This post is sponsored by Fairing
Imagine this…
You’re a freelance marketing consultant.
And because you watch a lot of YouTube videos relating to marketing, YouTube keeps recommending videos from an entrepreneur who promises to, “Help you build a 7-figure marketing agency in 9 months”.
You finally give in and watch one of her videos. You actually really enjoy it.
Before you know it, you’re down the rabbit hole.
You’ve watched 6 more videos where she shares her backstory about how she went from a solo consultant to running a 50-person agency.
Each video starts the same way—with a personal story about a real challenge she faced while growing her agency. Then she shares tips on everything from client management software to getting more leads.
She plugs her course for new agency owners at the end of each video, but you ignore it.
You’re a freelancer—not an agency. You don’t need her course.
The next day, you wake up to an email from one of your freelance clients. They’re expanding and want you to work with two new companies they just acquired.
More work means more money, which is great. But your calendar is already jam-packed.
You can’t bring on these clients as a freelancer… but you could if you built a full-blown agency.
There’s just one problem: you don’t know how to run an agency.
Why are you suddenly considering buying the YouTuber’s course?
In today’s edition of Why We Buy, we’re taking a look at Storytelling – why great storytelling leads to more products selling.
Let’s get into it…
Traditional surveys tell a team what to do in the next 6 months.
Ours tell your marketing stack what to do in the next 6 seconds.
Fairing operationalizes survey data, tying post-purchase questions to each shopper’s traffic & transaction data so every response impacts attribution, personalization and CRO at 10x speed.
New brands often see ROI before their 14-day trial ends, but this month we’re offering a 30-day extended trial to Why We Buy readers.
The Psychology of Storytelling🧠
A fact is over 20X more memorable if it’s wrapped in a story.
Stories captivate our attention.
They send us down the rabbit hole of consuming hours of YouTube content as we try to piece together the entirety of someone’s story (and the story behind how they built such a successful marketing agency).
When you’re listening to a good story, your brain waves literally start to synchronize with the storyteller, causing you to feel the emotions of the storyteller and putting you in a trance-like state.
Storytelling isn’t just marketing mumbo jumbo. It’s a science-backed persuasion technique.
Inside Your Buyer’s Mind 🧐
If you tell a story well enough, potential buyers will emotionally connect with the character and try to predict what happens next.
They’ll develop empathy and affinity for you and your brand.
They’ll think about your story over and over again in their head, solidifying it in their memory.
As Steve Jobs said, “the most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.”
How To Apply This 🤑
Alright, so how can we apply this right now to sell more?
Open loops
An open loop “open loop” is a writing technique where you leave an unresolved question or tension in the reader’s mind.
Use open loops in your content to keep people reading and watching all the way through the end. At the end of your content, close the loop to relieve the tension and leave your audience feeling positive about your brand.
Dickie Bush starts this viral Twitter thread with an open loop…
He continues to entice people to keep reading by ending each tweet in the thread with another open loop, like:
- “Here’s what I mean:”
- “Here’s where it gets fun:”
- “This is 100% wrong–and Mr. Beast knows this” .. makes you think, “well, what’s right?”
- “Now here’s where it gets interesting:”
- “Link is at the end btw”
A word of caution: if you use open loops to keep people reading and don’t deliver the answers you promised, you’re just creating clickbait—and people hate clickbait.
The Pratfall Effect
Buyers like seeing the people behind the brand. They also like seeing your humanness.
They don’t want picture perfect. They prefer for you to share your mistakes, challenges, and hard times. It makes you seem more relatable.
Peter Levels is one of the original “build in public” entrepreneurs.
He still practices building in public with his new project, PhotoAI.io. He shares the reality of working with AI – including when his own product fails to generate a realistic image.
SEO: Here’s how to get the most powerful backlinks in the world…
Don’t waste your money on link building agencies who use outdated methods and build low-quality links on link farms.
dofollow.io specializes in building links on some of the largest websites in the world for B2B/SaaS companies. You can turn your website into a traffic & lead gen machine with links from major sites like HubSpot, BigCommerce, Business Insider & more.
If you’re investing in SEO, get in touch with dofollow.io. They’re pay-for-performance, and they build links that no other agency can build.
| Get in touch > |
Share relevant stories with people based on their trigger events
Trigger events are the moment your buyers realize they have a problem. It’s the moment of frustration that makes them think, “I need a solution.”
When you learn your customers’ trigger events, you can get in front of buyers sooner, in less crowded channels, and with messaging that converts into real $$$.
I learned through customer interviews that one of the reasons people bought my Clarity Call Cheatsheets was because they started working with a new client who had no idea who their best customers were.
This insight inspired me to add an exit popup to my sales page promoting our free Customer Ranking Scorecard.
This popup converts at 10.4%. I send a short post-signup email sequence when people opt-in for the scorecard. The results? 18% of people who download the scorecard end up buying the cheatsheets.
Understanding your customer’s trigger events help you to tell the right stories at the right time.
The Short of It 💥
From childhood to adulthood, humans love stories.
Stories make it easier for us to remember, relate, and take action. We remember celebrities, brands, and products tied to stories.
Get attention while becoming more memorable by telling stories that intrigue your buyers.
Until next time, happy selling!
Pssssttt…
Wanna really get inside your buyer’s head?
There are a few ways I can help:
- Get explosive clarity about what works with buyers by learning how to conduct 1:1 Clarity Calls (3200+ happy students)
- Learn how to mine online reviews from real buyers to generate ideas and copy that converts (500+ happy students)
- Book a 1:1 strategy call with Katelyn and get the answers you need to get unstuck and move forward with confidence
- Apply to sponsor an upcoming issue of Why We Buy (next opening in May)
Thank you to our featured sponsors
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