Blogging is nothing more than telling a story that is compelling. In this presentation I explore the key tactics to telling stories that improve sales for small businesses. Presented at the Social Media Conference Silicon Valley.

1. STORIES THAT SELL
Poornima Vijayashanker
@poornima
poornima@bizeebee.com

2. POWER OF STORYTELLING
Why tell a story?
What makes a good story?
Milk it...

3. WHY TELL A STORY?

4. LIFESPAN OF CONTENT
email 1 week
tweet 1 hour max (if not its not re-tweeted)
blog post 1 day (3 months if content is searched)
Word of mouth is the strongest medium for SMBs.
Stories create memories that have a long life and can be shared easily.

5. WHAT MAKES A GOOD STORY?

6. CONTENT IS A CONVERSATION
Know thy audience
Keep language simple
Play with audacity
Key is quality not quantity & repeatability

7. GOALS
Before you blog or if you have writer’s block...
What are you goals?
Become an expert or goto person - drive more traffic to your site
Increase sales - get people to buy your product or services

8. EXPERT

9. STORIES THAT TEACH
Fit the story into what they are going through.
Teach your customers how to use your product.
Simple bulleted how to.
Link to previous posts to showcase
your knowledge again.
Images are part of the story.

10. SALES

11. STORIES THAT CONNECT
Images of your product.
Highlight creativity of the customer.
Give customer credit.
Simple problem that creates connection.

12. MILK IT...

13. FOCUS ON THE CONVERSATION FIRST
Revisit posts & add keywords second.
Tweet post, re-tweet again a few days later.
Include in newsletters.

14. REVIEW
Why tell a story?
What makes a good story?
Milk it...