You’re a solopreneur who offers a service. Your brand is *you.* Your most powerful story will almost always be a success story. You’ll share the way your services created a transformation among your clients.
“But how do I show the transformation?”
That’s a question I receive often.
When you create a story that sells – not just a story that entertains – your target clients will imagine themselves in that story. Your client is the hero and you are the guide. Your actions lead to a transformation in the hero’s business, relationships, health, or wealth.
So how do you explain that transformation?
Many guides encourage you to present yourself as a fairy godmother who delivers the solution with the wave of a wand. That’s a classic Cinderella story. In marketing, it’s a credibility killer. Knowledgeable clients won’t believe you.
We see many “fairy godmother” transformations in business copywriting.
For example:
“Set up this membership site. Charge $97 a month. Get just 93 people to sign up and you have $9000 a month coming in – over six figures a year! I’m charging just $997 for this program.”
“How much is one client worth to you? $1000? Get 6 clients in the next 6 weeks and you have $6000. So would you pay $97 to earn $6000? Who wouldn’t?”
These copywriters are spinning stories that resemble fairy tale endings. They don’t focus on transformation. They focus on magical outcomes and ignore the middle steps. For instance, it’s not easy to get ONE person to pay $97 a month, let alone 93.
Appeals like these won’t work when you’re looking to build a tribe of loyal followers. Buyers will soon realize they made a mistake. They rarely return for more.
For a more effective story, I like this one by Christina Hills – an Innovator archetype. I have no hesitation in recommending her because she’s the real deal: I’ve bought her programs myself.
Here’s an abbreviated version of her story (read the complete version here on the sales page):
Donna paid $5,000.00 for a beautiful website. But after a few months, she needed to make a few changes. Her web designer was now unreachable. The instructions for changes were technical, involving a cryptic web server and mysterious code.
With each change, Donna’s home page grew into a long mess of unreadable text. Potential prospects clicked away, baffled.
One day, Donna heard about the Website Creation Workshop.
Fed-up and embarrassed by her messy website, she signed up and got busy learning how to create her own website herself.
A few weeks later, Donna was delighted that she had a professional, easy-to-read website she could update herself…whenever she wanted.
As an Innovator archetype, Christina’s biggest challenge is to convince prospects that her new-to-the-world solution really delivers what she promises. She shows us that Donna is a real person, with pictures of Donna’s own website.
What makes this story effective?
The hero is someone a service-based solopreneur can relate to. Most of Christina’s customers are just like Donna – solo-preneneurs who have had a bad experience with web developers.
The hero gets involved in the solution. She signs up for a course. She does the work.
We don’t get a puffed-up picture of Donna’s results. Donna gets what she needs – a professional client-attracting website that she can control. It’s a credible story.
If you’d like to DIY your website, I highly recommend Christina’s program. When you sign up through my link, I reward you with a free consultation to develop your story and copy. Enrollment closes Wednesday, September 27.
RESOURCES FOR BUSINESS STORIES
Self-study courses:
Creating a Story That Sells.
Content for Credibility.
==> For either course, use the coupon code SEPCRED50 for a 50% discount through September 30.
Sign up for a consultation to find your selling story.
