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This is Episode 15 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan.
In this 15th episode of This Old New Business we are taking a departure from our traditional interview format. This gives you the opportunity to learn from my journey as I share business storytelling tips and better practices for improving your content marketing messaging.
If you aren’t telling stories then your content isn’t going to get consumed. It’s that simple. If you are a human being you are a storyteller, the challenge is getting better
Our Featured Guest: Jeff Korhan
Jeff Korhan, MBA is the author of Built-In Social and host of This Old New Business podcast.
He helps businesses adapt their traditional sales and marketing practices to a digital, social, and global world. Jeff is a trainer and coach for small businesses, and a keynote speaker for the associations and member organizations that support them.
9 Tips for Better Business Storytelling
My journey with business storytelling started several decades ago as young salesperson. I quickly learned that buyers are hungry for information, especially stories that make the information relatable, and therefore, memorable.
After a decade in that corporate environment I founded a landscape business that we grew into an award-winning enterprise before selling it 20 years later. It turns about that from the beginning storytelling was the foundation of our sales and marketing efforts.
This was before digital, so we shared our stories with white papers and in face-to-face selling situations. Now every business is a publisher, and consequently should be teaching its sales and marketing teams how to tell better stories.
Here are 9 business storytelling tips that have worked for me and many others. Naturally, you’ll get the full details by listening to the audio.
#1 – Write to Remember
Small business in particular have abundant experience working directly with customers. This is your greatest source of stories. If you simply commit to a regular practice of writing to remember them you will discover unlimited stories that when shared will help buyers to know, like, and trust your business.
#2 – Write Without a View
Many successful authors insist on writing in a small space without that confines their energies and focuses attention. Writing comes from within, so eliminate every distraction that interrupts its free flow.
#3 – Write to a Theme or Purpose
The reason people experience writers block because they are unclear about what they are writing about. When you know where you are going with your writing, you only have to take your reader with you along that journey.
#4 – Develop a Repeatable Writing Process
Writers are creatures of habit. Once they find what works for them they stick with it. For me personally, I write for the opportunity to rewrite. So, my process is writing quickly to capture ideas and then vigorously rewriting and editing until its just write. This is how I managed to write Built-In Social in just a few weeks.
#5 – Find Your Inspiration
To inspire others with your writing, it helps to find your own inspirations. In short, reading the works of great writers in your space will help you find your way. Sometimes just a memorable quote is enough to inspire your writing, so I keep a notebook handy at all times to capture it all. You can also write inspiring thoughts on index cards and tape them to the walls of your writing space.
#6 – Ask for Feedback Last
Stephen King is well-known for the axiom: Write with the door closed; rewrite with the door open. To solicit feedback on your writing before it is complete is to compromise the creative process. Only when you have given it your best is are you ready for the contribution of an editor or confidant.
#7 – Tell Your Own Stories
Actually, rather than telling your stories, relive them so they come alive for your readers.
Your audience gathers around your content because they value your authentic perspective that comes from direct experience. Real stories are honest, often personal, and therefore, a powerful means for engaging with your business audience.
#8 – Trust Yourself to Make Breakthroughs
In the audio I share the true story of my epic meltsdown during the process of writing my first book. I was evidently close to some sort of breakdown, and that’s when you either quit or break through.
The only way for breakthroughs to happen is to persevere. We all have our writing demons – fears and doubts that holding us back from our best work. The only way to slay them is simply to keep writing.
#9 – Write to Completion
The most valuable tip of all is to write to completion, whatever that means for the project you are working on. I’m often asked how long a blog post should be. The answer is as long as it needs to be to get the job done.
I’ve learned it’s much easier to rewrite or edit a completed draft than to pick up an article or chapter midstream. Once inspired you have to go the distance.
As a runner I learned at a young age that every time you quit it’s that much easier to do it again. Whether you are drafting an article or a chapter, once you start, commit to writing to completion.
This much I know. When I worked through the night to finish the final draft of my book before the 7:00 a.m. deadline, I experienced an amazing sense of peace and accomplishment.
At least for that moment, those writing demons were slayed! I hope the same for you.
Lighting Round Tips and Advice
Jeff’s Top Sales or Marketing Advice – Lead with content. Stories sell because they are relatable and memorable. Inventory, categorize, and practice your stories to enhance sales, marketing, and customer service.
His Favorite Productivity Tip – Write! Write to remember, plan, and organize your thoughts. Make checklists. Write out talking points in advance of meetings and events. In our media saturated world, the future belongs to writers.
A Quote that has Inspired Jeff’s Success – “If you advance confidently in the direction of your own dreams and endeavor to live the life you have imagined, you will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau
Key Take-Aways
- Why We Write is an interesting study of the practices and habits of successful writers.
- Check out 27 Writing Productivity Tools, Techniques and Resources and try on a few new methods for making your writing easier, including OmmWriter mentioned in the audio.
- Learn about Steven Pressfields Foolscap Method for shaping your business stories, as well as a few other business storytelling techniques.
How is your business using story to make its sales and markeating more effective?
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About the Author: Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.
He helps mainstream businesses adapt their traditional growth practices to a digital world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+
