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Storytelling in Business Is Key to Growth with April Pertuis · Values-First Marketing

• 0:00
  Unknown: Welcome to the copywriting for coaches podcast.
• 0:02
  Unknown: My name is Megan catchin, and I am obsessed with having your brand actually sound like you on the internet. We help you write all the things that you've been trying to articulate about your business but have never been able to put into copy. We're going to go deep to up level your business without adding more to your already full plate.
• 0:18
  Unknown: We'll keep it simple and sustainable. Sound like a breath of relief. Let's dive in your biggest business growth secret.
• 0:25
  Unknown: It may not be sales tactics, it's storytelling. Storytelling in business is so much more than just a trend. It's really here to stay, because it is such a powerful tool for building emotional connections and fueling growth. As a business owner, your story is the key to create lasting relationships with your audience. It's how you show your authenticity, share your experiences and invite others to connect with you. On a deeper level, in this episode, we dive into how storytelling can transform your brand. Our guest, April from light beamers, has spent over 30 years as a journalist, producer and writer.
• 1:05
  Unknown: She now works with people and brands to help them tell their story in a more authentic way.
• 1:13
  Unknown: Today, she shares her journey of discovering the power of storytelling, both in her personal life and in business.
• 1:19
  Unknown: She reveals how even the smallest, most relatable stories can create strong, emotional connections with your audience.
• 1:28
  Unknown: If you don't think you have a story to tell, this episode just might change your mind. So if you ever wonder how, wondered how to share your story, or felt unsure about what parts of your journey to even talk about, what do people even care about? What things should you highlight?
• 1:41
  Unknown: This episode is for you. We'll walk you through the process of finding and telling the right stories to connect with your ideal clients. By the end, you'll feel inspired and ready to leverage storytelling in your business. Let's get started.
• 1:55
  Unknown: Okay, I am so excited for our conversation today, because we're going to be talking about something that clearly lights a fire for you and gets you so excited, and that is storytelling and how it can revolutionize your business. So let's start first. Tell me, why should people share their story, and why does this matter so much to you personally?
• 2:20
  Unknown: Well, storytelling, I just feel like, has been one of those things that's been around since the beginning of time. You know, we we know about it from even the caveman ages and how people documented their existence on this earth. And we know of that through storytelling. And so it's obviously one of those things has just been around for, you know for that long that it's something we should be paying attention to for that reason.
• 2:44
  Unknown: And if you think about it, that's what it is to do, is to document our existence on this earth. And for me personally, I noticed even as an early kid, you know, young age, how I would process things in my life, even in my young adult in my young non adult life, you know, different things that were happening to me, different feelings, that I had, different experiences. It was, it was a natural thing for me to sort of write about that and process it in my journal. So kind of tell the story of what was happening.
• 3:17
  Unknown: And as I got older and noticed how, even in my family, how my parents, who happen to be entrepreneurs, how they have it, how they built relationships with people, you know, they would often have friends who were, now, I know, to be clients over for dinner at our house, and they would sit around the dinner table and they would talk and share stories, you know. And to me, that was a real clue as to how they were developing relationships that could be, you know, personal and also professional relationships. And so I look at how storytelling has had just different kind of impacts in my life, and how it's how it's kind of given me the clues that storytelling is is pretty present in all the things that we do, in the way we communicate with people. So wouldn't it just make sense that we use storytelling to help us grow our businesses, that it's kind of a secret weapon that I think a lot of people are sitting on that they don't really utilize.
• 4:15
  Unknown: Yes, yeah, I totally agree. And that's such a good point that, like, we have been storytelling since the beginning of time, like, this is just, you know, clearly it works, clearly it's memorable. And so, like, why aren't we doing it more? And so, actually, something I hear a lot in copywriting is like, I know I should be telling my story, but I don't know, like, what story to tell or what to say. Or like, My life isn't interesting, or, you know, it's like when someone says, What's your fun fact? And it's just like you instantly feel like the most boring person in the world, like, I can't think of an interesting thing about me, or you feel like another thing is like, you feel like you have to have this like, big tragic loss, or like thing you've overcome, or this trauma story, and now you're on the other side of it. And those stories are great and inspirational and empowering, but what do you do when you feel like you don't have that kind of a story?
• 5:11
  Unknown: Yes, this is a great question.
• 5:11
  Unknown: It's one that I get asked all the time is, you know exactly that well, what story am I telling if I don't really have one of those big overcoming, giant mountain kind of, you know, Herculean type stories.
• 5:25
  Unknown: And the thing about it is, is a lot of people in your audience probably don't either. And sometimes those giant stories often are unrelatable to some people because they also aren't navigating that. And so it really is the quiet, seemingly unimportant stories that we have that make the better connections with our audience, because, you know, the the boring Janes and the boring Joes of the world are also feeling that. And so it's really less about it being about you in that case, and more about creating a connection with another human being. And so it might be the fact that you, you know, share a story, feeling like your story is unimportant, like that could be the story that could be great, and that be a story that would be really relatable to a lot of people. So I think a lot of people are overthinking it, to be honest, when they think, Well, what story would I tell? It's like, well, just tell us something that is important to you, something that's had an impact on you. It could be a story of of something that you're navigating right now, even a small challenge. It doesn't have to be overcoming cancer or overcoming the loss of a child, or, you know, solving world peace, but it could just be the challenge of, you know, you're a young mom, of raising two little kids and working it could be a challenge that you have right now, navigating having a two year old and a four year old. It could be me sharing, navigating having my first child go off to college and leave the nest. I mean, those are really relatable stories, but they're not these giant stories that are, you know, so big that other people can't relate to them, right?
• 7:14
  Unknown: That is such a good point. Yeah, we often feel like we have to have this big story, when actually, just like, the things that are happening in our ordinary everyday life are, like, the most relatable.
• 7:27
  Unknown: Yeah, they really are.
• 7:28
  Unknown: I found, too, is like, when I stop overthinking it and just like, put it out there, that's what relates the most. Gets the most engagement. I get to chat with people more or go deeper on. And I feel like, if, when I think about the last thing, I really connected with someone on via story. It was like we were talking about, like, eating a whole 30 paleo diet, and it was like, just this, like, random, like, yeah, totally unrelated to our businesses. Neither of us are, like, in health coaching or whatever. But it was a connection point for us, and it helped continue to build the relationship.
• 8:06
  Unknown: And that's exactly what story telling does. You know? It creates those connection points.
• 8:09
  Unknown: It helps you build the relationship. And those relationships may be the relationship that ends up helping you build your business.
• 8:18
  Unknown: They may themselves become a client. They may be referral sources, they may be your best collaborator and cheerleader and or none of that. They could just become a really great friend.
• 8:29
  Unknown: And that's cool, too. But we need all of it. We need all of that to go, you know, to make the world go round. And so I think a lot of you know, times we want to kind of cast a vision of like, well, what am I going to get out of it? What's going to be the ROI? And we're really attached to the outcome, and instead, we just, should just go on the journey, you know? We just invite people to go on a storytelling journey and see where it takes you. You might be surprised, yeah, yeah, because the ROI is always there, whether it's monetary or not, and it's not always necessarily the next, you know, in your next move, but it could be further down the line.
• 9:10
  Unknown: Yeah, and I think there's a lot of growth that just happens when, when someone decides to get better at storytelling and to to, like I said, Go on that storytelling journey and just dig into their own personal stories, there's a lot of clarity that starts to come for people, even in just digging into their own story, they start to understand themselves better, and then they are able to really glean the pieces of their story that helps them communicate outward to others who they are and what makes them tick, and you know what they do in the world and why it matters. And so you're able to articulate to other people in a much more clear way, which creates clarity. And so all of those are big wins, right? Like it's great for personal purposes. But then a lot of. Those times, it does transfer into some other more tangible ways in which we might be able to use storytelling for our business and things of that nature. But I always say for people like we're not talking about surface level stuff here.
• 10:11
  Unknown: We're not talking about, you know, the ins and outs of your business. People don't want to hear about that. We don't really care what's inside your business, or how what, how many calls are included in your program, or, you know, any of that. What we care about are the the relationships and the human beings behind the business. I think about anybody that I've ever really worked with, I really took some time to get to know them before I gave them my credit card. And so those are the pieces of your story. When you lean into those a little bit deeper, probably going to make a bigger ROI than you even expect.
• 10:51
  Unknown: Yes, yeah, yeah, I love that, that it's not really about that surface level stuff, but how can you go deeper with with each other? And so, okay, I feel like another common objection, but thing that I hear that prevents people from telling their story, because so many copywriters say, like, you gotta include story in your copywriting. And like, Yes, that's true, but so many people are like, but how do you figure out like, okay, so I know that like, my story is now worth telling, but how do I figure out the right pieces of my story to tell? Because I don't need to necessarily tell my whole life story on the internet. But what are the right pieces that we want to pull out?
• 11:59
  Unknown: Yeah, this is where you need to really be attuned to your audience. So I always say the number one rule of storytelling is to know who you're talking to first. I mean, know the audience that you would be writing that email for or writing the sales page for, right? So really understanding your ideal client at a deeper level allows you to tell pieces of your story that are actually going to just mimic theirs. So I always say at that point, you're not really telling your story for the purpose of telling someone your whole story, because no one really and now some people want to know your whole story, like your mom and your sister or maybe your best friend, but you know your your your clients aren't necessarily looking at you for that. They're looking to find what we've already been talking about those connection points.
• 12:44
  Unknown: And so that's where you want to discern. Would does my client, my ideal client, my potential client, my audience, the person that's going to read this email.
• 12:56
  Unknown: Do they really need to know that detail, or is this all they really need to know? Is this going to be the piece that will connect to them. So you want to learn to tell your story in a way that's going to allow your audience to see themselves in your story, right? So it's a relatable pieces. It's the pieces that are not just so specific to you, your unique situation, and this particular detail that only had to do with you and the person that was also in your story. You know, it's just not about that stuff at all. It's more of the feelings and the emotions of what you experienced is really what is going to be more relevant? Yeah?
• 13:37
  Unknown: Yeah, yeah. I feel like this is, like, part of my job as a copywriter, and especially with like, done for you client work, a lot of it is just like these don't even have the mental capacity, because so many, you know, all the moving pieces in business, and they're just able to kind of word vomit and, like, brain dump, like, all these pieces and parts and like, how do we put the pieces together? And then I'm able to, like, whittle down, like, what like you said, what is actually relevant, what is going to connect based on the the audience research. How do we bring out these feelings and emotions? How do we, like, make it about you, but like, not really about you, because it's about how you are connecting with them. And I love what you said about like, tell the pieces that are going to of your story that are going to mimic theirs, because that is the most powerful thing. When you hear someone telling their story, and you're like, Wait, that's my story too. You know, on some extent, like, there are few things more powerful, or can, can really it is powerfully to someone than than having that moment.
• 14:47
  Unknown: Yeah, I mean that. That's the goal that we're really after and and telling stories. And my company, light beamers, I have a tagline that when you share your story, you shine a light. And what that means is, when you share a story, and you do it from this standpoint of finding the things are going to relate the most to your audience, and tell the relevant pieces of your story that are going to impact them. You're making the story about them. You're not making the story about you. That's really when you're going to shine the most light. That's it's literally like illuminating the way for someone else so that they can, number one, see themselves. In your story. And a natural reaction you want them to have is, Oh, thank goodness I'm not alone, right? And, oh, that's me too. And, and then from that, they can start to they just almost, you know, visibly, take a step forward towards you. They come a little closer to you. They lean in.
• 15:39
  Unknown: They say, if this is how she is, and I can relate to her. What else might I, you know, find out about her and be able to explore, and that's where, you know, they can see themselves wanting to work with you. I literally just had a call with a potential new client today, earlier in the day, and she was saying to me, she's like, you know, I've been following you for a while, and she's kind of been in my my community and paying attention, reading my emails and things of that nature. And she's like, and I could just tell, because I tell a lot of stories, right? I I make myself known to my audience. And so she said to me, I could just tell that you have a similar you have a vibe that I could gel with, like we have similar energies. Now, this was the very first time I'd ever been on a call talking with her.
• 16:31
  Unknown: All of that had come through, basically my copywriting in some way, right in my storytelling, but she already knew that before she even got on the call with me, and the call was designed to explore if she wanted to come into one of our programs or not, and at the end of the day, she did, you know, like by the end of that call, she did, but I'm, I actually think she already knew she was going to do that before the call had even happened. Yeah, like so much of the legwork had already been done in my storytelling and in my visibility and my persistence and my my my regularity in which I show up, and all of that is compounded, right? But that is, that's how you're moving people into action. That's how they step a little bit closer to you and take action to maybe, you know, become a client, or decide to hang out in your world a little bit longer, because they really want to feel like they can that, that that you're illuminating the way for them, that you're just showing them the path, and they can see themselves working with you, because we have that vibe, and they have a similar energy. So it's just so valuable. And it's a it's kind of one of those soft skills. You know, storytelling is a soft skill that doesn't get enough press because we want to know how to do digital marketing. We want to know the skill around copywriting. We want to know how to build a funnel. We want to know how to set up a website, and all those things from very like tangible skills and the storytelling piece is something that is subtle but really powerful once you figure it out, yeah, yeah. Like, try and imagine a funnel that doesn't tell a story, or copywriting without any story, like they're just not. This won't work. It doesn't work. No, that's when people say my funnel is broken, right? Okay, well, let's find out why. Yeah, yeah, yep. And that leads me into my next question. Is you talked about and this is something that you are so good about. It's like you are so regular in showing up for your people, for your audience.
• 18:30
  Unknown: You are always there consistently. And maybe that answers my next question, and I was going to ask you, what is your best advice around getting visible and building that audience so that more people can connect with you and your story.
• 18:44
  Unknown: Well, I'll answer that question.
• 18:44
  Unknown: It is around the consistency, but I'll answer a kind of a different question, which is, like, how do you get visible?
• 18:50
  Unknown: Like, how do you stay consistent? Right? Because people always ask me that. And the reason it, you know, this is probably going to ruffle some feathers, but hopefully that's okay, because the real reason why people don't get visible is because they're just uncomfortable doing it, and the reason why they're uncomfortable doing it is they're still making the story about them. So I don't want to get and I hear this all the time. Why don't I'm just so nervous. Like, what are the people gonna think? Like, I'm afraid that if I get on video, I don't like how I look and I don't like how I sound, and, you know, I could go do some podcast interviews, but, like, I'm not very good at it, you know, so all you're hearing is, this is all about me. This is all about me. This is all about me. This is all about me. And honestly, you're gonna have to, not you Megan, but the audience listening, right? Like, everyone's just gotta get over themselves. This is not about you. So I decided the reason why I am so consistent and I am so visible and I say yes to a lot of opportunities that get me out there is because I actually care more about helping people than I care about what people think about me like I know I know a lot about storytelling, and I know a lot about visibility, and I know how to teach people how to do this, because I've been doing it for 30 years, so I but even if I hadn't, because there's some people that are new to their business, right? Even if you don't have 30 years of experience. Audience. Do you have a desire to help people?
• 20:25
  Unknown: And if you they can just tap into that desire and make that stronger, then you're unease with seeing yourself on camera or posting on social media or getting in front of a microphone to do an interview for a podcast, then that's how you're going to get more more consistent with it. So every day, when I sit in front of my computer, it, I just come at it, just, it's almost just innate now, like, I just come at it with, like, Who do I get to talk to today? Who do I get to be in front of today? Who do I get to help today? I'm not worried so much about, are they going to like, how I do this? Or, you know, am I? Am I going to get that? Is that sales call going to turn into a client? I'm not attached to the outcome. I'm not attached to the outcome. I just show up do my thing, and trust that if you know, I've done the work of sharing the stories and making my brand very known and very visible and very relatable, and that if all of those things are in place, then the right people are going to come in and do this work with me, and then that's the person I get to help and yay. It's like such a win.
• 21:35
  Unknown: So that's how I'm able to be so consistent, is that I care more about the impact I'm here to have in the world than my appearance, if you will, yeah, yeah, or my reputation, right, right? And I think that's really it. Like, this is not another hack, but like, truly, it is the mindset shift, because I see this in in copywriting as well. People have tell me they've bought templates or whatever else, and then they don't use them because they can't. They're too afraid to actually put it out there. And then, when we work together, we start working through like, Well, why? Why do you care about this so much? Why is this your mission? Like, what? Why does this really matter to you? What?
• 22:21
  Unknown: Like, why? Why is this such a big deal? And then when we get into that space and then start talking about what you do from that energy, it's like, then the copy almost just writes itself and does exactly what you're saying. Like, there's so many parallels between, you know, the story. Like, why storytelling works, why copywriting works.
• 22:44
  Unknown: And, like you said, like, if you have all those right pieces in place, then the lagging indicator, so to speak, like, the like, inevitable result is that, like, the right people are going to come in and work with you. And key word there, the right, the right people. That's exactly right? Yeah, you know, I mean, I shared the story of, you know, one client that I got to new client that I got a welcome on board today, on the converse of that, I had a another call today in which it that what she wasn't necessarily the right ideal client, just not yet. She's not ready. She's not at a certain stage. And so it wasn't even, it was a, it was a call that I didn't even make an offer, you know, I didn't even suggest we do work together, because I'm not needy. I don't need someone who isn't right at that. You know, that would be wrong. That would just not make my success rate any better, and it really would not be the right service for her right, I would be doing her an injustice there. And so instead, I pointed her in a different direction, a place where she could tap into some free resources and some opportunities that we have available. But it's not necessarily her coming into to do work with me, and I think that's so important that, and again, it just kind of goes back to, you know, getting people to realize that they can, kind of, like, I've said it a couple of times already, just detaching yourself from the outcome and not being so needy and trusting that there's plenty of opportunities out there. It's going to require you to get out there and put yourself out there for them. But not every single conversation, not every single person on your email list, not every single person that follows you on social media is going to become a client, right? So just, just accept that, you know, and so that that just relieves the pressure valve, I think, a lot, and you can just get to show up more genuinely and authentically and relaxed and calm and and it just gets to be more fun. So there again, I can be very consistent with my visibility, because I'm not grasping at every single thing that's there.
• 24:59
  Unknown: I'm just trusting the process and knowing that I'm actually in this for the long haul. When I first started light beamers, I didn't have anything in play. I didn't know how to do digital marketing. I didn't even know what copywriting was. I mean, I literally, I mean, that was a term I had to learn in the digital marketing space. It was not a term that. A journalist, which was my former, you know, profession even knows anything about, trust me. I mean that, like, I wasn't a print journalist, I was a video journalist, so we didn't do copywriting. Okay? So these terms, terminology are so business specific, and very much the online business world, which, in the grand scheme of things, is a really small, small, little.on the internet.
• 25:46
  Unknown: Yep. And so when I first started, I literally did not know anything, and I just said, but you know what I do? Know I know storytelling, and so I don't know how to do a lot of this stuff yet. I know I'm going to learn, I'm going to figure out email marketing. I'm going to learn how to build a website.
• 26:04
  Unknown: I learn what these funnels are, and I have but in the beginning, I didn't know any of it, and I just said, but you know what I do know how to do is I know how to speak, and I'm just going to get on the internet, I'm going to talk every day, and I'm just not going to shut up. And that was my marketing plan, and it pretty much is still the marketing plan that I have today. Now it has a few more bells and whistles because there's a website attached to it and there's some funnels attached to it, but I mean, honestly, it's literally that simple, like, if you're just willing to get out in front of your people, you will attract that. You gotta speak to them, you gotta talk, you gotta share something. But if you're willing to do that, I think you're going to have some success, you know.
• 26:47
  Unknown: And copywriting is a form of that for sure.
• 26:50
  Unknown: Yeah, yeah, I love that. And I think that's really, like, it's as easy or as hard and as simple as that, of like, there are so many opportunities out there, but you have to get out there.
• 27:02
  Unknown: You have to get in front of people. You have to be comfortable and really own your story. This is me. This is who I am. It's it's an identity issue, I feel like, at its root, at its core of knowing, knowing that being confident showing up there so that you can relate to people, connect people, and, by extension, make the connections, make the impact that you want to make, and that primarily happens through telling your story, even those funny, little, silly, ordinary stories throughout your day, exactly, yeah, it can be the little things. It can absolutely be the little things. Yeah, things are the big things they are, yep, they are wonderful.
• 27:47
  Unknown: And if we would love to continue the conversation with you, follow you learn more about light beamers and really get on her email list. Hear the stories that she tells, see her consistency in showing up. So April, if they want to connect with you more, where, where would be the best place to do that?
• 28:08
  Unknown: Yeah, there's a there's a couple of places I would direct people.
• 28:11
  Unknown: Number one would be our own podcast. We have a podcast called The Inside Story. Though, if you're listening to this podcast, you're obviously a podcast fan, a podcast listener.
• 28:20
  Unknown: So that might be the most natural kind of place to go follow us is on our podcast, and actually start listening to some of the episodes that teach around storytelling. You'll hear me sharing stories my own story on that show, as well as having guests. And then another great spot is our community. We have an online Facebook group, private Facebook group that is very engaged and active in storytelling, and we do prompts and a lot of free challenges and resources that we share inside that community. And just joining that community, you'll automatically get added to our email list, because we do require an email. We don't it's a free community, but we require an email to get there, because we actually do want to be in communication with you. We don't want to just, you know, not know about you. So that's a great way to get on our email list as well. Is to join our Facebook group, and then you can just go to our website, lightbeamers.com and just see what else we have going on. There's lots of stuff that we do and free guides that you can download, but I would definitely recommend either our podcast or our community or both, to get started. Awesome.
• 29:29
  Unknown: Thank you so much.
• 29:31
  Unknown: Thanks for having me.
• 29:32
  Unknown: Thank you for tuning in to the copywriting for coaches podcast.
• 29:35
  Unknown: If you've been enjoying these episodes, let me know that you're listening and what you love about it by clicking on the copywriting for coaches show in Apple podcasts and leaving me a review, be sure to subscribe while you're there, so it's easy to catch new episodes every week if you want digital resources to finish that copy project you've been working on, the links are all waiting for you at copywriting for coaches podcast.com