Say it With a Story

Share Old Details in a New Way

In the early years of building my business, I joined a business networking group that held monthly breakfast meetings. Part of the format was to give a 30-second infomercial: introduce yourself and say what you do. At that time, mine went, "We're a full-service marketing firm, so that means we do logos, brochures, signage, websites, marketing strategies and planning, etc." 

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

One of the regular attendees was a woman who knew me for doing a website project. She came to every meeting and watched me do my shpiel with a complete list of services, month after month, for years. Yet she always introduced me to others as a web designer. Then, one day during chitchat over breakfast, before the formal part of the meeting began, she heard me tell a story about working with a group of engineers and geologists at a 75-year-old mining company on branding. 

Brand New Attention

It was a vast, company-wide endeavour for which we brought in an expert named Andris Pone, Coin Branding. The whole exercise had more to do with employee retention, self-reflection and navigating change as the founders passed away or retired than it had to do with marketing. It was a deep and meaningful project. It did lead to a refresh of design elements. The highlight for me was when the CEO said he didn't see the difference between this and that logo design option but acknowledged that he was an engineer and didn't perceive things the same way I did. With that understanding, I asked him to trust me to decide on the design of the logo and other pieces, and he agreed. I was happy about the trust we had built and this special place in our relationship that let us both flourish. 

This woman, who had listened to me list my services at least two dozen times, said, "Wait a minute... you do logos?" 

Here’s Your Opportunity

My monthly speech is like your website's services page: it's there to review at any time, but because this person came in for one thing, that's all she cared about and absorbed. She thought she knew me, so she never really listened to the speech or reread my services page. 

Her overhearing of this story finally rammed home that I offered other services. This is the opportunity you have with a blog. It's regular new content; each is a new opportunity to share such information. She didn't even recognize the story as me talking about my services. But she paid attention and promptly referred me to someone who needed branding. 

Story-telling as a Style

Using your blog to share client stories, generate informal case studies or teach best practices is a great way to communicate the full breadth of what you have to offer and demonstrate you know what you are doing. They can say you do x, y, and z and convey you're good at it. 

There are many blog writing styles, and stories like this are a great approach.