Strategic Storytelling Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D.

Business owners, especially those with small businesses that offer professional services, often get advised to, "Make your mess your message." 
This is awful advice for marketing.
In this packed-tight-with-information episode, I show how sharing your mess can actually harm your business.
You will learn:
1 - Where “Your mess is your message” really comes from (and how TV anchor Robin Roberts used that expression)
2 - How my early message was seriously misunderstood: they read my story as a “mess.” It wasn’t.
3 - How another story was misunderstood: a woman who turned down a scholarship to Juilliard and whose career is just about gone.
4 - The importance of audience reaction to your story: when you put your story out there, they will judge you.
5 - Why the advice to “be vulnerable” can lead to unexpected reactions (and sharing your mess can turn away your ideal clients)
6 - Why anticipating your mess can become a self-fulfilling prophecy
7 - How sharing your mess can lead to an energy drain among your followers (and why I decided NOT to share my cat story)
8 - How sharing your mess can make you seem less likeable 
9 - When it’s time to share your messy life (with a good example from Angela Duckworth)
10 - How a marketing coach (Connie Ragen Green) turned a mess into a triumph (read her book about her cross-country trip)
11 - How to recognize examples of good stories, with examples. 
12 -What lessons I've learned from stories where people absolutely did not connect (and what really works)
References: 
 The Road Trip, by Connie Ragen Green  
My ebook on Amazon - Grow Your Business One Story At A Time.  Free with Kindle Unlimited.
My consultation, the Strategic Intensive, which will help you identify a good story.

How to tell a story that sells: a DIY home study course.

Online course creation has become a major industry. If you're a business owner, your course gives you new opportunities to grow your business, find clients and gain credibility. 
Designing a course can be challenging. How do you know what to include? How do you figure out how to sequence the modules? 
Explore a new way to design your course by starting with a story. You'll appeal to more students and have fun with the process. 
My course on course creation is 
http://mycopy.info/createyourcourse
Use the code COURSE50 for a 50% discount as a thankyou for listening.
Free guide: 17 surprising ways to grow your business with storytelling
http://mycopy.info/17ways 

Your story's location may seem trivial or straightforward. 
"It's a beach story." 
"One day I was in my home office..."
"Mary went home to apartment 3701..."
Don't those locations bring a special vibe to your story? The story's location tells a lot about your characters and about you.
If Mary lives in apartment 3701, she'll seem different from someone living in apartment 301. 
She'll seem even more different from someone living on a farm.
If she lives in the middle of a city, her whole life will be vastly different from someone living in the suburbs, let alone in the country.
If you're working from a kitchen table you're very different from someone working from the patio of a large estate.
In this episode we touch briefly on the power of a story's location.   
Does your story's location fit your story archetype?
What if you want to change the story's location? And why should you? 
What are some mistakes people make when assigning a location to their story?
Listen here for the answers.
RESOURCES:
FREE: What is a story archetype (and what's yours)? 
COURSE: What is a story that sells - a selling story? How does that differ from a paid story?
FREE PODCAST: What is a Role Model story archetype? Who's a good example?
FREE PODCAST: Can your audience relate to your story?

Branding and selling are very different activities in business. 
A branding story introduces you to your audience. It tells something about you and how you provide the service. 
A selling story makes the audience say, "I want what she's having!" 
In this episode I explain the difference and show that one story can be both. I illustrate with 4 powerful examples of good stories. 
One story is purely a branding story.  The three others establish a brand and also help you sell.
Resources:

Episode 141: What makes a story relatable (or why your audience can't follow your story)
 
Episode 117: What's a Role Model archetype? Interview with Cindy Bidar.
 
Book: What's a good business story?
 
Free report: What's the archetype system of branding?
 
How do you tell a selling story? A self-study course.
 
How do you brand with a story? A self-study course.
 
My website: https://cathygoodwin.com
 
Consultation: https://CathyGoodwin.com/storyconsult
 

It's really important to be innovative in your business. 
Being innovative is one of the ways people realize you are credible. You've gone beyond the basics to develop your own framework or explain your ideas in a new way.
But will you market yourself as an innovator? That's a different question.
In this podcast we will ...
...explain the difference between innovation in business and innovation as an archetype
...show examples of business owners who are true innovators vs. those who innovate but brand differently
...explain why you may not want to market as an Innovator. 
RESOURCES:
The archetype framework (and how to decide which one is yours)

My book on storytelling (available as an Amazon ebook)

Another podcast: a Role Model archetype 

Home study course: Brand yourself with storytelling

You've probably heard that "your story must bring out emotion in your listeners."
And that's because you've also heard, "People buy on emotions." 
But is that always true? 
Lots of times people make buying decisions based on logic and rationality. They evaluate the offer coolly, based on their needs. 
The truth is, sometimes people make buying decisions without bringing emotion into the picture at all. Educator archetypes rarely tell emotional stories; they don't expect their clients to make decisions emotionally at all.
In this episode you will learn...
...why the phrase "people buy on emotion" is only partly true
...when people buy on emotion (even if they know they need to be more rational) 
...how and when to use purely rational stories that bring forth no emotion at all
...how a story can restore the balance between emotion and logic
...the way you can use emotional appeals in stories

Don't forget to subscribe and leave a rating and review, preferably on the Apple site.
Resources:
Book on Amazon: Grow your business one story at a time
Free guide: Your story archetype (and a quiz to reveal yours)
This episode mentioned
Carlos Batara
Ian Brodie
Alicia Forest