How to Tell Your Story

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Hey friends 👋 ,

To be a world-leading founder, investor or persuader, you've got to be a world-leading storyteller.

Today we're heading straight into part 2 of your seed fundraising strategy– how to tell your story.

Read time: 2 minutes

How to Tell Your Story

1. Start with "Why"

• Nobody cares what you can do

• Everybody cares what you can do for them

• Leading with why draws the attention of the people you can help

2. Tailor to the listener

• Clearly define who your audience is

• Employees, customers or investors

• Ask yourself "What do they want?"

• Adjust your message appropriately

3. Pass the "So What?" test

• "We make", "We do" or "We supply" doesn't get customers

• Talk about what you do? Your customer will think "so what"

• Talk about how you do it? Your customer will think "so what"

• Instead, talk about why it matters to them

4. Keep it simple

• Complexity creates friction

• Make your message simple enough to grasp & get excited about

• Tell it from memory

• Pull on the variables of length and complexity to suit the listener

5. Layer in emotion

• It's not what you say, it's not what you do

• It's how you make them feel

• Your story needs to drive the listener to action

• Change the way they feel, change the way they act

6. Make it a highlight reel

• People remember a random sample of the information you tell

• Don't pack your story with every selling point

• Stick to a simple message that you repeat in different ways

• Few things to remember → audience will remember what matters

7. Anchoring

• The pain from a loss is much worse than the pleasure from a win

• Anchor your listeners reference point to persuade with ownership

• Let them see the product/service in action through a demo

• They will have to suffer a loss if they do not 'buy in'

8. Framing

• Use the collective first person

• Speak as if they've already made the decision to buy

• "You'll have benefit ABC" or "We will solve problem XYZ"

• People don't like giving something up

9. Speak directly to your audience

• The internet has commoditised the reporting of facts

• Have personality to grab attention

• Context your story on a human level, non an institutional level

10. Humanise your brand

• Humans crave genuine connection with one another

• Broadcast messages on a human-to-human level

• Narrow the focus and up the quality of the content you produce

A Little Something Extra

• 📈 Audience Coaching: I've recently had 1 spot open up for audience growth coaching. This is direct 1-1 mentorship by me to help you grow your personal or business brand on Twitter and LinkedIn. Feel free to reply to this email or DM me @thealexbanks if you'd like to secure the last spot.

That’s all for today friends!

As always feel free to reply to this email or reach out @thealexbanks as I’d love to hear your feedback.

Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you next Monday.

Alex

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