But Story Telling is Supposed to Make Sense

Storytelling, storytelling, storytelling. Everybody loves stories. We read books, we watch movies, we gossip with friends – we all love a good story. Good copywriters also know that stories are a powerful weapon to sell products.

But goodness gracious, our stories have to make sense!!

I just saw the movie Stay. This movie with Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor asked us to ask ourselves, “What is reality?” by presenting us with a story that made no sense, but had some pretty cool direction and decent acting. But the acting and direction couldn’t save this movie from being a total disgrace.

If you want some background on the story, read this review

Maybe as humans we like safety and we crave an explanation for everything. If these reviews written by movie-goers are any indication, I think that’s the case.

If we all have budgets with millions of dollars, I suppose we could alienate our audience like this. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have millions of dollars to throw around. I want to sell products, so when I tell a story it must make sense to my customer.

My husband is a big storytelling fan (a science fiction nut, in fact) and says the best stories allow you to temporarily suspend your disbelief (which Stay asks us to do), but it has to be based in some kind of logic and reality at the same time.

Truer words have never been spoken.

So, let’s relate this to your copywriting. Do your stories make sense? If you are selling a product in limited quantity, do you give a plausible reason why? If you tell your visitors that you’re a stay at home mom on your home page…is it actually important to selling your products? As we’ve learned in the past weeks, stories can provide a sort of social proof to our selling…but if we’re not making sense or aren’t relevant, we aren’t proving anything.

What makes a good story then? Well, every product is different, of course…so I can’t tell you what story to tell in your copy. But let’s take the stay at home mom example. If you sell candles, telling people you’re a stay at home mom trying to earn money to stay home with the kids probably isn’t going to help you much. But if you’re trying to get people to sign up for your candle-selling opportunity – then it would make great sense to talk about your being able to stay home with your kids.

If you sell an information product that teaches men how to pick up women, then it makes perfect sense to tell stories about your successes and failures in the dating world. And realize the successes are just as important as the failures – they allow your reader to relate to you and adds reality to your story. But if you’re selling an ebook on Forex trading…ummmm…don’t tell them about how you can pick a woman out of the crowd and then proceed to get her to give you her phone number.

And a final bit of advice, if you have an extra $10.95 to go see movie (that’s how much it costs around here)…don’t go see Stay. Argh!

Cutting Out the Chaos & Stress Reduction

As I was reviewing Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula course today (I’m busy writing up my notes and ideas as I’m sharing those notes with all those who buy from me), I was pleasantly surprised that Jeff dealt with the issue of “product launch stress”. Whether you are launching a product or just working on your websites - when you work from home that stress can build and chaos can interrupt in your life. Perhaps you’ve experienced this once or twice before???

Anyway, as I read Jeff’s tips, I was reminded of a report I had written specifically for my work at home mom subscribers a little while back. That report specifically deals with that issue and since I know many of my blog readers are not moms, I’ve rewritten it to help ANYONE with an online business that needs a little hand achieving balance.

You can download it here:
Top Nine Tips for Abandoning the Chaos of the Internet Marketer

I hope you like it and find it helpful. Feel free to pass onto your friends and colleagues.

How Do You Manage the Stress?

A: Truth be told, I don’t do as much as it may appear. Have a read through this short report on:

Top 9 Tips for Abandoning the Chaos of the Internet Marketer

…it will give you a good idea of where I’m coming from.

Also, if you’re a mom, I’d recommend getting my Top Ten Tips for Abadonding the Chaos of the Internet Based Mom just for moms and a follow-up email series at Chaos No More.

Black Eyed Peas & Creating a Reaction

In the recent Social Proof Call, Jim Edwards told a story about the newspaper editor that he wrote for. It seemed that the newspaper had some readers that couldn’t stand Jim and what he had to say in his articles and these readers were sending in hate mail. Jim asked the editor if he wanted to fire Jim. The editor said it doesn’t matter if they hate you or love you, as long as they are reading the newspaper.

If I remember correctly, a study was released not to long ago that showed that the people who hate Howard Stern actually listen to him longer than the people that like him. Hatred and disgust can be powerful things, I’d say.

Now we have the Black Eyed Peas and their newish song, “My Humps.” This is the cheesiest song, set to an 80s hip-hop beat and has the most moronic lyrics you’ll probably ever hear in your life. But the thing is, it’s a catchy tune and people are just eating it up (it’s number 11 this week on AT40). But when you search around various music forums, you’ll find this song frequently listed as the “Worst Song Ever” and it even makes a forum member here want to vomit.

Apparently everyone hates it, but it’s climbing the charts. And I’m sure these people who “hate it” are secretly dancing around in their underwear singing, “What you gonna do with all the junk, all that junk, inside that trunk…”

(Side note…if you’re from the United States, you can watch the video and listen to the song by clicking here)

So, what’s my point? Well, many people start businesses because they want to be people pleasers. They want everybody to be happy and to buy from them. Well, it ain’t gonna happen. Even though I have a course called Internet Marketing Sweetie and it teaches people how to make more money by being giving in business — that doesn’t mean I please everyone or that everyone likes me (trust me, from the email I get there are a large number that have a strong distaste for your resident Sweetie). It also doesn’t mean I don’t have a backbone and have strong opinion on topics – and those opinions often offend people. I just say it the way I see it…and that’s that.

The point is, I’ve created a reaction. Some people love me. Some people hate me. People are driven by emotion…and hate and love are strong emotions. That’s what brings repeat visitors to your website, builds a loyal reader base and gets people buying your products.

Dr. Phil Likes Me…He Really, Really Likes Me!

Thanks to Heather Reider and Mary Goulet of Moms Town Radio, I’ve landed myself a spot on Dr. Phil’s website. Have a look here at Dr. Phil’s picks for sites that help moms work from home.

Mary and Heather will be on the Dr. Phil show for the 2nd time today and will be talking about helping moms cut out the chaos in their lives (what chaos?! hee hee). Be sure to tune in!

Wanna Free Copy of Jeff Walkers Product Launch Formula Course

Well, hurry up then…because time is running out. Enter here:
http://productlaunchformula.com/prelaunch/contest.html

EDITED TO ADD (October 20, 2005): Jeff was overwhelmed by the response to his contest and shares some thoughts on the struggle to make a successful Internet business. It’s inspiring and powerful. Download it here:
http://productlaunchformula.com/prelaunch/intense.html

How Can I Use Social Proof In My Business?

Q: I listened to Jeff Walker’s call on social proof and it was great information. I was wondering if you had ideas on how I can use social proof in my business. [Read more]

I Need Your Input Please

Hey there, yesterday I posted an offer to help people get the most out of the information on Jeff Walker’s Social Proof Call. Because it was hidden in the comments area of one of my entries…you may have missed it.

Anyway, people are telling me, “The call was great, but how does it apply to my business?” Well, social proof applies to all marketing…and every day life. I want to show you how you can use it for your products, services or business opportunities.

If you’d like a hand in generating ideas…please go to this blog entry for details (read the entry and the comments area).

EDITED TO ADD (October 20, 2005): The report is now ready. Get 8 solid ideas to implement social proof into your business by clicking here. Enjoy!

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