How often do you press the back button as you land on a website with vague and bland content?

I do it all the time.

Whenever I land on a website with the hope of reading quality information and I see fluffs or uninteresting content, I just press the back button.

The truth is, many blog content sounds bland, they make Readers cringe.

This is not a surprise because most marketers write as if they are writing college essays.

It is difficult for their Audience to understand and engage with it.

But, it is not totally their fault.

Creating content that connects with the audience is hard work.

You know what?

People hate to be sold but they love to buy…

Content that will connect with an audience and make them buy will be interesting, engaging and full of quality information.

The truth is, ‘if it isn’t interesting it won’t be informative’.

This is the kind of content that tell Stories.

Everyone including yourself loves stories.  We want to hear how things are started and how it ended. The same goes for your audience, they want to hear stories they can relate with. Stories that show them how to fix their problems.

Stories give you hooks to hang the content on.

The good news is:

You don’t have to turn yourself into a JK Rowling or Stephen King to tell stories.

So how do you create content that tells stories?

Below are three ways you can create stories that will help sell your products and services.

1.  Create more of how-to content

The fact is, people are searching for how to solve their problems. Let me tell you a story to illustrate my point. Yesterday, I attended an event where Pizzas were served. It was good, but not up to the standard I like. So, I thought of making one for myself.

But there is a small problem. I don’t know how to make Pizza.

So, I got home and started searching for “How to make homemade pizzas” on Google. Remember, I had a pain point – I don’t know how to make good pizza.  So, I needed content or probably a video that will show me how to do it.

I typed it on Google and I saw an article titled “How to make the best Homemade pizza“. I knew it will be a detailed content because of the “How-to” in the headline and it did not disappoint. It contains the recipe, the step by step instruction on how to do it and even a video to show me what to do.

That’s all I needed to make a good home pizza.

Regarding “How -to” content, A Buzzsumo research revealed that How-to content is one of the best content that receives social shares and backlinks. This is because they show readers how to do something.

For example, this article – How to use Facebook custom audiences. received 12,089 shares.

Do you know that how-to headings are the most popularly retweeted phrases on Twitter?

So, add how-to articles to your content calendar to help your readers solve their problem.

2.  Use power words that are emotional and sensory

Since you cannot see your audience physically, and you want to connect with them through your content, there are words that you can use to trigger their emotions and sense organs. They are called power words.

a.  Power words

Words are essential in communicating with your audience and persuading them to buy from you.  Power words are words that make your readers feel something in them. They inspire your readers to take action such as sign up to your email list, download a free report, ask for a quote, etc. There are different types of power words and they are emotional and sensory words.

New: People love to experiment with new things. When promoting your content on social media, add new to it to intrigue your audience to read.  example.

Free: If you don’t love free things, raise up your hand? I am sure you love them. Free e-books, free shipping, free checklist, etc. Add free to your blog post title. For example – 10 ways to create an email marketing strategy (free templates included).

It attracts people to read.

Because: This word allows you to tell your audience the reason why you are doing something. Tell your audience the reason why they need to read your post, buy from you, subscribe to your email list, etc.

Instantly: People love instant gratification. They want to get the benefit now. To use this word in your posts and copies add the words – instant access, 3-minute sign up, in your blog post – you could say – Instant increase in your blog traffic with these 5 strategies.

b.  Emotional words

Emotions help people to make decisions. According to Joe Sugarman – “You sell on emotion, but you justify a purchase with logic”. You need to trigger the emotions of your audience to help them buy from you. There are eight emotional words you can use to connect with readers. They are Joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger and anticipation. Use words that depict these emotions in your headlines, sales copy and product description.

c.  Sensory words

Sensory words are words that activate readers’ sense organs. They are good for storytelling. They make your readers see, feel, hear, taste and smell your words. Sensory words can help you to sell more products and services. Research into menus revealed that describing dishes with sensory words makes more people buy more. It helps you to attract readers when used in your headlines.

For example, look at this headline – 4 delightful editing tips to make your words dazzle and dance.

You can use sensory words in your headlines, in the introduction part of your content and in conclusion.

3.  Write to one customer

When talking to a friend, do you address them as if there were many people around? No. Of course, you talk to them one on one. That is how to get the attention of your readers. Write as if you are addressing a single reader.

Picture them nodding to every point you make in your blog post. Envisage your readers’ reaction to your words. This is where the power words (sensory and emotional words) discussed above comes in.  Use those words to get them to take actions. Use the word ‘you’ often and engage your readers with questions. As you write, share your personal stories. Notice the way I used the pizza story above, it somehow connects, so use more personal stories.

Conclusion

You want to sell more of your products and services?

You can.

It is time to win yourself from the comforting conventional ‘blankie’ (dry) content.

It is time to use business storytelling to sell more.

Stories will help you to attract the right customers effortlessly without hustling, hence sales will just be a byproduct.

The post Features tell but stories sell: 3 Ways to create stories that sell is a post from Content Creation & Marketing for Businesses.