You’re not writing the next romantic thriller for your customers. Unless, of course, romance is your business. Your creating content that matter to your customers to get them to do something. Like buy from you. Design all of your content to do just one thing: drive commerce. But your content is not a sales piece. It’s a confidence builder. It’s the reason for people to believe in you.
Bummed that’s not the story your customers want? Here are 11 types of stories you could (and should) be writing.
- Stories that show customers how to be more productive, make more money, and otherwise get an edge on their competition – and that you have expertise on.
- Stories that teach people how to do new things, solve problems. We all have problems, right? If you don’t then why are you in business?
- Stories that illustrate you get what matters to your customers. You speak their language. You feel their pain. But you’re kicking ass and that’s why they’ll listen to you.
- Stories that compare the struggles your customers face with others – that they’re not alone and others are getting through it. If others can do it, I can too is the point.
- How they did that. Stories of people like them – the problems they faced and what they did about it.
- What happened when they didn’t do that. Stories of people who didn’t see the train leaving the station and now they don’t have a chance of catching it. The conclusion, of course, is don’t let that happen to you.
- Underdog gets his day. How David beat Goliath. Every industry has ’em. Who’s yours and who’s beating them? Small businesses have the ability to move faster. And today, it’s all about speed. You’ve got the tools. You don’t need the money. (Hint – it’s about getting action with your content).
- Geek gets the girl. In this case it’s the story about the uber-focused entrepreneur who recognized a problem, solved it, and is now kicking back in a Croatian Villa (or wherever the gurus in your world go when they find success).
- Stories of what’s next. Spot the trends and show your customers why they need to pay attention to them – or miss the boat.
- Stories of former glory. Think auto industry in it’s hey day. Who were the biggest flameouts in your field and why they flamed out – so you don’t meet the same fate.
- Adversity – Bad news always makes headlines. Gets the ratings. Show how to stare it down and win.
Whatever your story is, remember that you’re not writing for your health. You’re writing to get more business, stand out, be relevant and otherwise do commerce. Don’t be shy about it.