In my experience, great brand stories beat “speeds and feeds” stories every time. If you’re an engaging storyteller, you’re going to close more business. It’s that simple. Customers want to buy from companies with the same values they have. To get there, you need a captivating story.
What is brand storytelling?
Your brand story tells your audience who you are, why you want to help them, and what they would gain by working with you. It helps you make authentic connections at every stage of the buyer’s journey.
Brand storytelling should include:
The story behind a brand, why it exists, and why it matters.
How your customers find business value in working with your brand.
A glimpse into the people behind the company.
Remember the "Rule of 3".
Your social media posts need to be memorable and compelling and create a strong bias for action. Remember, what you make possible is far more powerful than what you make
It’s easy to design social selling stories about your company, product solutions, or even complex services. What you may not know is the science of remembering those stories is older than Thomas Jefferson.
As Carmine Gallo outlined several years ago in his Forbes piece Thomas Jefferson, Steve Jobs, and the Rule of 3, we can usually remember three things about any single experience. But if a story taps into our emotions, it’s even better. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” was not just a lucky turn of phrase. It was an example of the “Rule of 3,” and tapped into the heart of how we remember things. Steve Jobs used the same technique with his description, “thinner, lighter, and faster.”
Follow these three simple rules to help your own stories achieve the biggest social selling impact possible:
1. Never outline more than three ideas you want someone to remember.
2. Make sure your headline tells people what’s in the story for them.
3. Connect on an emotional level by using imagery and language.
Here’s an example of a channel post I love that’s a brand story with an emotional element:
3 Reasons Virtual Distribution Is Not the Death of the Channel
Channel sales teams have never been more important for technology adoption. We believe in the power of:
Sales teams.
Sales teams to create revenue.
Sales teams to establish long-term value for our customers.
We’ll show you how. Pass me a note and I’ll send you Commvault’s channel check list for the future. We got this!
Tech Data CEO: Virtual Distribution Is the Future
How to share your story?
Every piece of content you share on social media should support your company’s brand story. Sharing content is an easy way to deliver your story to a large audience on multiple platforms. Storytelling content can include:
Customer success stories.
Blogs
E-books and infographics
Videos
Whitepapers
Images
You have a unique and memorable story to tell. Be professionally provocative and remember the Rule of 3. It’ll help you close business — I promise.
Want to dig a little deeper? Check out the resources below and come back here for part five in our social selling blog series.
Theresa Caragol
CEO AchieveUnite
Theresa Caragol is Founder and CEO of Achieve Unite. She has more than 24 years experience in building and managing multi-million-dollar indirect channel teams and strategic alliance business and programs from idea to revenue acceleration, and building companies and channel teams from the ground up. She also holds a number of industry advisory board roles, and has co-founded numerous industry think tanks and industry leadership forums. Theresa is on CompTIA's (Global IT Association)'s faculty and is passionately focused on assisting young people to accelerate their success in the industry. She also started ACE, a leadership by influence program, that rapidly builds women's leadership skills in the channel. Theresa has 2 elementary school boys, lives near Washington DC and is on a mission to visit 15 DC museums with her boys in 2019.
