What A hairdryer Taught me about Writing

This blog will illustrate how you can use story telling in your marketing materials, blog posts and talks to help other people understand what your product or service does.  

If you are in the business of promoting your products or services (who isn’t), you must have heard the phrase ‘Facts Tell – Stories Sell’.

Unfortunately, many people in business shy away from using stories to convey their message – because they assume that telling stories is a bit err childish, amateurish or unprofessional. 

I agree that hearing the word story probably conjures up the wrong image.  Initialy you might say  ”Telling a story has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with my Business Metrics Measuring Tool”.

That’s a really short-sighted attitude.  Because if you are struggling to get customers to understand what your product or service does – the best way to get them to understand is by telling a story.

What’s this got to do with a hairdryer…?

I was only 21 and one of 5 daughters.  And if you’ve got daughters or sisters you will know that at that age girls spend an awful lot of time washing their hair, and doing their nails and putting on make-up.  A lot of time.  My problem was that I was the only one who had a decent hairdryer.  But at that particular time I was the only one with a functioning hairdryer. Not fun when all of us were getting ready for a party, or fighting for the hairdryer before going to work. 

So I entered a competition to win a hairdryer.   I told a story from the hairdryer’s perspective.  Now I must admit, that this was a long time ago and my writing style was a bit immature, but whatever it was I did, it worked! 

So why are stories so powerful?

OK look at this another way.  How desperate are you for people to understand you, or try your stuff?  These days it’s not enough to bang on about how great you are or focus on features.  When you focus on features alone there are two reasons why that might fail:-

1. You might assume that everyone is as familiar with your business as you are.   And there’s no point in getting a bit huffy when people ask for more information.
2. A feature only focuses on the product itself, and not what it can do for other people to make a meaningful impact on their lives. 

This wil leave a yawning chasm between you. 

How does telling a story work in action?

OK let’s consider Google…

How many times have you searched for a solution to a problem using Google, only to land on a  page that’s crammed with boring facts, and industry specific key words and jargon?  How long did you hang around to find out more?  3 seconds perhaps?   

I despair at the sheer volume of tedious, boring and un-user friendly sites out there.  You want a simple answer but nobody bothers to deliver it in a straightforward way!   If that isn’t your experience – then please comment below. 

So, to conclude.  If you want to get some traction on your website and to help people (whilst at the same time promoting yourself in a relaxed and friendly way) – package the information into a neat little story to illustrate how it works in a very simple way. 

Compare what you do to something common place for instance, or relate a personal experience or kids story.  Talk about the plot of a film,  or ancient legend to illustrates your point.

We all remember fairy stories don’t we.  So your challenge is to look at your content.  If some of it goes way over the heads of the majority of your potential clients, think about simplifying it by telling a story.