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I’ve started a series about capturing attention in the overcrowded internet. I’m basing the series on the book Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Thrive and Others Die written by Chip and Dan Heath. This book has 6 great principles that will help your site stick in people’s minds. Today we’ll talk about the last principle, Story.

We were made to tell and hear stories. Think about the last time you hung out with a good friend. What did you both talk about? Probably you told each other stories.

When you think about it, our lives are just one big story composed of smaller “sub-stories”. I don’t want to get too philosophical but stories are very powerful.

It’s curious then that online businesspeople talk a lot about statistics, principles, rules, and metrics. These things have their place. However, oftentimes the story aspect of business is neglected. Here are examples where telling stories has impacted niches and businesses and their customers.

Examples

This US News article about Made to Stick shows how Nordstrom uses stories to improve their customer service.

To get employees to buy into the Nordstrom model, the company doesn’t just hold meetings telling floor workers to smile, or use abstract phrases like “world-class customer service.”

What Nordstrom does, instead, is spread motivational stories about “Nordies,” floor employees who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in serving customers. Tales like the Nordie who ironed a shirt so a customer could use it in a meeting; the Nordie who warmed up customers’ cars while they shopped; or the Nordie who wrapped gifts customers had purchased at Macy’s. PowerPoints end, says Dan: “An unexpected story has a chance of living on.”

In my gaming niche, tournament reports are very popular. They generate traffic and buzz. The most popular reports don’t only talk about playing in the tournament. They also mention other things like how the road trip went, meeting new friends, Taco Bell runs, finding a place to stay, flirting with girls, and doing general crazy activities. (My niche audience is mostly 15 to 25 year old males.)

There is some talk today about earning the customer’s trust. Stories help because they build trust. Stories force businesses to be more personable. They increase openness and transparency. People are more likely to buy from companies they are familiar with. Stories help increase that familiarity.

One of the reasons why I paid $79 to buy Aaron Wall’s SEO Book is because he seemed like a trustworthy person whenever I read his very lengthy about page. On this page, he writes about how he got into SEO. He includes details like almost being bankrupt and using his current profits to help feed a couple poor children every month.

I trust Yaro’s product recommendations more than other internet marketers because he told a detailed story of how he became an online businessman. In his story, I could sense that Yaro was someone that appreciated quality products and would only give positive reviews for those type of products.

Be more personable. Tell a story.

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What stories can you tell that would influence your niche audience?

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