By Yeremi Akpan of Pro Blogger Tips
Everyone has a story.
Do you?
Well, you don’t have one if you are not telling it!
You see, when we tell stories, we help our prospect to relax and enjoy their selves while we entertain them.
When people are relaxed, they are more likely to reach a decision on their own than if we told them straight on what we wanted them to believe.
And the decision, when made in this way, is owned by the reader, not you, the story teller.
The reader goes through the story and he is having a mix of different emotions, taking sides and changing sides and at the end, he decides.
You did not have to do that for him. All you had to do was tell a story, and in the end you got the conversion you sought, be it a blog comment, a signup or even a sale.
Isn’t that cool?
The sooner you realize that we humans process information more efficiently when they are presented as stories and we are better equipped to remember them because the information was wrapped around an interesting story, the better your writing, and by extension, your conversions will be.
To simplify what I have been saying so far, persuasive writing is getting the reader to say yes; yes to whatever decision you want them to make, or whatever action you want them to take.
If you are not using stories to persuade, you are leaving out a great source of leverage. You can succeed greatly just through using stories in your communications. When you tell stories, you give people the reason they are looking for to convince themselves that you are genuine.
When you use stories to communicate, you bypass the natural resistance people have to being sold, and you reach the heart.
Many persons have highly sensitive B.S detectors. They would feel manipulated when they are being persuaded. They want to be able to make up their own minds and stories give them the opportunity to convince themselves they came to their conclusion on their own.
Telling your personal story
When people come across your writing, the judge it first by asking the question, who is this guy?
The answer to that question always influences how seriously they take your recommendations.
So, what is your story?
A good story establishes rapport because it is revealing and helps breaks down resistance.
A post by my friend Oni Bamidele helps demonstrates just how a good story does that. How did you feel at the end of that post?
Do you see how he used his story to create empathy and make you wish you could help to even make him more successful? J
When you are telling your story, strive to provide an answer to these two questions:
- Who are you?
- Why are you here?
Once people have that information, trusting you becomes a natural thing for them to do. Instead of their having to discover you in the long run, a good story can introduce you in a short time.
Stories fit into the indirect permissive model of communication, not the authoritarian model of communication. That is where the powers of stories come from.
So once again, what is your story? Are you from a poor background? Did you have to drop out of school because you could no longer afford the tuition? Have you succeeded against all odds?
Are you telling and linking to it often enough?
When your story is right, you will know it, and so will your readers.
About the Author
If you’re a blogger who needs help to learn a thing or two about building an active audience, you can Yeremi’s free book From Start to Awesome: 7 Days to an Authority Blog. You can also hire Yeremi to run a guest post campaign for you.
