It’s a whole new world for your marketing.
The first time I ever went scuba diving, I was scared out of my mind.
I was in Thailand, and my friend Sue (a certified diver) and I had signed up with a diving outfit (probably illegal) to take us out for the day.
The boat set off for a place called “Shark Point.”
What?!
I hopped in the water, freaked out by the idea that for the first time in my life, I wouldn’t have access to an unlimited supply of oxygen. I’d just have whatever supply was strapped to my back. What-what?!
My dive instructor (crazy, Argentinian, looked like Axl Rose), jumped in the ocean beside me. He grabbed the device that controlled how much air was in the vest kept me afloat, and pressed the button to let the air out.
I began to sink.
Goodbye, atmosphere.
My jaw clenched down on the regulator. Was it working?
And I got scared.
Would my parents know where to collect my bones? Maybe I should have checked to see if this dive outfit was legit. Was drowning peaceful?
But then a funny thing happened.
I started looking around.
And it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Fish. Everywhere. Little ones. Striped ones. Big ones. In the most incredibly vibrant reds, oranges, pinks, and greens. Shimmery ones. Huge ones. Whoa! A whole school of little silvery guys, flitting past me.
What I was looking at was so amazing, I forget to be afraid.
What I’m about to tell you about marketing is like this. And once I tell you, my hope is that it will blow your mind so much, you will forget that you think marketing is sleazy or self-centered. Ready?
Marketing is about telling stories.
I know this to be true, because Seth Godin wrote a book about it. All Marketers are Liars
Granddaddy of marketing and copywriting Dan Kennedy talks about it.
And I’ve been testing it in my own business. Because I don’t believe in blind belief. I believe in scientific testing.
I just gave a talk to a roomful of women entrepreneurs this weekend, and this message really resonated with ‘em. So I wanted to share it with you, too.
There are two stories you need to tell in your service-based business.
Story #1: the story of who you are and how you came to do the work you do.
Story #2: the story of where your clients are… and where they would LIKE to be instead.
These two stories inform most of the marketing pieces you will ever create. Story #1 will appear on your website About page. It will show up in your signature talk and at your workshops. It will make an appearance at the bottom of your newsletter, in your short bio. It may even whisper to your brand.
Story #2 weaves through every piece of sales writing and talking you will ever do.
Side bar: most marketing is stuck in the NOW. As in, “buy this now”. It’s trapped in the present, but not in the enlightened Buddha way. There’s no sense of story, no feeling of movement from where a potential client IS (a status quo that she has been tolerating for far too long)… to where she WANTS to be (the extraordinary life that she dreams of, even if she doesn’t quite believe she can have it, or deserve it… or one that feels too hard to connect with on her own).
This idea fascinates me.
There are two big, fat stories running through your marketing.
Do you know what they are?
I’ll be sharing ideas for how to get those stories out of you and into your marketing in the days ahead, but in the meantime, I invite you to start keeping your eyes open. When you see someone else’s marketing, notice what story THEY are telling—both about themselves, and about the shift they offer their clients.
It’s truly cool stuff. So, look around. Notice the stories swimming past you. And let the good ones leave you in awe, like those fish in Thailand.
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Mighty thanks to kahunapulej flickr photostream for photo of the fish.
