Why storytelling in the coaching business?
It was a cold winter night; a little girl was sent out by her impoverished parents to sell matches on the last evening of the years.
She is barefoot, for she had lost her slippers; one had gone missing, and the other one was stolen by a boy who says he will use it as a cradle for his own future children. The little girl couldn‘t sell any matches. Knowing that her father will beat her when she gets home, she begins to despair.
This is a story of a little match girl. You’ve probably seen, heard, and read it a few times without knowing that the story of a little match girl conveys an important message of “Hope,” “Gratitude,” and “Kindness.”
Storytelling is a good thing for marketers. It makes it possible for you to stretch your creative wings and connect on different platforms, and most importantly, it allows you to connect with your soulmate clients on an emotional level.
People remember them because they were meaningful to them.
Storytelling marketing is meant to make your potential clients feel something with the idea that emotion will inspire them to action.
“She rubbed another against the wall: it burned brightly, and where the light fell on the wall, there the wall became transparent like a veil so that she could see into the room. “
-”The Little Match Girl” by Hans Christian Anderson
Where Storytelling Began
The journey in finding my unique gift and awesomesauce in the world of storytelling began when I was in junior high school.
The five thousand years of ancient Chinese history, when taught in an old fashion way, was too dry and too boring to me. Memorizing the timelines and major events that took place thousands of years before me not only did feel unrelatable, the essence of why I needed to know this information completely went over my head and out of my ears.
But it only takes one person who does it differently and out of the passion of her heart to capture my attention - my history teacher.
She explained the dry historical events with compelling stories in a combination of fable and mythology to provide teaching moments to the students.
Hearing a story about how a foolish old man removed the mountain and learning how one can accomplish more in leadership success with persistency, hard work, and dedication is captivating!
In an article published in 2014 by Andrew Gelman and Thomas Baseball titled “When Do Stories Work? Evidence And Illustration in the Social Sciences” of the Sociological Methods and Research, the article suggests that while stories have been recognized as an important aspect of social science and how human beings perceive the world with story-like relations, not all stories actually work.
There are two essential elements to the storytelling model that story provides value in making the connections:
1. Stories should be ‘anomalous’ - do they represent aspects of our lives that are not well explained by existing facts
2. Stories should be ‘immutable’ - do they provide insights into a potential problem
In the society we live in today, the first appearance of storytelling in marketing can be traced back to 1895 when John Deere first released his publication “The Furrow” magazine - A journal for the American Farmers. It’s a place where educational content was provided to teach farmers how to be successful business owners.
Stories are metaphors for life.
Researchers who study facts and data are heavily influenced by storytelling.
Two well-known examples - are Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung.
The human mind is a complex neurological pathway and transmitters that dictate the way we see, feel, touch, and decisions making.
In order to market your coaching business and therefore attract the clients you love to work with, understanding the nuances of storytelling is a crucial and effective way of marketing strategy for your coaching business - how to make the intangible and abstracted transformational experiences into tangible metaphors and visions that your audience can easily digest and understand is the factor that determines the success of your coaching business.
Narratives That Connect your dream clients to your business
One of the most common problems women coaches experience is unable to articulate in the way that makes. Your audience nods their head and understands.
The belief that we never really know what's going to speak to someone and that every person seems to appreciate different information when it comes to taking the next step is the reason why many coaches feel stuck when it comes to describing their coaching business.
The lack of understanding and empathy by placing yourself into someone’s shoes and speaking from a place genuine and authentic voice is what makes your audience either say “Yes” or they will right off the back say “No” the minute they land on your website or social media.
In order to understand the narratives that connect your soulmate clients to your business, one place many tend to overlook is Marslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs consists of five levels on a pyramid - Physiological, Safety, love and belonging, and self-actualization.
This pyramid describes the journey which your soulmate clients are seeking to fulfill in their lives. Speaking to someone who is looking to fulfill physiological needs is not going to be the same than to speak to an audience who has already mastered their high level of consciousness. They know if they’ve used it. They won’t see the value of working with you unless you can offer something unique and different.
Values are everything
In my early coaching business journey, I made a few mistakes in growing this business. On the other hand, there are a few “RIGHT” choices that I made - one of the right choices that I have made was growing my coaching business based on VALUES.
I referred to them as my foundational ABC - Authetncity, Bravery, and Connection.
These are the top three values that I bring into my coaching business. By choosing to center my business across my core values, they became my business’s DM, and it separated me from the competitors in my space. This is the core of storytelling marketing, where the story you tell leads to the main characteristics and an idea that you can spread about your business.
Your business values define its identity, how important decisions are made (e.g., handling difficult customers, hiring employees), and what drives it toward success.
Adopting core business values will give your business a purpose and can contribute to creating a successful and long-lasting business.
“The soldiers were all exactly alike, except one, who had only one leg; he had been left to the last, and then there was not enough of the melted tin to finish him, so they made him to stand firmly on one leg, and this caused him to be very remarkable.”
-The Brave Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Andersen
An effective way of communication
By telling a story, businesses can share service information or introduce clients to their brand. Learning how to draft an effective story is important if you want to reach your potential clients.
In business, persuasion is an important part of business activity. The client must have the buy-in to benefit from the effectiveness of the coaching experience. Storytelling can transform how we communicate, share and nurture connection and growth in business.
It conveys a purpose and wins the loyalty of clients.
Your purpose will determine your content and the story you tell to your audience.
Stanford Business School’s JD Schramm asserts that “every good story charts a change — even a subtle one — in the conditions, attitudes, actions or feelings of the characters.”
The first and foremost starting point of your storytelling marketing should always focus on your intent in telling a story to an audience. What do you want the audience to feel, do and see at the end of your story?
What result would you hope to accomplish by telling this story?
Your purpose will determine your content and the story you tell to your audience. One of the easiest ways as a coach is to walk my client on a journey to see their success. These are the outcome that one will receive by the end of our time together.
Whether it is to have more time, more money, more visibility, or more clients? The details you provide in describing the change experienced by your audience will allow you to connect with the listener through the story you tell.
Storytelling marketing is a complex strategy. The framework can be easily applied but knowing how to put these pieces together is what makes storytelling for coaches feels stuck. If you need more support on how to tell your story in your coaching business, you can write to me at michelle@elevatelifecoaching.org. I’m happy to point you in the right direction so you can get seen, get heard, and get hired.
