exactly what to say to convert your prospects into paying customers in all of your marketing materials.

Please remember that clear messaging is the key to effective marketing, and all marketing efforts and tactics are a waste of time, money, and resources if your messaging isn’t clear. So, before you spend another minute or dollar on your marketing, make sure you have a clear message that utilizes story.

 

2. Build your website using a story-based framework.

In addition to using story to create clear, compelling messaging, you can use story to create a high-converting website.

We can’t tell you how many times we’ve heard small business owners, leaders, and their teams say, “We have no idea what to write on our website.”

Well, as we’ve already said, if you write your Marketing Guiding Statements, you’ll have almost everything you need to write your website copy. Then, from there, you can use a story-based website framework to help your site visitors easily understand what you offer and how you can help them achieve success.

Story is going to be effective in all of your marketing materials. However, it is especially effective on your website—which is your small business’s most powerful marketing tool.

You see, when consumers compare products and services, most open three to five websites and compare their options. With the average human attention span being just eight seconds or less, your website has to quickly capture and keep your audience’s attention. And, the most effective way to do this is through story.

Now, to tell your brand story on your website, your site needs to establish your business as the guide that can help your ideal customer—the hero of your marketing and website story—solve their problem. When you do this, your website will stand out from your competitors’ sites as it will make your offer easy to understand and your business more memorable.

Again, there’s a framework you can use to write your web copy in a way that invites prospects into your story. For the sake of time, we aren’t going to break down the framework.

However, if you’d like to learn it, go back and listen to ”Episode 107: How to Write Website Copy for Your Small Business.” In this episode, Treefrog’s Content Director Angel Tobey walks you through how to write the main pages of your website using story so you can capture and hold your website visitors’ attention and ultimately convert them into paying customers.

 

3. Use your Marketing Guiding Statements to write story-based social media posts, content, emails, ads, & more.

In addition to helping you write an effective website, your Marketing Guiding Statements are also going to give you the exact copy you need to write story-based social media posts, content, emails, ads, and more.

Essentially, when you take the time to write your Marketing Guiding Statements, you’re going to write your company’s brand story in full. And, this story is going to show customers that if they trust your business and invest in your product or service, they can solve their problem.

Now, your website is going to allow you to tell that story in full. However, it’s still important to invite prospective customers into this story with your other marketing materials, including social media posts, emails, ads, content, and more. With these mediums and tactics, however, you’ll only be able to give an abbreviated version or just tell parts of your story. But, like with your website, story is going to help you stand out.

Think about it. Which social media post are you more likely to engage with: one that uses traditional marketing language that says something like, “We’ve been a trusted marketing agency since 2020. You should work with us.” or one that empathizes with you by recognizing that trying one marketing tactic after another without seeing results is frustrating, gives you a solution, and reminds you that you deserve a marketing strategy that works as hard as you do?

You’re probably going to swipe past the first, but you’ll likely notice and engage with the second because it invites you into a story.

Also, when you use story in your marketing, you no longer have to use gross-feeling sales language. Because, as we discussed, you’re inviting your customers into a story where they win. As a result, you don’t have to brag about yourself or use arrogant-sounding messaging that makes both you and your prospects uncomfortable.

While we aren’t going to get into exactly how to use your brand story in each and every one of your marketing materials, the flywheel marketing strategy—which is the strategy we use for our agency clients and the strategy we teach our coaching students—is rooted in story.

And, because there’s nothing we want more than for your small business to succeed, we created a guide that details this strategy in full so that you can make it your own: ”The Most Effective Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses: The Flywheel Marketing Method.”

 

4. Tell stories in your content.

So far, we’ve discussed how you can tell your brand story. And, this is important. But, in addition to telling your brand story, we also want to encourage you to tell other stories in your content that will resonate with your ideal customers.

If you’re already brushing this suggestion off, we want you to think about TikTok. Yes, TikTok contains educational and other forms of content. But, TikTok arguably found its place in the marketplace because of storytelling.

If you’re on the app, how much time have you spent watching seemingly ridiculous videos about things like a wife buying new dishes and seeing how long it took for her husband to notice or about how all it took was a banana for a mama panda to be willing to let a zookeeper hold her baby?

Now, if an entire social media platform can arguably exist as a result of stories that people resonate with and find engaging or entertaining, how much more connected to you and your business would your prospects feel if you simply told stories?

There are so many places where you can share stories. You can tell stories in social media posts, in your Instagram stories, on your blog, with videos, on your podcast, in emails, or in any of the content you produce.

Examples of Storytelling in Content

To give you a few ideas, you might put a customer testimonial in the form of a story. For example, if Victoria wanted to share about SEO coaching, she could create a social media post or an email sharing how Arielle Peters—one of her students—wanted to break into the Chicago wedding market because she wanted to shoot more high-end weddings.

She wasn’t appearing on Google for anything related to Chicago, but within six months of implementing the SEO strategy we teach, she consistently appeared as the top Google listing for searches related to “Chicago editorial wedding photographers,” and she is now regularly booking her ideal clients in the Chicago area as a result of SEO.

In addition to sharing client testimonials, you can also tell stories that resonate with your ideal clients. For example, one of our most engaged-with emails ever started with a story about Victoria’s father-in-law—who owns a plumbing and HVAC company—telling her that client communication was why they were able to have their best year in business ever.

And, just the other day, Victoria’s good friend Kaitlin of Kaitlin Mendoza Photography shared an Instagram post about how her four-year-old said she was ready to head home from vacation, and Kaitlin turned this little story into a reminder to moms that they’re building beautiful lives for their families. And, this was one of Kaitlin’s most engaged-with posts ever arguably because it told a story that resonated with her ideal clients—who are moms of young kids.

You can also tell stories that simply entertain your audience. A couple of weeks ago, Victoria shared how she and her husband decided this was the summer for biking. So, they bought bikes and bike trailers: one for their daughter and one for their dog. She shared their first outing on my Instagram story, and this might seem silly, but these stories received a lot of engagement because (1) she told a story and (2) people just found this entertaining.

Remember, people buy from people, not businesses. But, they don’t just buy from anyone; they make purchases from those they know, like, and trust. And, in addition to helping prospects remember you, story is arguably the most effective way to help your ideal clients get to know you and feel connected to you. As a result, storytelling is only going to increase sales.

If you aren’t a natural writer, we know that it can feel difficult to come up with stories. But, we promise you that there are stories all around you. You just need to start paying attention and looking for them.

In case having examples from real accounts helps, we want to highly encourage you to check out One Peak Creative on TikTok and any of LifeVac’s content. Now, these brands are VERY different. However, they both do an incredible job of telling stories.

If you have a personal brand—which we recommend all business owners should—check out Jordan Lee Dooley and Akua Konadu. Both do a great job with storytelling, and Akua even teaches how to tell stories and make storytelling part of your marketing.

 

There’s no reason you can’t turn your marketing into a story.

Now, there’s a lot of information in this episode, but before we wrap up, it only seems fitting to end it with a little story.

Donte Wilburn—one of our clients—opened Premier Auto Detailing in Lafayette, Indiana in 2008. Through his and his team’s hard work and excellent customer service, they built a small business that brought in approximately $250,000 per year.

However, Donte wanted to do more. As a result, in 2018, Donte partnered with Treefrog to turn his marketing into a story.

In 2020, Premier’s revenue increased to $1.4 million.

And, since 2021, Premier has invoiced more than $2 million.

And, Premier just continues to grow.

Now, we want to make sure we give credit where credit is due. Donte and the rest of the Premier team work incredibly hard, and their customer service is second to none. However, when you ask Donte how he grew his small business and revenue so quickly, he’ll tell you that the only thing he changed was his marketing messaging.

In other words, Donte and his team have worked hard and served their customers well. But, Premier couldn’t reach Donte’s goals until they started using story in their marketing.

Just think about it, you tell and listen to stories every day. As a result, there’s no reason you can’t turn your marketing into a story so that your prospects are more likely to know, like, trust, and support, remember your small business.

And, if you’re ready to do that, be sure to check out the Marketing Guiding Statements mini course, flywheel marketing guide, and other resources we mentioned. Or, if you’re just not sure where to start and would like some guidance, check out the link in the show notes or visit our website to schedule a discovery call.

Story is so powerful, and it can only help you reach your business goals.

 

Links & Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• “The First Step to Effective Marketing for Small Businesses: Writing Your Marketing Guiding Statements” Free Mini Course
• ”The Most Effective Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses: The Flywheel Marketing Method” Guide
• Explore One Peak Creative on TikTok
• Explore LifeVac
• Explore Jordan Lee Dooley on Instagram
• Explore Akua Konadu on Instagram
• Schedule a Discovery Call with Treefrog Marketing
• Try ShowIt for One Month for Free
• Learn More About Treefrog’s Small Business Marketing Resources & Services
• Join the Priority Pursuit Facebook Community
• Follow or DM Treefrog Marketing on Instagram
• Follow or DM Kelly Rice on Instagram
• Follow or DM Victoria Rayburn on Instagram

 

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The Priority Pursuit Podcast is a podcast dedicated to helping small business owners define, maintain, and pursue both their personal and business priorities so they can build lives and businesses they love.

You can find The Priority Pursuit Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Stitcher, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

 

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