การเขียนเล่าเรื่อง (Storytelling)

People love stories, and one of really good ways to relate to your prospect is to tell a story. Just as a picture worth a thousand words, a story can be invaluable and often create an emotional relationship or bond that keep your prospect riveted and listening. Stories create human interest. In childhood, stories read to us by our parents were the way we fantasized or even saw the world. In short, we’ve been primed for stories ever since we were very young.

Think of the public speakers who starts his speech with a story or uses stories throughout his presentation. It makes for an interesting presentation and often holds the interest of the audience. In fact, very often, after I’ve been listening to a boring speaker and my mind starts to wander. I become alert when I know a story is about to be told.

Stories usually have lesson to teach or experiences to share or even endings that can excite, surprise or bring out emotion. And so it is with good copy. If you tell a story in your copy that is relevant either to selling your product, to creating the environment for selling or to getting the prospect to read your copy, you are using this wonderful and powerful trigger in a very effective way to sell your product or service.

… When writing copy for your product, think about using a few stories that might be of interest to your prospect and assist in the sale of your product: stories about a new development and how you discovered it --- stories about yourself that would be of interest to your prospects.

Timing is also important in the storytelling process. It is nice to start with story, because it hold attention and engages the prospect. Telling stories is an art form and using it effectively in a print ad grows with experience. Simply being aware of its potential and its effectiveness is a good start. You’ll be surprised at how many stories you’ll be able to come up with once you put your mind on it.

A good story should capture a person’s attention, relate the product or service in the copy and help you bond with the prospect.

Much of the cognitive science in the past two decades tell us that human beings often make subconscious, emotional, and sometimes irrational decisions in one place in brain, and then justify those decision rationally and logically in another place. So if you’re trying to influence buyers’ decisions, using facts and rational arguments alone isn’t enough. You need to influence them emotionally, and stories are your best vehicle to do that.

Veteran salespeople know this from experience. Rick Rhine is the owner of Tailwind Marketing, an Arizona-based company that sells telecommunication service door-to-door. He says, “The least effective moment in those doorstep conversations is when my sales rep is the most factual --- when they stop talking about experience and start talking numbers. When we say, ‘I am gonna get you 20-meg Internet service for $29.95 a month and I can have tech out here in two days to hook that up, how does that sound?’ the customer doesn’t care and you can see it in their eyes.”

But when his reps tell customers a story about how their neighbors are enjoying the new service, or lets customers tell their own story about the problems the they’re having with their current service, things work out better.

… Most professional buyers have seen it all. They’ve heard every pitch, tactic, and attempted close line in the book. They have heard them from you, your competitors, and the last two people who had your job. And as storytelling expert Doug Stevenson observes in his book Story Theater Method, “People are yearning for someone to tell something they don’t know already.” Your story lets you give that to them.

Storytelling gives you a way to stand out in the crowd with something interesting and original to say. It distinguishes you not only from your peers and competitors but also from your predecessors, because the story you tell won’t be the ones cooked up by the marketing department, your ad agency, or even the sales manager. They’re your stories. Nobody else will have them unless you decide to share.

Two kinds of advertising copy in frequent use are:

1. Reason-why copy
2. Story copy

Reason-why copy appeals to the reader’s intellect. It present logical arguments for buying a product or service.

Story copy entertains as it sells. It goes deep into the reader’s subconscious mind. It sells ideas and promote action.

Telling stories is one of the oldest methods of conveying a message or promoting an idea. In the year 600 B.C. Aesop, the Greek writer of fables, promoted the idea of thrift with his tale about ant and the grasshopper --- the ant who labored all summer long, storing away food for coming winter, while the grasshopper idled away his time and perished when winter come.

… I once wrote a series of story ads that got good results for a business publication. Let us call it The Business World. The theme of the campaign was “get ahead in business.” The ads were based on true experiences of subscribers. For example:
 

Headline:
“HOW A BELLHOP’S BONER HELPED ME GET AHEAD”

Subhead:
“By a Business World subscriber”

Copy:
“One time on a business trip I got to the hotel late at night. The only room I could get was an expensive suite. Next morning a bellhop handed me a copy of The Business World by mistake. Some rich guy must have had this room, I said to myself.”

“Well, I looked at The Business World. For the first time in my life I began to understand why some men get ahead while others stay behind.”
 

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Any good writer can write an acceptable reason-why ad. You simply state the sales arguments in proper sequence and in simple language.

It take an exceptional writer to write story copy. A story comes from the heart, not the head. It goes to the heart, not the head.

Reason-why copy makes the reader nod in agreement with your arguments. Reason-why copy is a necessary ingredient in every good advertisement.

But a good story lights a fire in the reader’s subconscious mind. It stirs him to action. In the case of a direct-response ad it make him reach for a pen and order form.

If you can skillfully combine reason-why copy with story copy, you can produce an irresistible advertising.

… People like to read stories. An effective way to get people to read your ads is to tell story. After they start reading your copy, you can lead them into your sales talk.