This right here is my bread and butter, it’s how I help B2B clients tell their story, with a non-mushy tone, and within a proof-of-value context.
1- Pretend you are speaking to a single person
If you’ve been following me on IG, you’ve probably heard me say this in every Q&A story session
Here’s how to do that. First, imagine a client from your ideal target audience, what’s his profile; expertise and background information of the topic; language and tone he’ll respond to; and finally, his intangible emotional concerns.
Now, simply tell your story to them and sell your solution in a way they’d respond
For example, if your person is running a larger corporation, 45+, male, has a clear pain point in his operation, and is probably bombarded with messages. How would you communicate with them?
2- No fluff
I can’t stress this enough. I once edited a sales brief of an extremely successful entity, 70% of the copy was descriptive.
Check your bio, business profile, business story, content piece, or even social media caption. If it has more than two (not three) fluff removable words, then you’ve lost some business with that piece. Consider a re-write.
Harsh, but true!
Examples of fluff words:
Stunning, spectacular, extraordinary, enchanting, legendary…
If you can remove it and the sentence is complete, do so.
3- It’s a story, always will be
If it’s about a business, its products and services, or even its press releases, it’s a story.
It needs to have one primary objective, one core point, and a clear flow of events
4- Business storytelling should follow one of two approaches
A) A beginning, a middle, and an end
B) My go-to structure: the inverted triangle
This is when you begin with your core point, follow with less important information that clarifies the context, and end with background info that completes the story.
I prefer B over A, as the average attention span of a reader has dropped to 3 seconds for social media posts, according to Buffer, a social media software. For emails, however, it’s around 9 seconds, as per a study by Radicati Group, a research firm that specializes in email marketing.
5- If you’re preparing a blog post or social media copy, you have one of two goals: either provide actionable advice or change the reader’s perspective
This text is an example of the former, while my post about the importance of website-content updates is my effort to raise awareness about a common pitfall, or an example of the latter
6- Your business story is about them, not you
If you follow our LinkedIn page, you’ve probably seen the post about how to write your business story.
In it I explain that your About Us page or your business story is about how your solutions and expertise help your potential clients solve their needs. You begin with how to solve their needs and end with why you?
Your profound philosophy is rarely of interest to your clients. Yes, I’m a bit harsh here, but I’m also 100% true
Need help writing your business story? Request a free consultation session from here