In this episode of The Hayley Osborne Show I am talking about using storytelling as a strategic tool to grow your business and stand out in a crowded market. Nailing your Superhero Origins story is essential in preparation for your business to soar. I talk about how tapping into your audience’s emotions and articulating your unique selling points through authentic stories can help to build trust. I discuss the reasons trust is important to convert your audience and how forming that deep emotional connection and being genuinely vulnerable to show your humanness is key.
Summary
00:01 Introduction
03:40 The first essential: Emotional connection
09:36 The second essential: Authenticity and vulnerability
17:38 The third essential: Clear value proposition
20:38 Wrapping up the framework
24:36 Show notes and call to action
Hayley Osborne
Are you excited at the thought of growing your business? Welcome to the Hayley Osborne show. This is the place where you’ll learn how to get more high quality leads and sales in your business. My goal with this show is to help you grow your business, be inspired, nail your creativity, get the best out of your marketing, and show up as the most fearless superhero version of yourself. I’ll be teaching you the tailored frameworks and tools I use to unlock my client’s superpowers and turn them into quality leads and inquiries. And I want the same for you. I started my first business at the age of 25, and continue to build three successful businesses along the way. Small business owners are the backbone of the economy. And I’m here to demystify marketing, make it easy for you and help you reach more customers. Let’s do it.Â
Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Hayley Osborne show. I am so glad that you are here today.
This is episode 106. And today, I am bringing you the three essentials to storytelling for more clients. And what are those three essentials to storytelling for more clients? It is a bit of a minefield, but something that I have learned is that storytelling is the currency of humanity. And we all know this deep down is that people relate to people and people who your customers buy from you based on basically how good your story is, in and around your brand and what it is that you stand for. And it’s those values and mission that you stand for is what they buy into. So when you are figuring out what those two really pivotal things look like that is really consistent with your storytelling, and how good it is. And that just storytelling lives in your vision and your mission.
So what are the three essentials really, to help you to be able to story tell your way to more clients now, unfortunately, I’m gonna say this from the get go is that it’s not just one thing, right? It is all the things and I have said this a fair few times. And, you know, that is why I started this podcast because marketing your business. There’s so many facets and intricacies and platforms and ideas and strategies and ways that I couldn’t possibly cover in, say, one masterclass. And so there was definitely a breath there to explore it more.
And that’s why I come to you every single week to tell you stories and give you tips and tricks on things that you can do inside your business to make it better. And so I think when you are like, well, we are right now quite flooded with endless streams of content, you know, be it soft or aggressive marketing tactics, and we’ve all seen it like bro marketing. I’m gonna say that because that’s something that I don’t do. But it’s a thing. And that would be like alone with the aggressive marketing tactics, whether that be a female or male thing, it can be both. But I think that that way of storytelling doesn’t work in terms of when you are trying to sell the services or products that you have inside your business. But storytelling is definitely the beacon of light. If you’re a small business owner, looking to stand out. It’s the storytelling that isn’t just about telling the tales. It’s definitely a strategic tool. And that’s what I wanted to come on to today’s episode to talk about that can really draw clients in to help you build that loyal customer base.
So storytelling isn’t facts and figures. Okay, so a good story really sparks the emotion within somebody. It reflects your authenticity as a small business owner, and also really cleverly highlights your unique selling points, and in a way that resonates with your audience.
What are the parts of storytelling so the first essential that I think that you need to adapt inside your business to become really great at storytelling is the emotional connection. Okay, so that is the heart of a compelling story. And it gives you the ability to be able to forge that emotional bond with your audience. So when you can tap into people’s emotions, stories really resonate, your small business stories really resonate on a much deeper level, and it makes the message that you’re trying to convey so much more memorable and engaging.
Okay, and it really comes down to as well so when you’re looking at emotions, it means that you need to go back to that marketing avatar that I’ve spoken about in previous episodes and unlock what are those desires, fears, challenges that lay within your audience or your target customer that you can kind of evoke through your storytelling. And this comes down to having a really good strategy to like, how are you going to do that? And how are you going to weave in your narrative, write your story, to be able to extract that and incorporate those emotional experiences.
Now, they don’t have to be like fire and water emotion, but what are those, like, emotional things that your brand can attract from extracting from your customers? So I think that when we say, clients, their own reflections, so your own personal stories throughout your business story, how can you do that in a way that’s not overstepping your lines, okay, of what you are, aren’t prepared to share. But in a way that reflects a part of your story as to why you started your business.
And the reasons around that to try and weave in that trust and relatability factor to be able to get your ideal client’s attention. I could say storytelling, but it’s much deeper than that. And this is what I’m trying to describe. So it really is fundamentally about you laying that solid foundation and I talk about marketing foundations a lot. But when you’ve got that solid relationship, solid foundation, it builds for a lasting relationship with your audience. So it’s, you really need to, to have emotional connection, you need to figure out what that bridge is, from what you’re prepared to share. And what, what and how you started your business and why to be able to bridge that over to what your audience needs and wants, and figure out how that fits in with them on a deeper level.
And, you know, big brands do it so well. So you would have looked at ads from Nike, you know, McDonald’s, I think that, you know, I’m not really one for fast food, but their marketing is beautiful. And as you can tell by their TV advertising at the moment it’s very emotional, it’s very family driven. And you don’t know what the brand is until right at the end. And you get taken on that emotional story of you know, how families I guess buy the product. But it really the heart really lies at your ability to connect with another person on a really human level, right, because I find that a lot of small businesses think that big words and overcomplicated stories are the way to go. But they’re not if you can articulate what you do in terms of selling your story, your unique selling propositions, who you help, and the problem that you solve and the transformation that you provide. On a real basic level, chances are that your audience won’t be able to understand what you do either. So you need to break this down. And this is done through Yes, your transformation message but your deepest story of who you are and what you stand for lies beneath that. And you know, that emotional bridge then forms which fosters trust and relatability back into your business. So I hope that makes sense. It’s a minefield, but I’m trying to unpack it as much as I can.
So tapping into feelings thinking about what your clients are struggling with and what they’re seeking, what are they looking for? Is it comfort, convenience is it saves IT support, is it fast tracking their way to get to his particular goal and then frame your story to be able to address these elements and using those emotional triggers to engage your audience at a deeper level.
And then you can talk about you know, challenges and triumphs and things like that so it it makes for a more engaging and energetic because you’re putting life into it right read pretty much that shows that you’ve got a story behind your brand and you’re not just another speck of sand in the sea of many people that I’m sure that do what you do, and just understand as well that there is no unique message and I’ve said this 100 times as well before, there is only unique messengers, so there is so many coffee shops out there. However, there’s room to coexist for everybody because everybody has their own narrative and everyone has their Rain like story to tell.
And you know they’ve got, there’s a reason behind why people keep going back. Now, just because it’s local doesn’t give someone a good enough reason to keep going back to a coffee shop, if the service is shit, they’re surely not going to go back to that coffee shop, even if it is around the corner from them. And it’s convenient. So there is no unique message, right? There’s heaps of cups of coffee in the world. But there are unique messengers on how they get delivered.
So that’s the most basic way I can kind of convey that. But the next part so that’s that’s the first bit of emotional connection. So the next bit is real authenticity and vulnerability. All right. So there are two things that are the key to making your story stand out in a crowded market. Now, I’m sure what you do is unique in your way, but I’m sure there are lots of people out there that do what you do. So how do you use your authenticity, and through storytelling to stand out in a crowded market, people are really drawn to genuine experiences and truths.
And also, you know, people are quite nosy. And so when you can be strategic about what you want to share and how you want to share it, it can really enhance your connection with your potential clients. Okay, so there’s things that I don’t share on my social media or ever, you know, my you would know, on the podcast, my kids being one of them, I don’t share them. But I have other ways strategically, to be able to tell stories, and take people like yourselves on journeys through me being authentic and vulnerable, which then makes me more relatable. And whether you have a product or a service based business, you can do this either way, with any business on Earth, I could help you to be able to do this, if you’re sitting here thinking, Oh, my God, Haley, this is all very well and good. But this is just so much work well, not when you unpack it. And one thing that I’ve found with most small business owners is that you’re so close to it that you can’t see it anymore.
And this is so true. I cannot stress the amount of times I’ve worked with people that are so close, they can’t see the value of their story anymore. But you know, when you’re vulnerable, when this is shared appropriately, it can be a really powerful tool in your storytelling in your bag of tricks. And it not only will humanize your small business, but it will make you more trustworthy. And it will also make you more approachable, people are more likely to reach out to you via direct message on Instagram, via your contact page on your website.
If you are humanizing your brand and humanizing your small business, I don’t want to use overcomplicated language, but when you’re showing up as a human, and there’s so many times where people have said to me, I don’t want to be the face of my business. Well, my response is you don’t have to be, but you do have to humanize the business in a way that makes you approachable, and that makes you trustworthy. And you know, authentic stories then go on to build a strong loyal community in and around your brand. And then your clients then feel more aligned with that value and mission that I spoke about originally. And that’s where your story starts to be weaved in from the very beginning. So you know, what is authenticity? I think it’s a word that’s thrown around like spaghetti on the wall just everywhere. Loosely, but it is about what is your genuine core. Okay, that is authenticity. What do you see from a real genuine point of view?
And I think, with social media being so available, and frivolous, in a sense, that when you are genuine to your core, what you will find, when you’re playing in this space, as a small business owner, it is a very rare commodity. And so don’t change that. So it is the gym that your customers are searching for, because there is a very far and few between, you know, don’t forget as much spam as you get on your social media, your customers are getting just the same. And so if not more as consumers and so if you can cut through that noise and not be robotic and storytel like you mean it.
This is really advantageous, I think, to your narrative and the way that you’re showing up in your business. So there’s so many different ways that you can then go and be true to yourself. But transparency wins trust, but you’ve got to look at Ah, that more deeply and what you are prepared to share in terms of being transparent and honest in your experiences and offerings, okay? What it is you sell a service or a product will help you to cultivate that type of transparency that you need through your storytelling through your unique selling points to be able to connect better with your audience. And, you know, I think too, if you’ve, everyone in small businesses had setbacks.
And it’s not until you move through that and you get to the other side that you can share what you’ve learned and how it’s improved your service or your product. I’ve gone through some of those setbacks recently. And I’m almost about to share what I’ve learned because I’m on the other side, and it’s looking shit hot. I’m sorry, I will be sharing that with you, or will be sharing my learnings with you with that. But not in this episode. But it is that kind of openness, that is such a powerful tool for you to be able to build customer relationships and the client lifetime value of your clients will increase as well, which means you would have seen that as an acronym everywhere see l v client lifetime value. So usually, when your ideal client finds you, they stay with you, they buy everything that you put out on the table, because they love you.
Okay, so this will always improve, the better you are at telling your narrative and the better you are at storytelling, and sharing real situations. But it definitely helps to leverage and cultivate that trust more. And this is the kind of openness, that’s a really powerful tool for building customer relationships. Now, that’s number two. The third one I wanted to talk about is having a very clear value proposition. Okay, so every story that you tell, should really be underlying, underlying to tell the uniqueness and the unique value that you bring to the table in your business.
Because you are unique, you might be thinking, Oh, Haley, I don’t have anything, like unique and amazing to say that’s not true. You just haven’t sat down and taken a periscope view of what that looks like for you. Because you’re more than likely too busy working in your business as opposed to working on your business. And from the outside. If you are consistently in social media, as opposed to on social media, that’s what’s going to happen, you’re going to see everybody else doing the social, the working on your business, working on their business type of work, rather than working in their business to be able to portray that. I hope that made sense.
But you’re it all of your unique stories really underpin the value that you bring to the table, you’ve got to figure out getting really clear on your unique value proposition and what that looks like for you to be able to offer solutions to the problems that you solve improving people’s lives, desires, wishes, all those things, your story should weave in how your services or products have created those positive changes for people in their lives, to their day, whatever it might be making their life heaps easier.
And they come in the form of, you know, video, testimonials, Google reviews, Facebook reviews, just like your clients sending you beautiful messages of how you’ve made their day that happens to me and I love it. I should share them more too. I think that I do enough. But then I’m like, oh, so yes, guilty as well. But when you share them, it’s nice for other people to see how you’ve created a positive change in their lives. And it shows tangible results and benefits.
And this is really important to showcasing your value proposition. And it not only showcases what you’re capable of, nothing says you’re amazing like somebody else saying it right? You can say till the cows come home. But then on that though, if you don’t have any testimonials or reviews or anything like that, if you are in your infancy stages, it would be nice then to get your storytelling down pat so that you can then build up clients to be able to help you to say that as well.
So a well articulated value proposition is the right unique selling point that is then embedded with your storytelling. Okay. The narrative makes it really easy for people, your clients potential clients to make the decision to be able to work with you. So what tends to happen to me a lot is, and I’ve had this in person too is that people that haven’t met me before, or people that have clients, those that convert into clients that see me online, or they read the words on my website, and then they meet me, and then they start to work with me, they say, Well, you’re the same online as you are in person.
And my response is always that’s on purpose. Because I have worked really hard to create my narrative, and storytelling in and around my brand. I’m what I stand for, to my core, and bring that to the table in how I deliver myself across all my platforms, and even in real life, because you can’t fake realness, and people are attracted to that. So what is your tale, it’s time for you to tell your tale and tailor it to your audience to be able to understand your uniqueness and you know, have these reflected in your stories. I think that if everyone did this, it would be a much more beautiful place, but you can’t stop spam.
And so I think the moral of the story is that there are some essentials I’ve put together to be able to include in your storytelling to attract more clients. So to sum up what I’ve said today, they are emotional connections, okay, they are having a clear value proposition. And in the middle, there is authenticity and vulnerability, okay, but when you are strategic about these three things, you can come up with some really powerful narratives in and around your brand. And I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode on storytelling for more clients because it is such a passion of mine, and I love it. And it is something that has come up more and more and more and so it’s my job, that I’m actually quite good at this to share it with you.
And hopefully you’ve learned something out of this episode two. I’ve got to go now, but I will see you next week. Bye. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to this episode. If you have hit subscribe so you don’t miss any new episodes released every Tuesday. And while you’re there, leave me a review. I would absolutely love to read it. Also, don’t forget to tag me at Hayley K. Osborne over on Instagram and share this post with your audience so they can learn to share. If you want more, head over to Hayley osborne.com.au forward slash podcast for today’s show notes and links to catch you next week for another episode of The Hayley Osborne show.
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