It is rare in business to have a product or service that is totally unique to your company. Usually, you are sitting amidst a sea of competitors trying to get noticed. At just this moment, when you are racking your brain about how to convince your audience that you can resolve their pain point better than anyone else, it might help to change your approach. What if you could just tell your story? What if that is all you need to set yourself apart? Telling your story may be just the way for you to find your audience.
I could tell you that I am a small business marketing coach, and that puts me into the pool of all the small business marketing coaches you know. But, what if I told you that I am a microbusiness owner? That I started my business by accident nearly seven years ago at a time when I was struggling to find work in a new city? That I mistakenly strung together the words “taking clients” at a moment when I did in fact desperately need a client…and I got a big one and in doing so started my business? That I knew about marketing, but that without ANY budget I had to build a solid client base in the competitive field of marketing? That I know how to show small business owners how to market their business on a budget, because I have always been a small business owner marketing her own business on a budget?
This is part – just part – of my own story. You can look at my website or social media and think you understand my offerings and values, but when you hear my story you understand why I have such a passion for coaching small businesses in their marketing. Because I am just like you, and I want you to get out of a place of struggle and into a place of success.
Think about what all this tells you. Once you know why I do what I do, you know if I am the right person to help you. And it is the same exact thing for your customers.
If you can tell your story to your audience, they can understand you. As they come to realize why you do what you do and what compels you, they can figure out if and how they fit into that picture. If they relate, there is just flat out no reason to keep looking. Because this is the thing that sets you apart and that no one else can replicate.
If you can tell your story to your audience, they can understand you. #smallbiz #smb #womeninbiz Share on XSo, what is it you want your audience to know about you? Maybe how you got started. Or who inspired you. Or what you overcame. Did you grow up with a certain influence that made it easier or more difficult to do what you do? Or maybe there is a thought or a person that makes you want to get up each day to get to work.
What is the first thing that comes to mind?
Now the second?
Those could be the things that attract your audience to you. By showing them why you do what you do, you are also showing them the result they can expect, because it is a result you are driven to move them toward.
Your competitors may have similar products or services, but they don’t have your story. #smb Share on XYour competitors may have similar products or services, but they don’t have your story. Your story is unique to you, and it is a selling point you will forever own. Telling your story is part of how you market your business and attract the right audience to you.