Tell Your Freaking Story and I Will Buy from You , Seriously !!

Absolutely right - character shines through.

Don't be afraid of upsetting people. There are always those who will respond positively to what you've got to say - and an equal number who will be critical.

You can't be faceless and hope to succeed. People follow people, not faceless nobodys.

Yes, telling your story is the number 1 way..

for building engagement.

However, you need to tell a

1) Compelling story
2) A story with ups and downs (Hero's Journey)
3) One that your audience can relate to.

Thank you for the post. Great information.

Yes, there are no over-night successes, or achievements.

It's a journey

Unless your story starts like this:

I was getting evicted from my home, I did not have money to feed my wife and children................... Then I met a guy..............and he told me about this system. So, I borrowed $500.00 from my family (Not to feed and house them, oh no. But to buy a IM product) fill in all the blanks you want.

Just make sure your story is true, thats all

al

Wow.

In marketing materials, that's AKA as a lie.

Another good way to get traction is to just find a really popular IM forum and start a thread every day so lots of people will see your sig. (sarcasm)

Well...

Telling a story is one of the best ways to engage people.
Telling YOUR story probably is not going to illicit many if any sales.

You are in a very small percentage Rob.

If I sat down and wrote a sales letter explaining my story, people would empathize, maybe even sympathize but the chances, of them buying my product based on it is nearly nil.

I have accomplished a very great deal, but I know for a fact my story doesn't move people to buy, it moves them to tears. invokes emotions, ranging from protective to supportive to coddling
Which does my bank no good

And to be completely honest, the world is very cold and no one gives a care about your story.

So while it may make You buy, the vast majority will not do so.
Be engaging absolutely, humorous perhaps, but it's not realistic to think because you tell your story people are going to buy from you and or support you.

My story would make a good movie, but using it to gain sales could also be seen as unethical, playing on people's emotions, or disbelieved or etc.

You don't have to agree with me I am not agreeing with you. But I speak from experience in doing this already. Mainly because I didn't understand when I was told to join here and tell people about myself.

Some know way too much about my life as a result. ::confused::
It can and at times does have an adverse effect

Best,
-WD

I missed that Rob actually. I focused on the tell your story part.
Thanks for your kind words.

best,
-WD

Once.. when i was doing job.. I used to travel by train. 120 KM one way for job.

Train fare was 40 cents.. and Bus fare was $1.5... I missed my train. So i took bus for 40 km... So i can catch train on another station.. I ran to catch train....but could not.

And day came in few years ... when i actually bought my car which was worth many times the cost of bus.

Regards
AB

Sounds like a good plan - but as others have said as long as it has some reality to it. I think the rags to riches story is very convincing....but what about those average people that have done alright for themselves too....thats still a story to be told too.

As long as people can relate to the situation and a clear plan of an outcome i think you are on to a good thing.

Good idea. You never know what somebody else has went through & your true story may seem like nothing compared to their own. May have to work on an about me page tonight

People absolutely do relate better to people who let them know some things about themselves, rather than just being a name who tries to market to them.

That does not mean that to accomplish it, you must reveal everything about yourself or your life - that option is up to you.

It's best to just be yourself. Unless it's clear from the outset that you are fictionalizing an account (for whatever purpose), you run the risk of them finding out, and labeling you a liar/fraud. It might not go that way...but there is that risk.

You cannot - will not - should not try to get everyone to like you. It can't be done. If being yourself offends some, they will exercise their right to unsubscribe. That leaves those who do like you and your 'style', and who are open to your marketing.

just to reinforce the story idea and to put it into some context, here is an email I wrote to promote one of my offline seminar events.

I don't do them anymore so there are no links in the email copy, and even if there were the links would be dead, I'm saying this bit because I don't want it construed in any way its self promotional.

But it is educational and supports Andrews premiss...

+++++++start email text+++++

Paying for driving lessons was the answer

Hi,

Robert here;

I took my daughter out for her first driving lesson.
I don't know which of us was more scared, her
or me!

She'd read the driver's manual twice. She'd seen
me and her mother drive since she was a baby.

After all that, you'd think she could simply get
in the car and drive, right?

Wrong!

Just pulling out of the driveway and going to
the supermarket nearly resulted in six collisions,
the sudden loss of BOTH side mirrors, and
three heart attacks.
(hers, mine, and the kid on the bike she nearly
ran over!)

But that was last month.

Yesterday, she aced her drivers test and got
her license.

Do you know what made the difference?

It wasn't reading the driver's manual, although
I'm sure that helped.

It wasn't years of observing how other people
drive, although I'm sure that helped, too.

What changed her from being a wreck-waiting-
to-happen, into the newest licensed driver in our
town?

Someone who had already been there, and
done that.

Someone who could guide her, instruct her,
and show her how it's done.

I paid to send her to driving school...

You see, I was too terrified to ride with
her again!

Now I have no problem riding with my
daughter, because she's become an excellent
driver.

Tony Robbins says, "If you want to learn how
to do something, find someone who's already
incredibly successful at it, and model his/her
success." In other words, find outstanding
teachers, and do what they do.

Think about it.

Before you got behind the wheel, didn't
driving seem like something really difficult
and complicated?

Maybe even frightening?

But when someone who knows how to drive
and how to give you proper instructions SHOWS
you how to do it, it becomes easy!

That's the FIRST secret to why people
who attend any events will skyrocket their
income in no time.

=> link removed...

When you copy success, you get success.
Astonishingly, it really is that simple!

Whether you're a seasoned marketer, or
brand new to the Internet, you'll have the
unparalleled opportunity to learn from the
best in the business, live and in person.

You'll gain private access to methods and
secrets you could NEVER learn from a book,
or from studying a website.


==========================
Here is what Alex Poole said about the
workshop he attended
==========================
Hi Robert,

Thank you for your time this morning.

I found the "golden nuggets" with which you
peppered your presentation to be easily
worth ten times the price of admission.
Probably more like 100.

One of the businesses I'm working with at the
moment will make at the very least £1K per
month more profit as a direct result of a single
one of these.

Warm regards,

Alex Poole
Chief Technical Officer
Business Growth Group

Join Alex in success, and attend this years event
in Baltimore.

link removed...

Your success
Robert

PS: There will be no interruptions. You won't have to
answer the phone, make dinner, mow the lawn, take
out the garbage, vacuum, dust, you get the picture.
You will only have your Internet Marketing business
to build

You may be surprised at how much you can accomplish
in a short time when you are totally focused.

=> link removed...



+++++++ End Email Text ++++

That email was responsible for a lot of attendees to the conferences, and to boot in conversations with the attendees it always came up in the conversation as the catalyst for attending.

By the way its a totally true story

I agree with the fact that everybody has a story, but not with the factt hat every story can be used to make more sales.

When that's a fact, people will add things to the story that aren't real, which intelligent people can spot from miles away, and it works counter productive.

So you definately need to be careful with this advice

I couldn't agree more. People buy on emotion and then find reasons to justify a purchase, not the other way around.

If your product presentation is dry, matter of fact and just lists facts without being compelling and without you injecting at least some of your personality into it, it's just going to end up being another "me too" product that will get lost in the never-ending digital product shuffle out there.

This is actually a good thing, because there is only one you, and your story and personality will be different than anyone else's. Think about this for a second -- this should remove any apprehension and fear about not creating a product that's "unique enough" -- so this is great news for anyone who's on the fence about creating a product and is hesitating because of this issue.

Yup just be yourself,

Good one Paul, nice to see you.

Best,
-WD

Hi Jens,

Yes telling a story that connects with the people and pertains to the product , my story wouldn't sell software. What I go through in order to realize it is easier to have it automated will.

Edited to add: If you need to invent things in the story? What is it you mean by that, I can give plenty of examples of invented stories that do awesome. Like Spiderman.

People want to know you have been where they are, have gone through what they are going through and have found the answer, it is called the hero story. But that is much different than a fictional one
Good points

Best,
-WD

Sports writer's tell stories, Gossip blogs tell stories
I don't understand....

Best,
-WD

Rob, I'd thank you 150 time, if I could

All that I'll add is #6 has helped me go from shy, introverted blogger, to less shy, less introverted blogger, to a blogger who blogs from paradise, and has built a supportive community around him.

Tell your story, and if you can be funny/whacky/genuine, then run with it. And don't look back. It's SO fun to do this #6 tip bit, too!

Dead on dude, dead on, and well done!

Ryan

Oh ic. thanks for clarifying, it confused me
Best,
-WD

You are so right with this. Facts tell and stories sell. That's it in a nutshell. And everyone has a story.

"Something funny happened to me today ..."

99.99% of readers would want to know what comes next.
Only explosions get more attention than a story and we all
innately know this but HOW the story is told becomes
critical when used in a marketing context. And the story
is NOT about the product creator nor the product, even
though that is the story that is told. The story is really
about the real hero--the reader, the potential customer.

We love the stories where we are the heroes.

So we are David in David and Goliath, we are Simba
in The Lion King, and we are Cinderella in Cinderella.

You may think that your story doesn't matter but it does
because we are all a part of the web of humanity and
therefore have very common experiences.

-Ray Edwards