Author: Ryan Dolotallas

A business owner recently asked me to launch an email campaign for her new company.

She told me she wanted to “spread the word” about the business.

Spread the word. That’s a popular idea.

Let’s send some emails to spread the word.

Let’s post on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter to spread the word.

Let’s buy some advertising to spread the word.

So many hours and so many dollars spent spreading the word.

But what happens when the word isn’t compelling?

What happens when the messages you spread…

…lead prospects to tune out, instead of tune in?

…extinguish interest, instead of sparking it?

…bore prospects, instead of inspiring them to act?

When you spread boring words that extinguish interest and lead prospects to tune out, you waste valuable time and money.

That’s why you have to focus first on your story — the ideas and words that connect your business to your prospects’ dreams and fears.

That’s why you focus on powering up your stories before you start spreading them.

Here’s where to begin…

Sign up for a Story Assessment. 

I’m offering free, 30-minute web conferences to review your business story. I will meet with you via Zoom and review how you’re telling your business story — on your website, social media, and other channels. Then, I’ll recommend how to make it work better during these strange days.  

I have a limited number of slots open on my calendar for these sessions. Please visit my calendar to book a time that works for you.

Thanks!

Tom
314-529-1431
tom@StoryUpMarketing.com
www.StoryUp Marketing 

I love the scene in the Spiderman movie (the first one with Tobey Maguire) when Uncle Ben tells Peter, “With great power comes great responsibility.” 

That’s true for super heroes. 

That’s also true for marketers. 

I’m working on a revised and expanded version of a free resource I created a few years back called “7 Ways to Make Your Marketing Messages More Persuasive.” I’ll share that with you soon. 

A client who read the previous version once told me, “I understand the power of these persuasion tips. But I don’t want to manipulate people.” 

That’s a common concern. 

Here’s my answer: The (big) difference between manipulation and persuasion is intent. 

That’s just another way of saying with great power comes great responsibility. 

If you are an ethical business person…

…if your intent is to provide products and services that help your prospects…

…if you’re willing to turn away a prospect who won’t benefit from your products and services…

…then you should persuade them to act…

…because acting is in their best interest. 

I’ll repeat that last point: Persuade them to act in their best interest. 

If you are unethical…

…if you’re looking for the sale at all costs…

…if you don’t care whether your products and services will help the “sucker” who buys them…

…then the act of convincing and cajoling is manipulation. 

Summary: Don’t manipulate someone to act against their interests. 

When I share with you those tips, you’ll have great power to persuade prospects to act. 

With that power will come great responsibility…

…the responsibility to persuade those who will benefit from what you sell. 

There’s an old saying, “He can sell ice to an Eskimo.”

For some, that’s a compliment. I don’t see it that way.

I see it as a salesman who intends to use his power of manipulation to trick someone, to convince someone to buy unneeded ice. That’s unethical and irresponsible. 

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The best way to know whether prospects truly will benefit from your products and services is to dive deeper to discover their aspirations and fears. 

If you want to dive deeper so you can understand your prospects, power up your stories, sell more, AND serve clients better? Sign up for a Story Assessment.

I’m offering free, 30-minute web conferences to review your business story. I will meet with you via Zoom and review how you’re telling your business story — on your website, social media, and other channels. Then, I’ll recommend how to make it work better during these strange days.  

I have a limited number of slots open on my calendar for these sessions. Please visit my calendar to book a time that works for you.

Thanks!

Tom
314-529-1431
tom@StoryUpMarketing.com
www.StoryUp Marketing 

Earlier this week, I helped an executive coach power up her business story.

We were talking about her prospects’ and clients’ wishes and fears. We dove deep because the more you understand your prospects and clients, the more you connect with them, and the more you sell.

Part way through the process, she paused, thought for a moment and said, “You know… The work we’re doing now will help me land clients. AND it will also help me coach them better, too.”

We talked about that. When we dive deep, we understand what prospects and clients want and what they need. It’s only natural that we can serve them better.

That’s especially true for coaches.

But it’s also true for other lines of business.

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Want to dive a little deeper so you can understand your prospects, power up your stories, sell more, AND serve clients better? Sign up for a Story Assessment.

I’m offering free, 30-minute web conferences to review your business story. I will meet with you via Zoom and review how you’re telling your business story — on your website, social media, and other channels. Then, I’ll recommend how to make it work better during these strange days.  

I have a limited number of slots open on my calendar for these sessions. Please visit my calendar to book a time that works for you.

Thanks!

Tom
314-529-1431
tom@StoryUpMarketing.com
www.StoryUp Marketing 

I was watching the morning news earlier and saw a pharmaceutical ad that tells a pretty good story.

It starts with a scuba diver swimming around a blob of giant black needles (a sea urchin) resting on the ocean floor.

Scary!

The narrator says, “Needles. Essential for the sea urchin. But maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Because there are options…

…like an ‘Unjection’.”

That’s good.

The ad is for Xeljanz, which claims to be the “only pill” for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

“One pill a day may give you symptom relief,” the narrator says.

I like this story because it’s not about the product.

It’s about you, the patient suffering from RA. It’s about the person who HATES injections.

The ad touts a feature: Treatment in pill form.

But it doesn’t stop there.

It focuses on the benefit for you: No more injections.

That’s a pretty good story.

Why isn’t it a great story? Because it doesn’t go far enough.

Great stories don’t stop with the benefit.

They focus on how that benefit transforms your life.

This ad hinted at that: Images of the diver moving easily underwater, hanging out with her family on the beach, folding towels with ease.

We infer that the medicine makes all of that possible.

But the ad isn’t really about the transformation that comes with pain relief.

The ad is about needles. So it should focus on the transformation that comes with the “unjection.”

I would power up this story by imagining a conversation with the patient and asking, “If you could switch from injections to pills, what would that do for you?”

That’s the magic question to get the story — your prospect’s story — from benefit to transformation.

I’m not in the pharmaceutical business, and I haven’t surveyed people with RA. But I can guess at some of the answers.

The transformation resulting from “unjections” might be about the FREEDOM you have because you no longer take time-consuming trips to medical offices for doctor-administered shots.

It might be about STRESS RELIEF because you no longer suffer that fear and anxiety that comes every time you’re about to stick a needle in your arm.

And so forth.

How does the benefit (no injections) make you feel? What does that benefit really do for you?

That’s the story.

The ad could have presented those transformations with just a sentence or two of narration and a second or two of video imagery.

When we tell our business stories, touting the benefits is just the first step.

Discovering the transformation is what makes a good story powerful, great and most persuasive.            

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Want to power up your stories so prospects WILL tune in, stay tuned, and act? Sign up for a Story Assessment.

I’m offering free, 30-minute web conferences to review your business story. I will meet with you via Zoom and review how you’re telling your business story — on your website, social media, and other channels. Then, I’ll recommend how to make it work better during these strange days.  

I have a limited number of slots open on my calendar for these sessions. Please visit my calendar to book a time that works for you.

Thanks!

Tom
314-529-1431
tom@StoryUpMarketing.com
www.StoryUp Marketing 

When I was younger, I played lots of golf.  

I gave it up. I stunk.

Most of my golfing pals stunk, too. But they kept at it. 

Their “solution?” Buy better equipment. The newest and best clubs. Fancy balls. Expensive gloves with clever names like “Ever Grip.”

And they still stunk…

…because the FOUNDATION of their game — their swing — was no good.

Same goes in marketing. You spin your wheels. You invest in better technology. The newest and best funnel system. Fancy automations. Expensive SEO campaigns to drive traffic to your site.

And still you struggle…

…because your story is like my golf swing.

I know one guy who spent thousands on search optimization to climb Google rankings and drive traffic to his site…

…and he saw ZERO uptick in sales.

Actually, I know lots of people with similar stink-bombs.

The bomb is always the same:

Traffic comes and traffic flees…

…because the site does not tell a compelling story.

It does not tell a story that gets prospects to tune in, stay tuned and act.

Before you invest time, energy and hard-earned dough on fancy marketing tactics and whiz-bang tech, you should power up your story.
           

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Want to power up your story so prospects WILL tune in, stay tuned, and act? Sign up for a Story Assessment.

I’m offering free, 30-minute web conferences to review your business story. I will meet with you via Zoom and review how you’re telling your business story — on your website, social media, and other channels. Then, I’ll recommend how to make it work better during these strange days.  

I have a limited number of slots open on my calendar for these sessions. Please visit my calendar to book a time that works for you.

Thanks!

Tom
314-529-1431
tom@StoryUpMarketing.com
www.StoryUp Marketing 

I read a great blog post this morning called Brand communications in time of crisis. 

I encourage you to read it. 

This crisis creates unique challenges for marketers. 

How do you move your business forward without offending? 

How do you strike the right tone in your marketing? 

How do you connect with prospects who are more difficult to reach and more on edge?

What role does your business play in helping people during the pandemic and beyond? 

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about these questions. 

I like the perspective in the blog post. 

            

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Want to chat about any or all of the above? Want to explore how to reshape your business story to fit the reshaped landscape? 

Sign up for a Story Assessment.

I’m offering free, 30-minute web conferences to review your business story. I will meet with you via Zoom and review how you’re telling your business story — on your website, social media, and other channels. Then, I’ll recommend how to make it work better during these strange days.  

I have a limited number of slots open on my calendar for these sessions. Please visit my calendar to book a time that works for you.

Thanks!

Tom
314-529-1431
tom@StoryUpMarketing.com
www.StoryUp Marketing 

When I was a kid, some neighborhood vandals pulled the old TP-gag in my yard. They tossed a few rolls of paper in the trees and stormed off into the night. The next morning, we woke to a maple, sweet gum, and two oaks covered in Charmin-soft tinsel.

My dad howled (no, not with laughter). He sent my brother and me outside with a ladder and rakes to pull the TP from the trees. We retrieved a small mountain of torn tissue and lugged it to the trash, muttering the whole time about our rotten luck.

I was thinking of that pile of TP the other day while searching the internet for someone — anyone? — who would sell me a few rolls.

Can you believe I once tossed mountains of TP into the trash, I thought?

Long before the Great TP Shortage of 2020, the author David Sedaris grew up in North Carolina and knew a boy whose father did this when his house was TP’d:

He sent the boy out with a ladder and a rake to collect the TP. He instructed the boy to spread the wet TP (it had rained overnight) on the lawn. Once the TP dried, the boy spooled it back onto those cardboard tubes and placed the rolls in the bathroom closet.

I first heard David Sedaris tell that story before the pandemic. I thought, “That father is crazy!”

But times have changed. And now I think he’s an inspiration.

My family woke to TP in our yard and saw a disaster. Anger, grumbling, cursing our fate followed. There was nothing good that came out of it.

That father woke to TP in his yard and he saw opportunity. He was grateful to have a few rolls of free TP.

These are strange days. Pick your metaphor. For me, it kind of feels like the whole world has been TP’d.

The question for us is how we react. Do we grumble and curse our fate? Do we assume nothing good can come of this?

Or do we find opportunity, reflect on reasons to be grateful, count our blessings and push forward?

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This is a good time to discover new ways to grow your business. If you want prospects to tune in, stay tuned and act, you have to deliver better business stories…

Sign up for a Story Assessment.

I’m offering free, 30-minute web conferences to review your business story. I will meet with you via Zoom and review how you’re telling your business story — on your website, social media, and other channels. Then, I’ll recommend steps you can take to help prospects and customers tune in and act.

I have a limited number of slots open on my calendar for these sessions. Please visit my calendar to book a time that works for you.

Thanks!

Tom
314-529-1431
tom@StoryUpMarketing.com
www.StoryUp Marketing 

I was browsing through my swipe file again — searching for some marketing inspiration to share with you. 

I came across an ad I loved when it ran in 2009. I love it today. 

The ad for POMx (“The Antioxidant Superpill”) ran in investment and money-management magazines in early 2009. That was smack in the middle of the “Great Recession” when investors were feeling the pain of a huge market downturn. 

The ad’s headline: “Live Long Enough to Watch Your 401(k) Recover.” 

I know lots of you don’t consider your 401(k) and other investments a laughing matter right now (or in early 2009). That’s what makes the ad so great. 

The reason people get the joke (even those offended by it): They are worried that it will take a very, very, very long time for their investments to recover. 

So with a little wink and a chuckle, POM says, “I get what you’re going through.” 

That’s empathy. That’s rapport-building. 

But that headline goes deeper. POM is not selling against that financial worry. It’s not promising to fix your finances or cure the economy. 

It’s tapping into a different worry: Dying too soon. 

Or if you want to flip it around and frame it as a wish, the ad taps your desire to live a very, very very long time. 

So with one simple headline, POM says, in effect, “This downturn is a major drag. We know it will take you a while to climb back and realize the brighter future. We’ll help you 

I ran an email marketing company for 19 years until we sold it in January to Benchmark.

When telling people about our software, I loved to share the story of a prospect who hugged our sales guy when he told her about a certain feature.

The feature: Automatically generate different sender names, reply addresses, and messages — for a single mailing — depending on the recipient receiving the mailing.

The benefit: Before our software, she created 12 versions of the same email, one for each sales rep at her company, and sent the email 12 times. The first mailing went to “Sales Rep 1’s” list with his name as the sender and his reply address. The second mailing went to “Sales Rep 2’s” list with her name as the sender and her reply address. And so forth…

With the new feature, our prospect could have one list, one mailing and one send. The software did the rest — inserting the correct sales rep for each recipient in the from and reply fields. Lots of time saved.

That’s a cool story about features and benefits.

But the story continues:

When she hugged our sales guy, she said, “This will change my life.” And she meant it.

Every week, she dreaded those hours she would spend juggling those lists and managing those sends. It stressed her out. It was a drag.

This software transformed her experience. She felt relieved. She felt a burden lifted.

I’m not telling you this to brag about MarketVolt software (although that truly is a great feature; and if it piques your interest, you can contact Pat Hawn at Benchmark/MarketVolt who would be happy to tell you more).

I share the story to reveal a critical marketing lesson.

The best business stories go beyond the standard “benefits” pitch and reveal transformations.

We learn in Marketing 101 to lead with benefits, not features. But too often, we stop there.

We describe benefits in impersonal terms:

We use phrases like “save time” or “eliminate waste” or “increase ROI.”

All of that is important. But this is more important: How does the prospect or customer feel when they experience your product or service?

The story I told is fine when I say, “The feature saves time and eliminates waste.”

But it’s far more powerful when I describe how it affects the customer who uses the product:

“That feature will wipe away all the headache and hassle and stress you feel when you have to juggle all those lists and sends.”

So, yes, know the benefits and talk about them. That’s way better than talking only about features.

But if you really want prospects and customers to tune in, stay tuned and act, craft stories that reveal how your products and services transform the lives of those who use them.

If you want to learn how to craft better business stories…

Sign up for a Story Assessment.

I’m offering free, 30-minute web conferences to review your business story. I will meet with you via Zoom and review how you’re telling your business story — on your website, social media, and other channels. Then, I’ll recommend steps you can take to help prospects and customers tune in and act.

I have a limited number of slots open on my calendar for these sessions. Please visit my calendar to book a time that works for you.

Thanks!

Tom
314-529-1431
tom@StoryUpMarketing.com
www.StoryUp Marketing

I ran an email marketing company for 19 years until we sold it in January to Benchmark.

When telling people about our software, I loved to share the story of a prospect who hugged our sales guy when he told her about a certain feature.

The feature: Automatically generate different sender names, reply addresses, and messages — for a single mailing — depending on the recipient receiving the mailing.

The benefit: Before our software, she created 12 versions of the same email, one for each sales rep at her company, and sent the email 12 times. The first mailing went to “Sales Rep 1’s” list with his name as the sender and his reply address. The second mailing went to “Sales Rep 2’s” list with her name as the sender and her reply address. And so forth…

With the new feature, our prospect could have one list, one mailing and one send. The software did the rest — inserting the correct sales rep for each recipient in the from and reply fields. Lots of time saved.

That’s a cool story about features and benefits.

But the story continues:

When she hugged our sales guy, she said, “This will change my life.” And she meant it.

Every week, she dreaded those hours she would spend juggling those lists and managing those sends. It stressed her out. It was a drag.

This software transformed her experience. She felt relieved. She felt a burden lifted.

I’m not telling you this to brag about MarketVolt software (although that truly is a great feature; and if it piques your interest, you can contact Pat Hawn at Benchmark/MarketVolt who would be happy to tell you more).

I share the story to reveal a critical marketing lesson.

The best business stories go beyond the standard “benefits” pitch and reveal transformations.

We learn in Marketing 101 to lead with benefits, not features. But too often, we stop there.

We describe benefits in impersonal terms:

We use phrases like “save time” or “eliminate waste” or “increase ROI.”

All of that is important. But this is more important: How does the prospect or customer feel when they experience your product or service?

The story I told is fine when I say, “The feature saves time and eliminates waste.”

But it’s far more powerful when I describe how it affects the customer who uses the product:

“That feature will wipe away all the headache and hassle and stress you feel when you have to juggle all those lists and sends.”

So, yes, know the benefits and talk about them. That’s way better than talking only about features.

But if you really want prospects and customers to tune in, stay tuned and act, craft stories that reveal how your products and services transform the lives of those who use them.

If you want to learn how to craft better business stories…

Sign up for a Story Assessment.

I’m offering free, 30-minute web conferences to review your business story. I will meet with you via Zoom and review how you’re telling your business story — on your website, social media, and other channels. Then, I’ll recommend steps you can take to help prospects and customers tune in and act.

I have a limited number of slots open on my calendar for these sessions. Please visit my calendar to book a time that works for you.

Thanks!

Tom
314-529-1431
tom@StoryUpMarketing.com
www.StoryUp Marketing

My friend Mary Kutheis shared with me a great marketing email, thinking I would want to share it with everyone on my list.

She was right.

The email came from Touchnote, a greeting card service that allows you to design and compose cards online that they print and mail.

Mother’s Day is a busy time for Touchnote. And before that holiday, they send promotional emails reminding customers to send cards to Mom and Grandma.

What happens though, if you’re a Touchnote subscriber who has lost a mother or grandmother? Those promotional emails might sting.

So Touchnote sent the following email to its subscribers:

“I’m getting in touch as I know that Mother’s Day reminders can be really difficult for some people. So, with Mother’s Day coming up, we want to give everyone a chance to opt-out of receiving emails about it.

“Simply click the link here to change your preferences and we’ll keep you updated with everything else, like normal.

“Have a lovely day.”

That’s excellent!

Marketing works best when you understand how your prospects and customers feel.

If you can connect with their feelings, if you can show that you get it, prospects and customers will trust and like you more. Prospects and customers will value what you sell more. Prospects and customers will do more business with you.

This email from Touchnote didn’t pitch anything. But still, it stands out as great marketing.

If you want your marketing to work best, you need to tune up your business story. With a well-tuned business story, prospects and customers will tune in, stay tuned, and act.

If you want to learn how to craft better business stories…

Sign up for a Story Assessment.

I’m offering free, 30-minute web conferences to review your business story. I will meet with you via Zoom and review how you’re telling your business story — on your website, social media, and other channels. Then, I’ll recommend steps you can take to help prospects and customers tune in and act.

I have a limited number of slots open on my calendar for these sessions. Please visit my calendar to book a time that works for you.

Thanks!

Tom
314-529-1431
tom@StoryUpMarketing.com
www.StoryUp Marketing