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Most people don’t associate ”productivity” with “storytelling.” For one thing, we seem to be mixing left and right brains.
Here are 3 ways storytelling can help you become a more productive content creator…which means creating high-converting content more quickly.
(1) Brand with a story.
Branding might seem completely unrelated to productivity tii, but in fact a strong brand can strengthen your marketing and lighten your workload. With a strong brand, you don’t have to explain yourself over and over. You attract clients who fit your offers and discourage the misfits and tire-kickers.
When you brand with your story archetype, you gain additional benefits. You spend considerably less time writing your copy. That’s because you know how to choose words, stories and even strategies for marketing. For instance, you may believe you need to add a personal “what I did” story to every email message. As an Educator or Innovator archetype, you won’t need a personal story and in fact, you’ll benefit more from success stories or concept stories.
The different types of stories are explained in my book, Grow your business one story at a time.
(2) Market to the client’s story, not their demographic.
Targeting the client’s story will be more productive than targeting a demographic (such as women over 45 newly divorced) or a more generalized need (develop leadership skills) . You’ll be able to create bullet points for written content that directly address the client’s concerns.
You can choose webinar topics and training programs that specifically address your client’s stories (and more importantly, write content easily).
Check out my podcast episode on this topic if you’d like to learn more.
(3) Use stories to structure your content.
Even experienced writers go cold every so often. Today’s marketing calls for more content creation than ever before. Even if you’ve always been a prolific writer, you may find yourself overwhelmed by today’s increasing requirements.
The hardest part is deciding how to organize your article.
For example, you can use the “problem solver” hack described here. You pretend you’ve got an advice column (and maybe you do!) and answer a question. Advice columns tend to hook readers; even the stately New York Times has several.
You can use an extended example (here’s a guest post I wrote with this technique). Instead of listing 3 ways to write a website, I used an example of how a business owner might apply those tips.
You can use a “2 guys” story — my all-time fave. That’s a story beginning, “Two guys started out the same. One got great outcomes; one didn’t. Here’s why.”
Starting with a story, your writing task will be simpler.
Not only will you enjoy more time to do other things: you’ll be ready to share your content more quickly and see faster results.
If you’ve seen those long lists of “power words,” you may wonder how you could use them. The truth is, you’ll get better results with power stories than power words. That’s the subject of a podcast episode — available here.
But why write alone? I have programs to work with you to develop your content more effectively. Use the 90 day coaching program to complete a major project – a website or program launch. Use the Strategic Intensive to transform your marketing with a combination of a consultation and email. coaching.