One of the best features about storytelling in your marketing content is that it offers your business the opportunity to sell without sounding all pushy and salesy.
And before you say, “I don’t have a good story to share or I am not a good writer,” let me stop you right there. Storytelling isn’t about writing the next great novel. It’s about learning how to use real moments from your business or your life and turning them into a story that’s going to connect your business with your community.
Storytelling allows your customers to see themselves in the services and the products that you’re offering. To see the transformation that they’ll see when they work with your business.
So if you’ve ever opened your laptop to write a sales post and you’ve struggled with what to say … take a seat. And take some notes because I’m going to get really deep into how you can use storytelling to help you sell more and to turn your followers into converted customers.
Whether you’re trying to sell your services or you’ve got a digital product, you have probably at one point or another felt this uncomfortable feeling between wanting to grow your revenue, while you don’t come off sounding like some used car dealer on Facebook marketplace.
Before I get into all the amazing things storytelling can do for your marketing, I want you to know that people don’t buy from you because of a social media post. People aren’t buying because of an email that you wrote.
People buy because of emotion. People buy because of a connection, because the message that they got from you made them FEEL something.
They feel seen. They feel like you understand them, like you get what they’re going through. And when you can tell a good story in your marketing, you’re telling your community that I hear you. I see you. I understand you.
Stories are more than just another piece of content
Stories allow us to take down the sales barriers and take down the walls when our community thinks, “Oh she’s just trying to sell to me” and leads into … wait a minute, there’s a story. I want to learn more.
Because when they hear you telling a story, there’s a part in our brain that goes past the resistance of being sold. And it goes straight into the space that’s just craving connection and wants to know more. And they lean into it because they want to know more about the person in the story. They want to know the resolution in the story.
So when you tell a story that actually reflects a challenge or something that they’re struggling with, it gives you space to show the transformation that they want and the shift that they can imagine for themselves.
It helps them imagine what’s possible and when they can imagine what’s possible, that is what leads into an organic natural version of YES, I want that solution from your business.
So how do we share this transformation in our marketing? How do we create sales messages using storytelling? We use the basic storytelling framework called the Three S Framework – Struggle, Shift and Solution.
The Three S Framework: Struggle, Shift and Solution
Let’s break this down in how these three pieces of the framework combine together to create your storytelling sales messages.
It starts with the first S – Struggle where your potential customers are struggling.
The struggle is their pain point and THIS is what the story is about. The Struggle part of the story is when you paint a picture of somebody { either you or a client } dealing with this challenge.
It’s about using those descriptive words to bring in their feelings around this issue and to bring them to a place where they can see themselves in the struggle.
The next S is Shift. The shift is the tension when the pain point hits a breaking point. When you’re facing a challenge, an obstacle shows up and then a shift happens.
And the shift is the after moment. It’s the thing that changed their mindset, their view on something or even changed their situation.
The shift happens because as the person in the story is moving through this process, she’s second guessing herself. She feels like nothing she’s doing is landing. But then the shift happens because she moves past the doubt.
The Shift in your story talks about what happened to pull her out of this place. Maybe she signed up for a program with a coach who showed her a better way to do what she’s struggling with.
When the shift happens, it becomes this moment of understanding that things have changed and when you can share that in the story, it makes your community feel their need for the same solution.
They move into thinking, “That’s me. I need a shift. I need that coaching service. I need that product because that’s how I see where I am right now and this is the solution that I’m looking for.”
You don’t need a wild origin story or a dramatic transformation. You just need real, relatable moments.
Here are story prompts to get you started:
- A lesson I learned the hard way
- A time I almost quit
- A conversation with a client
- A mindset shift I had this week
Which leads us to the third S – Solution. This is the part of your marketing story that inspires action.
You’ll pull all of these pieces together and let your community – who is now emotionally connected to this story! – the opportunity for them to see a path forward for them to see the solution. They begin to see themselves in this story.
It allows them to connect with your message in a way that you’re not pushing them to buy, that you’re inviting them to envision themselves in the transformation.
Now that you’ve built a connection and shown a transformation, this is where your offer fits in naturally. This is the part of the marketing message where you invite them to take action.
Story + Lesson + Offer. No pushing. No hard selling. Just connection, insight and a helpful next step.
How do you use the S3 framework in your marketing?
This storytelling framework can help you write your copy for social media posts. Think about how you can share a client’s before story and walk them through the after. Sharing images of the before and after results add to the compelling results in your storytelling posts.
You can use storytelling in sales messages. Imagine being on a discovery call with somebody who is interested in the work that you’re doing and wants to learn more. Instead of just listing out your services and what they can buy from you, think about sharing a story of a client who benefited from working with you.
When you look at your marketing mix of content, you’ll see the spaces and places where you can add storytelling elements into how you’re sharing your marketing messages.
And let me also say, as you’re working through this process, don’t worry about being perfect. As a matter of fact, the more YOU you bring into your posts, the more authentic your messages are.
The goal of using storytelling in your marketing messages is not to manipulate people. It’s not to push them into clicking. The goal is to move people to feel something. It’s to move them to think that they can see themselves within the solution in your story.
What could happen if they buy not just your product or service, but buy into the belief that something can actually change for them. Something can transform for them, whether it’s their business or their life or whatever it is that your product or service is helping them with the solution they’re looking for.
So if you’re tired of content that doesn’t convert or you’re overwhelmed with what to post … try this: tell a story. Even just one personal moment, one lesson learned, one client win. Let that story carry your message and you’ll start building that loyal community you’ve been craving
When you use storytelling in your marketing, people start looking forward to hearing from you. And when they begin to trust you? They’re way more likely to buy from you.
Ready to learn how to use Storytelling in your sales messages?
If you’re tired of aimlessly posting wherever and everywhere and getting nowhere, it’s time to join us in The Marketing Strategy Collective.
It’s time to stop focusing on the short term fixes and growing your business from customer to customer rather than working on the bigger picture to develop an overall marketing strategy to give you a path to see real results.
The marketing tips and strategies you’ll get with the monthly workbooks will help you address common hurdles that small business owners face, such as writer’s block, time management and maintaining a consistent posting schedule. By incorporating these actionable steps into your routine, you’ll not only stay motivated but also enhance the quality and impact of your content to reach more customers.
