There is power in telling your story. Your story matters!
My husband and I recently finished two days of speaking in Massachusetts at a Christian school and between the two of us, we spoke 19 times.
Yes, 19 times!
CJ spoke 12 times, I spoke 7.
It was a powerful reminder to me of how our stories matter, because stories impact lives more than almost anything else.
Even basic copywriting, your sales page or your emails, gets the best results when you are telling stories.
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When is the Last Time You Shared Your Story?
I told my story this week. I shared with teen girls and I shared really honestly about certain parts of my story.
It was powerful.
I had someone come up to me afterwards and she mentioned she had never told anyone what she told me today. But, she felt comfortable talking to me because she knew my story.
I told my story in Chapel in the middle school and high school and was able to share about my grandma’s murder and how 20 years later I was able, through the power of Christ, I was finally about to forgive my grandma’s murderer.
It is a powerful story, and it’s true. It’s what’s happened to me.
I’m working more lately on getting better at telling my story.
It doesn’t mean you have to share your dirty laundry and it doesn’t mean you have to share everything or all the details.
What Stories Can You Tell?
What story can you tell to your target audience so that they’ll know, first of all, you’re a real person, you have a life, and sometimes you go through hard things you’ve had to overcome.
I want you to write some ideas down right now.
There are stories that happen to us every day that we can talk about in our content and in our marketing.
I love to teach about online marketing and about how you can reach more people with your message. So, what are some ways you can integrate, even simple, stories into your marketing? Maybe you’re out working in the garden and you’re weeding. You could relate that to stinkin’ thinkin’ and weeds that come into our minds.
A Personal Example
I recently sent out an email with the subject line, “This is embarrassing…” I shared the story about how my husband and I were missionaries in Belize, Central America.
I had taken four years of Spanish in high school and one year of Spanish in college, two semesters. I should have been fluent in Spanish.
However, I could not communicate with anyone. It was so frustrating.
I excelled in school, but I couldn’t communicate in Spanish when I needed to. I felt both deaf and mute. I felt like a failure. Here we were missionaries and I couldn’t talk to anyone.
The missionaries recommended I hire a tutor to help me learn conversational Spanish. Halfway through the week I was in tears. I thought, “this isn’t going to work, I’m not going to be able to get this.” Yet, at the end of one week I was speaking and able to have conversations with people in Spanish.
It was a powerful story of my failures and it was embarrassing as well. It was something I shared in a more vulnerable way, but I also shared how I was able to overcome the obstacle.
These are the kind of stories that I’m talking about. I’m not talking about you sharing your deepest, darkest secrets. I’m talking about real life.
- What kind of things have you gone through?
- What kind of things have you done?
- What kind of things have you dealt with?
How can you share your stories with your target audience to encourage them, to motivate them, but also to bond in a deeper way with them.
I actually had someone reply back to that email and say, “this is such a great email, thank you for sending it to me.”
You know what?
It was a promotional email. It was an email where I was selling a product. And yet I had people thanking me for sending them the story in that email.
Take Action Tip
There are so many different ways you can tell your story, but
your action tip for today is to start creating a document or a list of stories from your life that you can share.
For example:
- A funny story, people love humor.
- An inspirational story
- An interesting story, something that you’ve gone through in your life.
Then, start making a list. I have mine in Evernote. I started my list because I want to include a lot of stories in my webinars, in my speeches, but also in my emails, on sales pages, on live video, and to use as analogies when I teach.
I encourage you to start your document. Here are some options:
- Google Docs
- Evernote
- On your phone in the notes app.
Start your list and put at least one thing on it today!
Are You In?
Who is in? Who is going to take action?
If you’re in, let me know in the comments below. And then get started making a list of the stories that you can share.
I don’t want you to simply take in more information, I want you to take action because that is how you’re going to get you results.
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