Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe.

But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever ~ Old Indian Proverb

It's St. Patty's Day tomorrow and here in NYC we are looking at the 250th celebration of Ireland's favorite Patron Saint, Green Beer, All Things Irish, Corned Beef and Cabbage and the Wearin' Of The Green. Our legendary St. Patrick's Day Parade kicks off at 11:00 starting on 44th and 5th ending up on 86th St. in the Upper East Side. FUN … FUN … FUN!!

When I was a little girl, I always made sure that I had something green to wear to school on St. Patty's Day because everyone else was wearing green on that day and I didn't want to feel like a weirdo … LOL. I knew that it was a really special day for lots of other reasons too. I had heard that St. Patrick had driven all the snakes off Ireland and into the sea. And that HE was the one who made SHAMROCKS famous throughout the world. I heard really cool stories about Druids and how St. Patrick had used magic to turn himself into a deer and escape from lots of dangerous Celtic warriors. And how, because his magic was so much stronger than the High King's, he was allowed to convert many of the pagans living in Ireland into Christians.

St. Patrick died in 493 AD, a good 1400 years BEFORE I even knew he existed. That man's story has some real serious sticking power 🙂 … it's how legends are created.  It's the kind of stuff that turns someone or something into a household name worldwide for centuries … creates a tremendous human bond … and educates people in a fun and painless way!!

Stories are the banquet platters of life and business – serving up all sorts of information … history, traditions, experiences, words, values … things that are important to both to the one telling the story and to the listener. A great story is one of our most powerful tools for highly effective communication. With stories we can share history, heritage and pedigree, teach, persuade, entertain and share information in a way that is genuine and very compelling. 

Years ago Seth Godin wrote a blog post "Ode: How to tell a great story". My big takeaway from Seth's post …

Great stories are rarely aimed at everyone. Average people are good at ignoring you. Average people have too many different points of view about life and average people are by and large satisfied. If you need to water down your story to appeal to everyone, it will appeal to no one. The most effective stories match the world view of a tiny audience—and then that tiny audience spreads the story.

5 Tips To Turn Your Stories Into An Attraction Marketing Pot O' Gold

There's alot of mumbo jumbo out there when it comes to marketing – attraction marketing, direct response marketing, network marketing, relationship marketing, reverse marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, internet marketing, offline marketing … you know EXACTLY what I mean. Marketing fundamentally is nothing more than the process of preparing potential buyers to purchase whatever it is that is being sold.

For me, Attraction Marketing is all about marketing in a way specifically designed to get my information in front of people who are actively looking for what I have, drawing them to me, so that we can have a meaningful two-way conversation, create a heart to heart connection between us, allowing me to understand how to best serve and educate them about what I do and how my products and services can benefit them, establishing real trust between us, well before they purchase anything from me.

There is no denying it – facts tell and stories sell. Here are five tips to help you turn your stories into a Pot O' Gold !!

Clearly illustrate the product’s unique value – A great story that illustrates the value of a product within your niche really isn’t all that useful.  It has to highlight what sets your product or service head and shoulders above everyone else's without bad mouthing the competition.

The story has got to be short and easy to tell in a very memorable way – You want everyone – your friends and family, sales folks, other marketers and your delighted customers to be able to tell the story well.  They won’t be able to do that if it is difficult to understand or too long.  Keep it short, entertaining and right on point. You will be surprised at how many more people will be thrilled to tell that story for you. (Remember the story I told you about St. Patrick – over 1400 years in the telling 🙂 and it is still going strong)

The story needs to be relevant to your ideal clients – Telling a great story about a client outside of your niche really isn’t all that valuable. Your ideal clients must be able to relate themselves and their reasons for wanting to do business with you through other client stories that sound very similar to theirs.

Your stories must illustrate measurable, tangible results – The results … the “what happened” … part of your story has to be concrete and quantifiable.  General statements like “improved vitality” don’t pack the punch of “lost 60 pounds in 9 months and threw away my insulin”.

Happy client testimonials- These are the absolute BEST stories to have about your products and services. It is one thing when you are talking about your stuff and the results people get  …  a completely different level of credibility is achieved when someone else enthusiastically shares their before and after story on your behalf.

Telling great stories requires thought and practice … just like anything else to be mastered. So, I am inviting you to tell me YOUR best story in the comments below. Tell me who your ideal client is, what problem you solve for them with your products or services and a great story  that will have all of us saying … "Now THIS is something that I have got to have right now !!"  (Caveat – no company or product names – invent one if you have to ;-)) Totally looking forward to reading YOUR story !!

My wish for you this Saint Patrick's Day –

May you and yours be blessed with lots of green and gold, pots of shamrocks, and a GREAT story to tell for years to come !!

Remember

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  Rose Mis is the author of “Dead Blogs Don’t Lie ~ 7 Secrets To A Wildly Popular High Traffic Blog” and the editor and publisher of The Frugal Networker Newsletter. She is the creator and Executive Chef of the internet's only Award Winning Attraction Marketing Training Kitchen. Rose is one of the top MLM / Network Marketing bloggers online today and is a featured blogger at thatMLMbeat.com. You are invited to stop by the Kitchen anytime you have any questions about blogging, marketing or mindset. Rose is here to help you get the results you are looking for as quickly and cost effectively as possible.