World Tattoo Expo
world tattoo expo
Stories to Tell
Stories are a powerful way to communicate. As little children we eagerly hopped into bed in anticipation of a great bedtime story. As school age children we would compete to see how many novels we could read in one summer away from school and homework. Then as we became adults, we dropped those habits and lost the pleasure the stories gave us.
Stories capture our imagination and can take us away to another place and time or immerse us in a new persona. Stories stay with us because they strike an emotional cord inside. They become compelling. Look at the world-wide anticipation and addiction to each volume of the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling.
Think of the most memorable teachers and professors you ever had. Were they stiff, distant, boring? Or were they the ones who brought the class material down to earth with real world applications and examples – like the economics professor who pulled our homework examples from today’s financial pages of the Boston Globe or the Wall Street Journal, or the French professor who made Jean-Jacques Rousseau relevant to yuppie college kids.
What does this have to do with your business? One of the best ways to talk about your business; to engage prospects and clients and make your product/service memorable, is to wrap your message in a story.
Every trainer today knows that for each lesson you want clients and customers to master, you need to put it in context and anchor it with a story. One of my favorite coaches, Chris Barrow from England, does this with humor and outrageous examples to drive home each point. Not everyone can pull that off.
Daniel Pink in his book A Whole New Mind says: “in the Conceptual Age (21st Century), minimizing the importance of story, places you in professional and personal peril. . .Story exists where high concept and high touch intersect. . .Story means big money.”
Organizational storytelling is a nascent movement. Pink gives the example of Big Tattoo Red Winery who put the story of their vineyard on each bottle of wine they sell. They pay homage to their mother who died of cancer and explain that they contribute 50 cents for the sale of each bottle to a hospice and various cancer funds in their mother’s name – all on each bottle of wine they sell!
I remember more from the work of great authors and speakers like Stephen Covey, Zig Ziglar, Jack Canfield, Jim Collins, John Maxwell, and Eckart Tolle because of the stories they use to bring each point home, and so many of their stories are very personal.
What if you shared the challenges of building your business, or the vision of where your business is going with your clients and prospects? What could that do for you?
- Make you more memorable
- Distinguish your products and services in a crowded marketplace
- Make you vulnerable – very appealing
- Make you real – being human makes you extremely relatable
- Give people your history, expertise, purpose and vision – in a more engaging way
- Create an emotional link – which draws them in to engage with you more
- Show off your sincerity, spirit and authenticity
- Inspire people to take the next step to work with you/purchase from you
- Set a more positive tone and warmer approach to doing business with you
- Add meaning and context to your business for your clients
By being more open and transparent as a business owner – you cultivate your own personal growth and let your integrity shine through
I like Andrea Lee’s question on this subject: “How can you more clearly, evocatively and effectively tell the story of your business?”
As you tell the story, don’t make it all about you. Turn the focus on your client’s outcome, feelings, solutions and benefits.
If you already have a story, how can you refine it, to make it richer for the telling? Is it buried on the last page of your website and should move to the homepage? Is it abbreviated to two sentences in the resource box at the end of your articles? Instead, could it be the lead in to your next sales letter or poster size in your next expo booth or maybe the story itself could be a feature article in a journal or newspaper? Is it currently used as an introduction to a program or training or a book – after purchase? Maybe it could be repositioned to help close the sale instead?
As you head to the beach or the couch with your shoebox of great novels you’ve been saving all year to savor – consider the story of your business – and the possible impact of retelling it as a powerful and compelling marketing tool.
About the Author
Business Accelerator, KERRI SALLS, President of Breakthrough Enterprise, LLC, works with solo-professional achievers: entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, consultants and solo professionals, providing proven systems and strategies to grow and thrive in any economy. Check out http://www.solopreneur-blueprint.com to receive 3 free reports every solopreneur needs. The Solopreneur Blueprint is a 90 day program of step-by-step assignments to start, setup, and launch your own solo business/practice.
The man behind ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’
Stieg Larsson left behind a trail of intrigue that rivals the dark thrillers he created.
Jaw-Dropping Footage from the Worlds Largest Tattoo Expo!
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TATTOO Magazine August 1992 No. 36 (World’s largest selling tattoo magazine, Ron’s Tattooing, Norcal ink party, Santa Rosa Tattoo Expo) … |
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TATTOO Magazine February 1996 No. 78 (World’s largest selling tattoo magazine, Hollywood’s Hottest Expo The Inkslinger Ball,) … |
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TATTOO Magazine March 2004 No. 175 (World’s largest selling tattoo magazine, Stained skin studios, Punk Rock’s MXPX, DC’s Tattoo Expo) … |
