Traditional marketing is moving from selling to telling.

The same daily diet of information is no longer satisfying the hungry consumer.

“The audience will not tune in to watch information. You wouldn’t, I wouldn’t. No one would or will. The audience will only tune in and stay tuned in to watch drama.”

 ~ David Mamet - American playwright, author, director, and producer.

The knowledge economy is shifting to a connected economy. The “drama” in your business story is the raw, relatable, and honest content that elicits strong emotions and influences behavior. Connecting with emotions is critical to building and nurturing long-term relationships with your customer base. 

Telling your business story is the way build and maintain those relationships.  

Ted Rubin, author of ‘Return on Relationship’, says “relationships are the new currency.”   

• Your story is the investment.
• The relationships are the “dollars” you earn in return.
• The value of those “dollars” are measured in brand loyalty, trust, and social sharing. 
• Your business development strategy needs to focus on communicating value by building long-term relationships with your audience with effective storytelling.

Here are 7 tips for effective business storytelling:

1. Know your audience. Listen to what your audience is asking for.
2. Keep it concise and authentic.
3. Elicit emotion. The best stories have challenges, triumphs, and real honesty.  
4. Tap into your professional and personal networks. Share your story with your employees and provide tools to help them spread the word. Share with friends and family ask them to share on their social media channels.
5. Get feedback. Improve, adjust, and adapt where needed. 
6. Share everywhere! Tell your story on websites, blogs, social media, and print materials.
7. Keep the conversation going with continual engagement across social media channels and blogs.  

Successful leaders inspire and motivate with their stories. Mastering the art of business storytelling takes patience, practice, and persistence. The relationships you earn will build brand loyalty and elevate your business in 2014. 

What is your business story?

How are you creating relationships with your audience?

Be sure to check out the interview “Why You Need Business Development” with Hunter Boyle of Aweber hosted by Tommy Walker below.

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For more resources click on: 

CopyBlogger “How to Build an Audience with Story (From America’s Greatest Living Playwright)"

Jeff Korhan “Stories Are The Holy Grail Of Content Marketing”

Open Forum “The Art of Business Storytelling”

Ted Rubin “Return on Relationship”

Tom Fishburne Marketoonist Photo Credit 

Jessica E. Roberts Real Estate Social Media Consultant & Coach ✩Power Up Your Connections With Social✩  Licensed Real Estate Salesperson  REALTOR®  Exit Realty Achieve Smithtown, NY 11787  t: 860-595-5726 | e: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.| w: http://news.jessicarobertsrealtor.com/

 

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