If you want to capture your market’s attention, you must first capture their imagination.
Of the content tools at your disposal, there’s none better than a good story.
But not just any story will do.
Let Me Explain
I’m a child of the 80’s, which means I have fond memories of crazy colourful fashion, computer arcades by the beach and cheesy action flicks.
And there’s none cheesier than The Karate Kid.
For the uninitiated, The Karate Kid is the story of Daniel LaRusso, a young lad who is taken away from everything he knows and loves when his mum gets a job in another state.
His new life gets off to a wobbly start when he falls foul of bullies from the local karate school.
Enter Mr. Miyagi, a mild-mannered janitor and, as luck would have it, karate genius. Miyagi agrees to train Daniel and in so doing kick starts his transformation from punching bag to martial arts wunderkind.
The Karate Kid Case Study
Now imagine for a moment that, instead of an action flick, The Karate Kid was a video case study for Mr. Miyagi’s school of karate.
As a piece of marketing collateral, it would be damn persuasive.
If you had an interest in becoming a kick ass martial artist, you’d be hard pressed not to want to be being trained by the great Kasuke Miyagi.
However, what’s interesting is that, while the movie showcases Mr. Miyagi’s talents, The Karate Kid is not Mr. Miyagi’s story.
It’s Daniel’s.
This is an important.
Most people think that their case studies should be about them. That they should be the star.
But you shouldn’t.
What makes The Karate Kid so compelling is Daniel’s journey from lonely new boy to All Valley’s karate champion.
His story is the one that we relate to. He is our hero because in many ways, he is just like us.
It’s the exactly the same with your customer stories.
If you want your market to relate to the story. If you want it to pull prospects to your business, you’ve got to make your clients the star.
People Buy Transformations
Like Daniel, it’s your client’s story of transformation that your prospects will relate to the most.
They will be drawn in by the challenges your clients were facing and excited by the transformation you enabled to take place.
You may not be the star, but you will gain the credit for enabling that transformation.
Here’s the Catch
Problem is, you can’t tell your client’s story if you don’t know it.
Resist the urge to write your customer story on your own. Instead, sit down with your client. Get them to tell you their story from their perspective.
They will tell you everything you need to sell to people just like them.
Photo by Jason Briscoe on Unsplash
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