When I was teaching Marketing 101 to sleepy undergraduates, we used to talk about the way customers perceive differences between products and how they tolerated change. For instance, suppose you’re a car manufacturer. You want to change the design of the model you’ve been selling for the past 20 years.

But how much do you make a change?

It’s sort of like Goldilocks and those ill-mannered bears who invaded her home.

Too much innovation? You’ve lost them. On the Internet, you have just a few seconds to grab attention. You’re constantly reminded that, “A confused mind always says no.”

Too little? You’re viewed as a cookie-cutter solution or as someone who’s still stuck in an early business model.

The truth is,  people like to categorize. When they hear about your service, they want to put you into a familiar category. When you’re new, you don’t fit into a category of service. But you can fit into your client’s pain point. And that’s where backstory comes in.

Often service professionals try to come up with creative names to describe what they do. Life Energizer.Creative Catalyst. Profit Maximizer Coach. These terms make it hard to start a discussion.

Sometimes the new offer fits a new need really well. For instance, corporate executives are now hiring publicists and agents for themselves. rather than wait for companies to assign them. They want to take control of their own careers.  When your service reaches your market on this level, you can become part of a conversation easily: “I know someone who did that.” You might even get media attention, if you’re first to market with a highly desirable offer.

If your offer seems irrelevant, it won’t become a topic of conversation. I learned this lesson myself when I published my first website on the topic of relocation. My audience resisted.

Big discovery: People will hire planners for parties and weddings, but won’t hire a coach for a relocation that costs many thousands of dollars more. Logical? No: most of us can survive a bad party but if you move to a destination that’s wrong for you, you’re looking at years of misery.

The reality is, there aren’t that many relocation coaches. A lack of competition usually signals a thin market. More important, it doesn’t generate conversations like, “My relocation coach is better than anybody else’s.” The most important way to generate buzz is to get your audience to talk about their experience with you.

Eventually I learned to get people talking by focusing on their backstory.

What’s a backstory?

In his book Tell To Win, Peter Guber demonstrates the impact of a customer’s backstory.
A producer needed to get Alice Walker’s approval to produce her book, The Color Purple, as a stage play. Alice was the customer; the producer was, in a real sense, doing the selling.

Guber coached the producer to expect resistance. Alice had gotten a negative backlash from the black community after her book was produced as a movie. The producer needed to address Alice’s backstory — not directly, but with a new story.

Jack Dorsey, Founder of Twitter and Square, says their company spends a lot of time writing “user narratives.” These narratives read like a play: “They go to a coffee shop in downtown Chicago…”

Everyone can relate to the story at all levels from designers to those in “the business side of the house,” says Dorsey.

Business owners rarely have access to individual backstories when developing copy for websites and sales letters. But often you can identify common backstories, even without an intensive, high-priced research effort.

For instance, Christina Hills runs programs targeting prospects with backstories related to building websites. Those backstories have a common theme: high expectations followed by disappointing results. They go something like this:

“I’ve spent thousands of dollars on web design and have nothing to show for it but a ton of credit card debt.”

“The website looks beautiful but if I need to change one word, it’s going to cost me $65. Minimum.”

“My web developer disappeared, taking my passwords with him.”

And for my relocation service, I positioned my offer to fall under the umbrella of career change —  a topic I care about even more.

Now, that’s something people will talk about.

“Did you know IBM stands for “I’ve been moved?”
“We just moved here. My wife got an offer she couldn’t refuse.”
“My company just moved me here and I hate it.”

Why Finding The Customer’s Back Story Helps You Generate Buzz

When offering a new service, it’s often difficult for your prospects to relate your offer to their pain point. They may not even be aware they have a pain point. But what’s on their mind? What will they vent about? You got it…their story.

In fact, you may have developed your business because you have a backstory that resembles your clients’ story. Your backstory may be your origin story — the story of how and why you founded your business and why you have so much passion for helping people.

FREE: Download 17 Ways To Grow Your Business By Telling Stories

What’s the story behind your new offer? Start here with the Strategic Intensive.

When you offer a service, storytelling helps you sell yourself. When your story becomes the focus of your About Page, your story becomes your brand. Therefore you need to manage your story, just as you would create your logo, colors, and tag line.

When storytelling, it’s not a good idea to lie or falsify your story. It’s too easy to be discovered and your reputation will be damaged, sometimes beyond repair. However, you can be selective in the story you choose to tell and the way you tell it. That’s the most effective and most ethical form of “spin.”

No Story? Here’s why. 

Challenge #1: “I don’t have a dramatic story.”

For example, Beth started a business while she was working full-time. She simply put out the word that she was available to organize kitchens, offices and cluttered closets.

Beth didn’t have much of a story. She’d always enjoyed organizing since she was a child; she didn’t have a story of her own clutter. She didn’t have a business story because her business grew almost effortlessly by word of mouth.

Challenge #2: “My story makes me look bad.”

Stan could be Beth’s shadow self. He was trained as a therapist and was not naturally gifted for business. He spent years trying different side hustles but kept a full-time day job. He was beginning to achieve success as a relationship coach, but he didn’t feel clients would be reassured by a story of “struggling for many years…”

Challenge #3: “My story doesn’t have a happy ending.”

Anita was a gifted seminar leader and speaker but her business was growing slowly. She believed she needed a story that ended, “I’m now speaking to large audiences and enjoy a six-figure income …” However, she was still growing her business and her accountant advised her not to divulge her income anytime, ever.

Stories To Tell When You Don’t Have A Good Story

Beth, Stan and Anita don’t want to share those stories. Here’s what can they do instead.

Solution #1: Instead of “How I Got Here,” they can write, “What Makes Me Uniquely Qualified To Serve My Clients.”

For instance, Beth might share, “Even when I was a kid, I loved putting my toys away in little boxes. As a college freshman, I was the one who helped everybody figure out how to live in a tiny dorm room – we even found room for our refrigerators. My job as a financial analyst called for organization of 500 separate pieces of paper that contributed to our annual report. So the third time a neighbor asked me to help organize her closet, I decided it was time for a business. And here’s what I can do for you…”

These stories lend credibility, especially if you’re in a field where you want to stand out.

Solution #2: Instead of “My Story,” share what you have done for your clients.

Even a few successes will have impact. For instance, I like to tell the story of a client who said, “Clients used to insist on face-to-face meetings; now they feel they know me so we set up a contract over the phone.”

From the above examples, Anita would share a story about how she responded to a challenge in a seminar that led to life-changing moments for the participants.

“At one seminar on crisis management, people were reluctant to contribute their experiences. I took a break and discovered the corporate culture frowned on admitting a mistake. I created an exercise on the spot to help the participants feel more comfortable and also showed them a way to describe their experiences that would be consistent with the culture.

“I’m still getting emails about the impact of that event.”

If you’ve helped at least one client — free or paid — you’ve got a success story. When I work with clients on copywriting, I ask for 3 success stories. Thee stories become the foundation of their websites and sales letters.

Solution #3: Instead of a “what happened” story, share a “why” story. 

A lot of business owners publish a story of “why I’m in this business.”  Those stories will support your message if they lend credibility to your offers. For instance, several business coaches share stories along the lines of, “I began as a life coach. I was so successful, other coaches asked me to help them, and they offered to pay. I started working with them and now focus exclusively on helping service-oriented businesses find unconventional paths to growth.”

The most impactful “why” story answers a slightly different question: “Why are you so passionate about what you do? Why do you go the  extra mile?”

For example, let’s return to Stan, the relationship coach.  Stan watched his best friend go through a bitter divorce and then struggle with the midlife dating scene. He ended up helping his friend and realized many newly-divorced people were struggling to build new relationships. They needed coaching, not therapy. Stan’s story showed why he cared and why his unique brand of coaching was particularly helpful.

By the way, are you frustrated with coming up with your own story — the best story for your brand? Check out the Strategic Intensive.

  Check out this FREE report:  Stories to Build a Brand and Stand Out from the Crowd.  Click here for immediate access. 

My book, Your Mess is Not Your Message, is now available on Amazon. Get a story framework for branding your small business.  Click here to get access and download.

When I got started with online marketing, one question often came up at conferences and informal conversations: “What’s the single most important thing I need to learn in order to be successful?”

If you talk to any Online Gurus, Famous Names, or Internet Millionaires, they’ll freely reveal the answer. They will tell you that visitors make buying decisions based on the words on your website. They will share stories of how you will benefit when you create compelling headlines, beefy bullets, and irresistible hooks.

What most people don’t realize is that once you study copywriting, you have a new all-purpose business tool…a “secret sauce” you can use to add flavor in all your marketing activities.

So you get to be sneaky.

You will find ways to use your skills even when you aren’t working on marketing actions typically associated with copywriting, such as your website or brochure.

You can think of copywriting as “the sneaky strategy” because most of your audience won’t realize you’re using it.

Sneaky copywriting place #1: Once I belonged to an organization that offered an annual showcase for members to present themselves. The catch was, you had to send an application, describing what you’d talk about and why you should be one of the three featured speakers.

I’d never written a proposal like this one, but I figured I’d just use my copywriting experience to promote value, even though I was less experienced than my competitors.

It worked. I got to be one of those speakers, ahead of people who’d been in the group a lot longer.

By the way, this also works for gaining admission to groups and submitting yourself for an award. You’re selling yourself, right?

Sneaky copywriting place #2: When you’re invited to be an interview guest, you will need to prepare a list of questions, a summary of your topic and a brief biography.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? In fact, each element calls for copywriting. Your questions need to be as compelling as headlines. Your bio needs to showcase your expertise – without a hint of boasting. Your interviewer needs to be sure you won’t sound like a used car sales stereotype.

Sneaky copywriting place #3: When you create an information product or write a book, you can use copywriting to create mouth-watering title and chapter headings. They’ll help you reach your target market in the same way your copywriting headlines draw readers into your story.

Additionally, every chapter needs hooks – stories or ideas that grab the reader and won’t let go. It’s usually the opening paragraph of a sales letter, but also the opening of a chapter or even the book itself.

One of my favorite opening lines comes from a murder mystery, The Rosewood Casket by Sharyn McCrumb:

“Dying cost nothing and could be done alone; otherwise Randall Stargill might have lived forever.”

Many authors skip this step, but it’s important, particularly for kindle books. When readers click on “Look inside,” they’ll see chapter headings – and some hooks too.

You don’t have to become a master copywriter or even a professional copywriter to benefit from these skills. In fact, your success will be less about the wordsmithing than about the copywriting mindset: asking the “what’s in it for me” question, getting into the conversation in your client’s mind, and telling a purposeful story.

Once you adapt this mindset, you’ll likely find yourself achieving gains in many areas of marketing, with considerably more enjoyment and considerably less effort.

If you’d like to learn more about copywriting, check out my course on Copywriting With Stories. We introduce stories directly into the copywriting process – not as an add-on. Use coupon code “copypro” to save $20 on the price.

And grab your free download – 7 Copywriting Tips To JumpStart Your Sales.

This page is everywhere. It’s a tab on every blog. It’s on Facebook. It’s the page most website visitors want to see after the Home page.

And everybody hates to write it. It’s … your About Page.

This page is absolutely critical because

Your clients know they are working with a person – not buying a product. So they’ll often turn to this page before making a decision to talk to you, even for a get-acquainted call.

 Clients often are afraid of hiring someone who will be incompetent and/or difficult to work with. You need to establish that you’re qualified as well as easy to get along with.

You often connect with clients by sharing some “safe” personal information. For example, if you’ve attended University of Florida, be sure to say that you’re a ‘Gator.” You’ll be surprised how many people will be Gators, know someone who’s a Gator, or just recognize the name.

Even with all these reasons, many business owners tell me they DREAD sitting down to write about themselves.

The truth is …

 you are helping your clients when you brag about yourself. Your clients want to brag about you! When my book first came out (a long time ago) one of my clients said, “I was so proud to see your book in the bookstore! I turned to my friend and said, ‘That’s my coach!'”

your clients make more informed decisions when they know more about you. They may decide that you are not the best resource they had hoped to work with. That’s fine: you have now saved yourself a lot of grief.

 you are more likely to attract targeted clients who resonate with your working style when you have a strong About page. Clients will be drawn to you as a kindred spirit.

Of course, you might be too busy to write this page. I get it. If you don’t write copy every day, it takes longer. Plus it’s harder to write about yourself. In that casek ask a copywriter to help you.

If you’ve been on the planet in the last few years, you probably why you need to use stories in business. Humans are hard-wired to create narratives. Stories engage your readers and keep them listening. You can’t be a business owner without telling stories.

You’ve probably also heard that the most powerful form of storytelling is the hero’s journey. In this journey, you show how you faced a problem you desperately needed to solve.

Maybe you …

… had been on a dozen diets that failed till you discovered this one.

… had lost jobs and dating opportunities until you learned how to dress for success.

… had hit bottom in your business till you discovered one strategy that brought you wealth (as well as more time to enjoy it).

These stories can be incredibly compelling, but they rarely make you sales.

For one thing, you may not have one of these stories to share.

… you just don’t have a great story or maybe a story at all. What if you’re a great cardiologist who never had a heart attack?

… you’re a coach, not a player. You coach teams to championships but you were a bench player with limited minutes.

… you can’t afford the risk of telling your story. The details might embarrass your family. Your lawyer and accountant advise you to keep quiet.

I’m in this category myself. I’m a coach rather than a player. I don’t always share the details of my life. And people rarely relate to my own life stories. Luckily, I’ve discovered they’re often the least useful type of story for your marketing strategy.

So what kinds of stories will bring you clients and sales?

Some people actually make up stories.

“Dorothy” claims she was going bankrupt three years ago–until she found the secret that turned her business around.

Alas, I remember Dorothy. I looked back in my emails and confirmed my memories: she was doing very well. She’d just sold a business for a sizeable sum. One of her big-ticket products was selling from a sales page, week after week. Dorothy loses credibility every time she shares her pseudo-journey.

There’s a better way. These 3 types of stories will build your brand, your business, and your base of clients.

Tell stories of success.

How did you help that client? How did you turn around that business? These stories focus on your client – not you. They actually help brand you by demonstrating how you work and what you deliver.

I encourage all my clients to come up with at least 3 success stories that will become the foundation of their marketing and their brand.

Show how your passion makes you uniquely qualified to help others.

You might have become extremely frustrated when you saw clients who were harmed by their experiences with more common cookie-cutter solutions.  You tossed the cookie cutter and carved out a new program.

For instance, I became frustrated with stories of solopreneurs who paid large sums for “branding programs” that took three months and gave them colors and fonts.

Or you realized many people were suffering needlessly because they didn’t realize solutions were available.  They lost money, time, or energy for no good reason.

For instance, a financial planner realized newly-divorced women were often clueless about money. They often signed up with sharks who were all too eager to devour every dime.

So this planner created a business specializing in meeting the needs of divorced women–a combination of sensitivity, deep knowledge of financial instruments, and ability to work with each individual’s risk tolerance and lifestyle.

Or you might have built a successful business.  You focused on helping people manage their lives, not their money or business.

Soon people began asking you, “How did you build a client base in a competitive industry?” You were so passionate about helping, you began delivering help for free. Now you’re a business coach who helps others build successful practices.

Tell stories to explain what you offer.

It’s not always easy to explain what you do, especially since many services we offer simply didn’t exist ten or twenty years ago.

A web developer might tell a story of a home decorator who found new ways to show off the owner’s personality, find places to hold all the important stuff after they downsized, and knew where to go to find one-of-a-kind furnishings at a reasonable price. “That’s what I do for your home on the web,” he might say.

Or suppose you’re helping clients build marketing funnels. You tell a story of a handyman who showed up asking for work. He first hung a few pictures for a very small sum. Then he painted a room. In just a few weeks, he was building a deck. That’s how a funnel might work, you say.

Choosing a story to support your strategy isn’t always easy.

If your inbox is anything like mine, I’m betting you find many stories truly cringe-worthy.

On the other hand,   every so often I hear a story that’s so spot-on, I 2\want to learn more. I want access to whatever that business owner’s clients are enjoying.

Most importantly, I remember that business owner. Their story has become their brand, in a way that colors and fonts can never accomplish.

Join me in a one-to-one consultation to discover the best story to simplify your marketing and get more results with less effort. Click here to learn more and sign up.

What motivates your target market? Where are they coming from? What points do you need to emphasize when you write the copy? 

One of the best ways to get inside the mind of your ideal client is to interview prospective and past clients.

But interviewing is more than firing off questions at a prospect. Everything from the way you set up the interview, to the questions you ask will affect the usefulness of your results. 

I talk to a lot of business owners who get nervous at the whole idea of interviewing. They know research interviews are important, especially for entering new markets and writing case studies. But they aren’t sure where to start.

Let’s imagine that you are a career coach, focusing on mid-life professionals looking for a new job after they’ve been laid off. You want to create a lead magnet and perhaps a course for this segment of your audience. Now it’s time to do the research. 

Setting up the interview

You’ll need to convince prospects that they’ll benefit from being interviewed. Avoid offering large bribes such as free 30 days of coaching. People who are motivated by “free stuff” will be different from those who will pay.

Keep the interviews short. Aim for 30 minutes, max. The quality of responses tends to diminish when interviewees get tired. And frankly, they tire easily. 

Choose the Questions to Ask

So now you’ve got someone on the phone. What do you ask them? 

(1) The *worst* question you can ask begins with “Why.” Most people have no idea why they did something; there’s plenty of research to show we’re often motivated by environmental forces we don’t even notice. 

  The BEST question you can ask is one that encourages your interviewee to come up with a story:

“What’s a typical day like in your current job? Where are the trouble spots? What, if anything, is enjoyable?”

“What would an ideal job look like? Give one example of a perfect day.”

Keep the interview on track.

There are two ways an interview can get derailed.

First, your interviewee starts giving advice. 

You ask, “What was your most challenging experience during your job search?”

She answers, “Well, if I were going to advise someone who’s changing jobs…”

What you’re looking for are answers like, “The worst part of my job search came when I drove all the way across town to the interview. They didn’t expect me. They said I had the wrong day. I had their email: I was right.  But there was nothing I could do about it.” 

You follow up with questions like, “What were your next steps? What actions did you take?”

You’re looking for experience and emotions. You want their perspective, from the inside out. 

Second, you may get one of those interviewees who can’t stay focused. They’ll be right in the middle of a story, when they’ll say, “That reminds me…” And now you’re off on a long tangent.

Don’t be afraid to interrupt (politely) when the interview goes off track. You have limited time. When you let someone go off on a tangent, you’ll go way beyond the allotted time to get the information you need – and that’s much more annoying than a quick, friendly reminder to stay on track.

Interviews are gold. 

Interviews can be extremely valuable assets to your business, so it’s important to take advantage of every minute prospects spend with you.  Their time is limited: often they have to leave for a meeting or phone call. They get tired.

And your time becomes valuable as well. A 30-minute interview can take over 90 minutes, with setting up the meeting, reviewing your notes and thanking your interviewee.

Learn more about writing a case study with interviews with this free report, 7 steps to a case study that generates leads.

And discover what *really* motivates your clients when you click on this free report. You’ll learn how understanding the client’s backstory helps you write copy that enters the conversation in your client’s mind.   

“Yet I’m getting invited to hold workshops in large companies and executives are coming to me for coaching.”  That’s how a client I’ll call “Rita” began a consultation a while back.

“I haven’t walked in their shoes,” Rita continued. “My coach told me to market to people like myself. But in this case, I’m not marketing to me! Why would someone believe I can help them?”

Rita had fallen for the widely reported myth of, “You must tell your story. You’re qualified because you are just like the people you help. You know what they’re going through. You can help them.”

Rita was fully qualified. She just needed a new story. 

Rita had a story that resonated with her audience of solopreneur creatives. She could share her experience of moving from a struggling solopreneur to a confident, profitable business owner. But she couldn’t tell an origin story about moving from frustrated corporate executive to confident, fulfilled professional.

Rita’s dilemma will be familiar to business owners who experience a shift, or pivot, as they grow. They start to attract clients in new markets, so they need new marketing strategies, new copy, and of course, new stories.

These shifts are inevitable. You change. Your market changes. You discover new solutions. You get invited to take on new challenges.

When business owners call me, they often believe they need to start with the common definition of a rebrand, i.e., a new website, color scheme, images, and slogan.

Actually, your first step calls for telling a new story — 3 stories, in fact:

Story #1 – answers the question “Why did you make this shift?”

Story #2 – answers the question “Why are you qualified to perform the new role?”

Story # 3 – the new sales story you tell so people think “I want what she’s having”

Do me a favor: Stay tuned for more information. And reply to this message if you’d like to learn more. I’m working on a guide (free or very low cost) and would like to know what questions you have.

And if you’d like to get the lowdown on the different stories you can use during a pivot, check out my book on Amazon – Grow Your Business One Story At A Time. It’s currently in kindle form but you don’t need a kindle to read it — just a computer or smartphone.

The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone definitely is inspiring and worth reading.

The author’s main point deserves recognition: Most success comes after a LOT more investment of energy, time and resources than we expect at the outset. I’m reminded of Pat Summitt, the Lady Vols basketball coach; in one of her books she wrote something to the effect of, “We will win because we will out-work you.”

In my experience, an equally big question is, “How will you spend your time?”

You can work ten times as hard as your competition, but you can still suffer mediocrity when you (a) choose a goal that’s not in line with your strengths and values, (b) take action that will not lead you to your goal or (c) take actions that *would* lead you to a realistic goal but botch the execution.

The late Lynn Grabhorn, author of Excuse Me Your Life Is Waiting, warned against the danger of what she called “heigh-ho silvering,” dashing around taking action without reflecting on the purpose of all that activity. It is all to easy to mistake “keeping busy” for “accomplishing actions that lead to goals.”

I’d have expected Cardone to talk more about focus and setting priorities *before* entering into massive activity. Cardone hints at the need for identifying appropriate goals but focuses more on numbers and action.

In all fairness, this focus is reasonable. I’ve heard several coaches say, “Most people know *what* to do and how to do it, but they won’t take the actions they know they need.” Still, I’ve seen people fail because they’re totally inexperienced or naive about the “how” as well as the “what.”

Cardone points out that commitment to success includes a “whatever it takes” clause, but not everyone understands what that means. He suggests cutting out television, oversleeping, and similar activities, but there’s a finer line when it comes to working out or spending time on recreational activities to recharge your batteries. Some people work best as distance runners while others get there as sprinters.

Finally, Cardone emphasizes taking control of one’s environment. I strongly agree with his response to challenging situations. Ask, “What could I do to keep this from happening again?” and focus on how to respond. He offers some good suggestions for writing down goals – nothing really new, but requires some determination.

Some readers will be disturbed by Cardone’s approach to marketing. He says if you do an excellent job of increasing your customer volume, then good customer service will follow naturally.

We all know companies and services that market themselves brilliantly but fail to deliver at the same level. Sadly, some inferior products and services succeed because they were marketed so well; Cardone cites the common example of Apple vs Microsoft.

I definitely agree with Cardone’s suggestion to spend time with successful people, as it’s easy to get deflected by criticism and disparaging remarks. However, I was amused by his suggestion to ignore criticism.

Despite these comments, I am actively recommending this book to colleagues and Facebook friends. The author’s energy is contagious. His “take no prisoners” attitude to success will inspire many readers. Click here to order via my Amazon link.

You’ve probably gotten the advice to find a hungry market. Many people assume a hungry market means people are in pain and hurting, seeking solutions. And that’s often true when you are a service-based solopreneur. 

But sometimes your buyers aren’t in pain. They’re not desperate except maybe in their own social world. But they’re still hungry.

I call these two markets the tire store and the cookbook. A lot of marketing advice focuses – rightly – on the tire store model. I’ve written myself, “People won’t hire you unless they have a problem.” 

But sometimes the problem doesn’t feel very problematic. It’s not painful. The buyer has everything she needs…but she wants mor.

One market always wants “just one more” and the other wants “just one – right now.”

The Cookbook Market

Remember the potato chip commercials that teased us about eating just one — and stopping? This business model targets customers who will always want “just one more.”

People who are into cooking rarely own just one cookbook. They have dozens and they’re always buying more. They also buy cooking accessories. Their friends give them cooking gadgets for birthdays.

They look for stories to help them learn something new. They can never learn enough about cooking. Or they just decided to add Thai to their repertoire. So they buy half a dozen more.

With these buyers, you can get to be more personal. They’re often curious about you, the seller. After all, they’re looking for a reason to buy yet another product. “I’ve never seen theirs before” is as good a reason as any.

You know you have a cookbook business when your market keeps buying more and more products in the same category. Cookbook businesses include quilting, knitting, teddy bears, dogs (ever meet a dog with just 1 toy? Either zero or too many –  I had 4 dog beds for 1 dog), golf, and yes, Internet marketers. A lot of people keep buying information products. 

The Tire Store

When was the last time you visited a tire store? I bet you weren’t “just looking.”

Customers buy tires to replace flat or worn-out tires. They rarely browse around a tire store on a lazy Sunday afternoon. They rarely comparison shop. They buy because they’re actively seeking solutions. Sometimes their need is urgent; sometimes they’re just planning for the inevitable 

Tire store businesses target customers who think their business is failing, seek solutions to embarrassing personal problems, can’t seem to lose weight, want to save a failing relationship and/or just received a diagnosis of cancer or diabetes.

Customers look for stories to convince them that your offer solves their problem. They’re interested in learning more about you – but only to reassure themselves that you can and will give them what they need, consistently and reliably.

So what’s your business – cookbook or tire store?  Do you have a portfolio of stories consistent with your position? If you’d like to fine-tune your positioning, strengthen your message and begin writing stellar copy … let’s start with a Strategic Intensive. Click here to learn more.