Everyone has a story...how it's told matters
Conversationally-crafted brand stories grow your client’s audience and sales while forming deeper connections with their audience
(In a rush? Scroll to the bottom to see testimonials, story examples, and go behind-the-scenes in a live client session.)
So...you’ve noticed your client shares a lot of educational content but seems to be missing opportunities to relate and draw in their audience with personal stories that could bring faster conversions.
You know they’re leaving money on the table because their audience isn't sure they feel comfortable enough yet to say, “Sign me up!”
What’s missing?
The areas that audiences want to know more about before making a buying decision:
1. Expertise: Is your client able to do a great job for them?
2. Journey: Why your client chose their field, sharing the journey that led to their passion. Typically, it's different than your client realizes.
3. Heart: Will the prospective client be well taken care of? Can they share their struggles without judgment? Do they mean more than a dollar sign?
When you combine all three of these pieces into a cohesive story, which is the way our brain naturally digests data and assigns meaning to it, then fence-riders become FAR more likely to turn into paying clients and customers.
Otherwise, it may take months - if ever - to convert people who would love to be clients, if only they knew more about your client.
Buyers today care A LOT about businesses that:
authentically share who they are and what they’re about
have amazing quality products/services
care about humanity
are interesting and fun to follow
What the heck?! That’s a lot to ask for. Thankfully, well-crafted brand stories can address all of that in an interesting, conversational manner.
The two biggest areas where most people get stuck:
1. Brainstorming the people, moments, and events that have shaped their life
2. Determining how to share those pivotal moments in a way that interests and relates to their audience
So, how am I able to quickly find these tucked-away, story gems and pull all the threads together into a neatly-packaged story with someone I just met?
Well, I have an unusual method. I think of myself as an instant biographer who crafts compelling, conversational brand stories...that sell.
My unorthodox approach to create an instant biography brand story
1. Your client completes my 30-minute, memory prompt brainstorm video (with accompanying Google doc to fill in the memories they recall). This is designed to quickly bring as many different memories to the surface as possible.
Why is this necessary? To craft a personal story that becomes your client’s greatest sales tool and sets them apart from the competition, we need to compile several formative, personal experiences to show the transformative story arc that has brought them to their current position. To accomplish this, we need ample resources (memories) at our disposal.
Upon completing the brainstorm, we determine the call to action for the story. (This story is intended to drive sales, so we need to point the audience to something specific.)
After, we wait 2-3 days while your client’s subconscious mind continues processing these memories and recalling many more - again, a treasure trove for us to draw from during our live story session.
2. Next, the most critical day arrives, the live story session, when your client and I spend 60-90 minutes together on a Zoom video call. During this time, we do a deep dive into the brainstorm findings and other memories that stood out. By the end of the call, we have defined the essential components of the brand story outline that includes several snippets about your client’s life: pivotal moments that reveal their personality, the journey of how they collected their expertise and became the person they are today, as well as their character and areas close to their heart that form an emotional bond with their audience.
3. Typically, it only takes a couple business days after the live story session for me to write the rough draft of their brand story and send it over for their review. We spend up to 5 business days going back-and-forth refining it until it feels like a natural conversation piece that is perfect for their needs and written in their voice.
During this process, most clients gain insights into how some of their experiences have shaped who they are that they had never before considered. They often leave with a new perspective, confidence, and clarity in how to share their story so that their audience connects with them more deeply than before.
In total, this process takes between 1-2 weeks from start to finish, often requiring only 3-4 hours of involvement from your client throughout that time: the brainstorm, live session, and revisions.
Places to immediately share this brand story:
website about page
website homepage
sales page
email marketing
freebie intro
speaker bio
webinar intro
pitch for guest spot on podcasts and other press/media opportunities
their own podcast
networking events
blogs
interviews
guest blogs
author bio for articles
Facebook Lives and YouTube videos
written Facebook story on business page
sprinkled through Instagram and Instagram stories (especially when promoting a launch)
Want to explore how story can help you create a more authentic, personalized brand for your client? Click here to schedule a 20-minute call to see if an instant biography brand story is right for your clients.
Here are some examples of client stories, testimonials, and a behind-the-scenes live client session shared on a podcast.
Sam Bell, Brand Stylist of Brand It Girl
“The story Christie helped me to tell not only connected with my customers and made sales, it also reconnected me with who I really am as a person, woman, and business owner.
I was struggling with what made me unique and I knew it was limiting my ability to connect with and sell to the RIGHT people. Christie's story discovery process changed everything! I realised that my story is what makes me unique and that means that the right people connect with it right away!
Christie has a special way of extracting your core stories and pivotal moments with her unique story discovery method. On a personal level, I rediscovered memories I had forgotten and reconnected with the parts of my story that make me unique and that shapes who I am.
Going through Christie’s story discovery process, we found stories that directly connected to my core offering and helped me to sell my program in an authentic, genuine way. I was mid-launch for my membership when I worked with Christie, and after sending out my story in an email to my list, I saw a spike in new members and had more replies from my audience sharing their own stories with me than I had from any other email I have ever sent.
I think the key to this process is that Christie not only knows the right questions to ask and how to craft and polish your story on the other side using advanced literary techniques, but more importantly that she makes you feel instantly comfortable and like your story is valuable right from the first moment. I would recommend Christie to any entrepreneur or online business owner who’s ready to leverage their most unique asset!
Who would have thought that my most valuable selling tool was something I had in my possession all along? Not me! But Christie Bilbrey showed me how to discover my unique story and craft it into copy that sells! And boy did it sell! My story email sold more memberships in my launch than any other marketing tactic I tried!”
Go behind-the-scenes in a live story session to find out exactly how I pull the pieces together during Sam Bell’s Brand It Girl podcast: https://branditgirl.com/blog042
Lauren Pawell, Online Marketing Strategist of Bixa Media
"...you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards..."
“Christie's Instant Biography Brand Story method helped me connect the dots looking backwards and turn them into an approachable, relatable and authentic brand story that I can use in all of my marketing materials.
While I had some of the bits and pieces already in place, I had not connected the dots in the comprehensive way that Christie did.
I have my story open during every podcast interview I do, have used pieces of it on sales calls, and look forward to including it in more public marketing materials moving forward.
I sent the story to a prospect recently and she said: "That's such a great story! I love it - and feel really, really, really great about working with you. I love your pragmatic approach that comes through at the end of the story."
Isn't that what we all want our brand story to accomplish?
If you're on the fence about whether you need a Story Session or not, don't be. This one story can be used over and over and over again in your marketing. The ROI on your work with Christie will pay off in dividends.”
Tonya Rineer, Money Mindset and Law of Attraction Coach
“Christie is the Chris Angel of the brand story world. A true magician when it comes to words!
Before working with Christie, all of the bits and pieces of my life experience seemed so compartmentalized and unrelated. She was able to take all of those pieces and string them together in one cohesive, conversational story that captures my "why" and my message perfectly. I have been telling my story for years - on podcast interviews, on stage, and in everyday conversation - yet, I've never been able to tell is so succinctly. The way Christie is able to find the real, emotional "why" inside all of us is what really enables us to connect with our audience in an authentic and unique way. The value she brings to the table is immeasurable. What she does is truly priceless. “
Click here to see Tonya’s completed story.
Chris Well, Media Expert at Build Your Brand Academy
“As I often explain to students and clients, you can’t watch the parade when you’re in parade. You also need an outside perspective. Not only did Christie Bilbrey provide me with a fresh perspective, she has an uncanny ability to look at life experiences I’d taken for granted and explain their value to my brand. In our session, she helped me connect the dots in my journey—and more importantly, weave them into a narrative to help me explain what I can offer to potential clients and students. If it weren’t for Christie Bilbrey, I’d still be spinning my wheels.”
Dan Tricarico, Teacher and Author of The Zen Teacher
"Thanks to Christie, I started running a Facebook ad to my book's Amazon page this morning and it's already been clicked 7 times since this morning. And the ad copy includes MUCH more of my story than I have ever included in that type of marketing and I think it's helping--and that's all because of her advice."