This is Lesson Four in a series of six posts that preview just some of the content we’ll be working on in the Put the Mojo in Your Message training starting February 14th (this is a new group at a new day and time). You can read the earlier posts here: http://soundbiteshaman.com/category/impact-and-income.

Every single business owner needs to be able to use written words to tell the story of what they offer and why it’s important. It doesn’t even matter so much that story is being told on a flier, on a webpage, or in a promotional email. Regardless of where those written words are showing up, telling a compelling story (not your personal rags-to-riches story, but a clear flow of ideas) is key to promoting and selling your programs, products, and services.

In fact, the biggest underlying reason I see business owners struggle with copy is that they haven’t actually worked out yet what they are trying to say. That’s why I encourage all my clients to take the time to write that basic story about what they offer, before worrying about what the program or product is, or what the details of the offer are, or where the words are going to appear.

And, once you invest the time in writing your basic story, then most of your copy is already written, you just need to add:
• Headlines and sub-heads
• Bullet points
• Offer details
• And a strong call to action

Here’s the thing, all marketing pieces, have an underlying structure. And what is really cool is that if you understand that structure, then writing your story becomes much, much easier.

So, the simple formula for creating your basic story, the formula that underlies pretty much every effective marketing piece is The Pain + The Hope + The Plan. What you have to say about these three things will be fundamentally the same for most of your offers. So when you write this “story” in a way that satisfies you, you’ll be able to write copy with more fluidity and ease.

Let’s talk a bit about each of these sections:

The Pain

So the Pain is where you write a little bit about what you see is the challenging situation that your prospective client is experiencing before they know that you exist.

The big fear here is that by writing about your audience’s pain that you’re being manipulative. The truth is that while evoking pain can be done in a manipulative manner, it can also be done in a deeply compassionate manner. It’s not supportive to see someone in pain, and then pretend that pain doesn’t exist. Is it?

It only becomes manipulative if you’re trying to whip people in to a pain that they never had before you started talking. Or you’re exaggerating the scenario to accentuate the fear.

And truthfully, the only way your audience will know that you can help them with the very real challenges that they are facing, is if you can talk about those challenges in a way that convinces them that you have some understanding and intimacy of who they are and what they’re up against.

What I want you to consider is that the Pain section is actually where you’re creating connection with your audience!

The beginning of any marketing piece, you need to “get people in the door” and give them a reason to keep reading. And the best way to do that is to show them that you know who they are and what they are experiencing.

The Hope

This is where you want to paint a vivid and compelling picture of how great life can be when someone takes the leap of faith and experiences the transformation you have to offer.

A very simple way to think about this is the Pain is the before, and the Hope is the after. The Hope is the relieving of the Pain.

So the Hope section will be a blend of the outcomes, solutions, and experiences your audience knows they’re looking for (even before they know you exist) with the concepts and ideas that you hold most dear. When you blend them together, it really makes your story very compelling.

If I were writing the story for my business, using this principle, I might write about practical outcomes that result from working with me, like having a successful business, getting more clients, making more money, but I would also write about the things that are meaningful to me, like connecting with the deepest message you’re here to share, and the satisfaction of knowing that you’re fulfilling what you were called here to do. I would write about both of those.

Within this section, you can go back and forth between the practical outcomes and the deeper meaning. If you had to put it in order, I often recommend you talk about the practical benefits first and then unfold in to the deeper meaning.

So, if use an example about a woman going through a divorce; it would sound like: “When you connect with and recognize your own beauty, then this is what becomes possible. You move out in to the world with more confidence. You engage in relationships from a different place. You have more courage and confidence to create new friendships or even new romantic relationships.”

The most touching, moving writing has a well-developed Hope section. Copy that feels more flat or superficial, or hype-y, tends to not have a well-developed Hope section.

The other thing that will happen is this section will go flat if you’re only focusing on the concrete, tangible outcomes, and you’re not including your deeper meaning. And then it’ll sound more like, “Oh, are you having trouble finding words and communicating what you do? Well, I can help you get more clients and make more money and it’s going to be great.”

It actually will feel disconnected. It will feel like, well, wait, we were just talking about one struggle, and now you’re talking about a solution. But there is nothing in between to help your reader shift from one to the other.

The Plan

The final part in our formula is the Plan.

In finished copy, the plan can be as simple as the next step your reader needs to take to move towards a solution of their challenge, or as complex as you walking them through your process. It’s either “here’s what you need to do next,” the call to action, or a longer description: “Let me walk you through how I help you to go from the before to the after.”

So what that will sound like is something like, “So what I do is teach you the five steps of shifting your beliefs so that you can earn more money.” Or, “What I do is guide you through the four phases of loving your life as a single woman.” Or, “What I do is take you through four steps to aligning with our deeper message and bringing that out in your business communication.”

To have credibility, you want to give it structure. I recommend you have a defined number of ingredients or elements or components. And you want to craft that phrase that says, “So what I do is…” and then you have some kind of verb. It can be “Teach you,” or “Guide you through,” or “Support you with,” and then you want the number of things, and then that last piece is about the outcome.

“What I do is teach you the five steps of shifting your beliefs on a deep level so you can earn more money. ”

So if you’re writing a longer written piece, like a web sales page, after you say that first line, like “The five steps of shifting your belief,” you would actually want to list what the five steps were, and you might actually write a paragraph or have a bullet list under each of those five steps. That would be the long version.

In a free report, you might say, “I like to guide you through the four phases of loving your life as a single woman.” In that report, you might write about each of those four phases.

In a promotional email, again, if you said “I have five steps to better business results,” you might bullet list the five steps and then have the call to action. Or you might say: “I want to teach you my five steps to better business results,” and then you might have a link to a register for a free teleclass where you actually then give all five steps and talk a little bit about each.

The great thing that you’re demonstrating is that when you know your basic story, and you’ve written it, you can use it in a longer piece, you can use it in a shorter piece, you can use parts of it. It gives you so much flexibility.

Clients just have told me over and over that once they’ve written this basic story, they are so much more clear and confident about the value that they have to offer. They are finally focused on the story they’re here to tell. They’re not trying to tell ten different stories.

My clients use this basic story as a reference piece in their library so that whenever they have to write a new marketing piece, they go back to this and they pull from it. They spend much less time writing than they did before when they had to write everything from scratch.

Our original Mojo group sold out before the early bird pricing ended, so we’ve added a second section slated to start on Tuesday, February 14th. You can get all the details and instructions on applying here: http://soundbiteshaman.com/mojo-home.

During the process of creating my Core Message with Isabel, I really struggled with the fear that there was no need for what I wanted to offer, that people wouldn’t want it, and that they wouldn’t pay me for it. I have to say, the process pushed every button I have!

Isabel’s approach to message creation goes much deeper than simply ‘writing good marketing copy,’ which is what most business owners focus on exclusively (a big mistake, I have learned!)

Instead, Isabel took me down a path of discovery to learn what I am here on earth to say and do… and as a result, I looked closely at what I really love, what I’m here to share, and the changes, feelings, and experiences I most want to create through my work. Writing from that Core Message is so much more powerful and compelling than simply ‘writing copy!’

Sue Rasmussen www.suerasmussen.com

If you would like someone to guide you gently through the process of creating your basic story, so you have words you can adapt and use over and over again, join us for my Put the Mojo in Your Message training and let me help.

I’ll give you feedback as you lay out what you have to say, and show you how you can turn that basic story into simple, effective copy.

Go to http://soundbiteshaman.com/mojo-home and request your full, detailed information packet. Hop on over and do it today as extended early bird pricing ends on Friday, February 3rd !

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