[0:00] Music.
[0:13] Hey, welcome back. I've got part three of my compelling content challenge for you today. If you haven't listened to the first two parts, go back and listen to those because those have some amazing tips to help you with your content. My mission and goal for this four-part series is for you to have some guidance when you go to create your content, especially, you know, right now it's December. It's the busiest time of the year for many moms and business owners. So I wanted you to have some resources at your fingertips to help you, one, make content creation easier, where the stories and the ideas come more easily, two, to make it faster, where instead of spending hours and hours putting together one post, it's something you can write and type up quickly in 15 minutes and put it out there instead of holding on to it and trying to over-edit and perfect it forever.
[0:59] So like I said, this is part three. This is storytelling.
[1:02] And I'm probably not the first person for you to hear from about how important storytelling is in your content, but there's a unique angle I want to talk about today that I've been testing in my own content that's working really well. You probably won't be surprised to know that my top three best performing posts from the last 30 days, I used this exact method. I'm also not going to go into the nitty gritty of why storytelling is so important because I think you probably already get that too. But just a quick high level i think storytelling is the number one best way to get people's attention because a lot of us have been taught to create value share value and share educational tips and hacks which is great except for when everyone is saying the same exact educational tips and hacks so the one thing that you have that can make you stand out that can help people go oh this is different that can make people in the middle of their scroll think oh this is there's something interesting here that's worth me stopping and paying attention to. And that's telling your own story, stories from your own life. Those are things that you have that no one else can duplicate or replicate.
[2:08] And it's really important for you to start to develop the skill of one, how to tell stories. But I think people, I think humans are naturally good storytellers. And so I'm not really going to go into like how to tell the story today. I mostly want to talk about how to get the ideas for the stories to come to your brain when you're creating content. Second reason why storytelling is super important in your content is because it builds trust. It shows that you're a real human being, that you've been through the real stuff, that you've been through hard things and you've made it through and you created amazing results, whether they're financial or results in your marriage or results with your kids or results in your home or results with your meal prep and planning, results with your health. When you can demonstrate, show to your audience that you kind of know what you're talking about because you have walked the walk, your audience is going to go, she might know something that I don't know. And that might be information that would be worth paying to get access to.
[3:03] Next reason is that stories create real connections. That's kind of a similar thing to building trust, but I really like to tell my stories in my audience because I want people to feel like they know me, like they know what's going on in my life behind the scenes, like they know where I come from. And the last reason, not the last reason, another one of the reasons of the many is that stories evoke emotions. So mostly I'm going to talk a lot about how you've probably already heard me say this, especially if this is the third episode of the content challenge you've listen to. But educational content is basically out, in my opinion. If you're sharing tips and hacks, that's a really good first base,
[3:39] first level, grade school level content creation way to create content. But the next level, if you're ready to take it to the big leagues, is one of these examples like telling stories. So a lot of content that I see, especially from coaches and service providers, is actually amazing and insanely valuable. The problem is a lot of us are kind of posting it as like inspirational quotes.
[4:04] And we're sharing these insights that we've had from our own lived experience or sharing insights that we've had with our clients or things that we work on frequently with our clients. And we try to share that amazingness in the form of like an inspirational message or an inspirational quote, which is good, except it's missing the context. And so when I see a post like that, it doesn't land as powerfully as it could. I think a lot of coaches and service providers are sharing these insights, but the dots don't connect because it's missing the supporting details that make it interesting, first of all, and also make it meaningful for me to go
[4:42] like, how does this apply to me? So I'll give you some examples in just a minute. But this is what I would recommend. This is the tip. Instead of posting content that's like inspirational or valuable, I want you to just ask yourself this question. This really important principle that I want to share with my audience today, how did I learn that?
[5:02] What's the story behind what happened that helped me distill that message, that thing? So again, let me give you some examples because I love examples, especially with content. So example number one, these are, I'm actually going to walk you through my top three performing posts from this last month and you can go look at them. You can use them as a content masterclass if they're useful. So one of my top performing posts from this month, basically the message that I wanted to share with my audience is you need to take a stand for something in your marketing. You need to be willing to raise your hand and say, this is how I think. And you can, if you agree with me, come along. If you don't agree with me, then unfollow. Basically, you don't have to say it quite like that because I know for some of you that feels really hard. But that's basically the principle that I wanted to share. So I had some options, right? If I wanted to share this principle, I could have just on my post said something like, your content isn't getting engagement because you're not taking a stand for something.
[5:58] Which is like, I would give that like a level B plus quality. It's like, okay, it's like kind of clear, but I'm not sure why I should care, right? Or I could have said it this way, your engagement will increase when you take a stand for something in your marketing. And it's like, okay, that is such a good feeling statement. It's kind of fluffy, but it's also really hard for me to wrap my mind around because I'm not sure exactly what you mean by that. This is the thing that I see coaches and service providers doing super frequently and it makes sense why. And it's because we're so good as practitioners. We know exactly what our audiences need to hear. We just need to shift around the delivery of it a little bit so that it gets people to listen. So like I said, these are the questions that I ask myself to shift this content around. So for example, this thing that I wanted to say, which is you need to take a stand for something in your marketing. When I ask myself the question, how do I know that? How do I know that that's important or wise or smart for someone to do? And then the answer came to me in the form of, well, one time.
[7:01] So that's the formula. How do you know that? And then start your story with, well, one time, and then insert whatever comes out, whether it's a story from your own life, whether it's a story from someone you know, maybe it's a story from one of your clients, maybe it's just something, a story that you heard out there somewhere in the world that has made sense to you and stuck with you. I don't care where the story comes from, but I really like that just for my own brain, if I was sitting down on the couch next to you having a real life conversation with you, that's what I would say. If you ask me, how do you know that? I would say, well, this one time I was having a conversation with a client, or this one time I was really struggling with.
[7:38] Fill in the blank. So for this example, basically what the story that I wanted that resulted when I asked myself the question, how do I know that,
[7:46] was a story about one time several years ago. This is when I was running my product business, but I posted a quote. Actually, I'm just going to read you the post on Instagram so that you can kind of see the method because I did still teach the principle. I did still share the thing that I wanted to say, but I told the story first so that could understand why it would be important and that you could understand why it would be important for you. Because I could tell stories about myself all day long, right? And I basically do, but it takes, there's one extra little step we need to add about connecting it back to why that would be important for your audience to know. So here's the post. This was the very first slide. You could call this the hook, but I just want you to observe. It says, I read this line in a book and I haven't stopped thinking about it. That's actually true. But I just want you to see how, like instead of just downloading a bunch of hook ideas, very often the idea for the hook will be super natural and will make sense once you have the story that you want to tell. A lot of us are just like blurting out hooks and everyone else is too, which is making it even harder for your content to stand out and to be seen by people because it sounds the same as everyone else. But when you start your hook as if you were about to tell a story, now it's like I'm paying attention. This sounds interesting. I don't want to miss this. So I read this line in a book and I haven't stopped thinking about it.
[9:07] This is the next slide. When was the last time you publicly took a stand for something? It made me think of little Kaylin.
[9:15] Shy, quiet, people pleaser, rule follower, star student. I was so afraid of getting in trouble that I just tried not to get attention at all. So I don't have a lot of memories from my youth of taking a stand for something. But as a young adult, entrepreneurship has had a way of helping me grow out of some of those unhelpful patterns. One of the first times I took a stand for something in my marketing, I got quote unquote hate for it, but not the way that I expected. I shared a meme that said, whether you stay home or go to an office, we're all working moms.
[9:45] It wasn't the first time I'd heard this said before. It got a lot of positive, kind comments from people saying it resonated for them. But then a woman commented that I had plagiarized it from her feed. And she shared about it to her stories. And then the flood of negative comments from her followers really started. This was very distressing for little people pleaser Kaylin, rule follower, peacekeeper who didn't want to draw attention to herself. So that's the story, right? And then you're going to watch how I bridge it back to the reader. For whoever is listening, this is why this would be important for you to know or to understand or to apply to your own life. For a lot of women who are tenderhearted and sensitive in a good way, like me, marketing on Instagram can feel like a big risk. And the risk is a negative comment, someone disagreeing, getting in trouble, quote unquote. We're afraid of taking a stand in our content because we're afraid someone might disagree. But those things that someone could disagree with are the exact things that someone else needs to hear today. There are things no one is talking about that you need to talk about. If it feels bold, good. Lean into it. That is how you become a leader in your marketing. That is how you build a community that listens when you speak slash write. Say the thing.
[10:59] And then the very last slide was just my little logo outro post slide. Okay, so that's example number one. Again, the question is, how did you learn that? How do you know that? What did you do to learn that lesson? And then connect it back to why that would matter to your audience. Here's example number two. I could have created a generic post that said, everyone says that launching is really hard, but actually launching can make everything in your business easier. That could have been my hook. That could have been my first slide on my carousel or my stories or my reel or my email or whatever. But I want to show you some examples. Let's do So one layer better than that would have been four things that I do that make my launches successful and gentle.
[11:45] Okay, can you see how it's still like, that still sounds like a really good idea, but it's just not grabbing me, okay? This would be, I think, a letter A grade. Last night, my husband Nate said, I love that I can't tell when you're launching anymore. And I laughed, but here's why that meant a lot to me. That was the first slide. That was top performing post number two from this month. So I just want you to see how I am practicing these tools and tactics in real time, and they're working really well for me. So I just want you to see what
[12:15] works so that you can practice with the same thing with your own content. And I should say in terms of engagement with these, these had the highest reach, had the highest impressions, had the highest likes, and most of these had the highest comments from the month too. So like I said, I'm just going to read the post through so that you can see it from beginning to end and see how we bridge the gap from telling the story to teaching the principle. So that was the intro slide. The next slide is, I used to have intense launches. My launches were successful, but increased my stress and anxiousness, which radiated into my family life. I don't launch like that anymore. Now I have gentle launches.
[12:54] Four things I do that make my launches successful and gentle. So can you see how I'm still going to teach the four things, but I used the story as the way to get people to listen and the way to get people to know, not just like, here's a really smart thing that I know, but like, here's an actual life experience that I had that taught me this lesson. So four things I do that make my launches successful and gentle. Number one, I have longer launches. Number two, I put no pressure on my launches to perform in any certain way. Number three, I have a super simple copywriting process. And then number four, I know my offers will sell before I launch them. And then this is the last slide. If you want your launches to feel gentle and make more money easily, you're in the right place.
[13:35] So again, if I were to think of like the job description of this post, the job description was for this to increase my authority. For ladies in my audience to see Kaylynn knows her crap when she talks about launching because she's done it so much. And her experience is not because she read a book about it and it's not because she listened to a bunch of podcasts about it. It's because she has been trying and practicing and experimenting and she has actual lived experience about what works really well and about what doesn't work as well.
[14:06] So once again, instead of just telling a story about what I know, I told a story about how I got to know what I know. This is the last example I have for you this was like the most simple post ever but seemed to really land I could have said something like here's a hack for how to be featured on podcasts without pitching to anyone and it's like cool right but if I shift that into a story that I have to tell how I've learned that hack to get featured on podcasts this is what I would say and this is what I did say in my post. The unexpected hack that got me featured on four podcasts this month without sending a single pitch email and basically slide two is just prayer. I literally prayed and asked God to have some ladies invite me to be on their podcast.
[14:53] And he did. So that was the gist of the post as a side note, that has been a really, really cool thing. And I spent zero dollars and zero minutes sending pitch emails and yet still was able to be a guest on four different podcast episodes this month. And I think I've been a guest on two other podcasts in the history of my business ever. So basically that's, I've doubled my podcast interview output and I didn't spend any time pitching myself to someone. I've also just realized that that just, it doesn't feel good or natural to me. But if someone reaches out to me and invites me, it's like, absolutely. I would love to be on your, a guest on your podcast, right? Actually, I think I have one more for you. I have four examples for you. This is my fourth top performing post for the month. And it just said, love note from Kaylin.
[15:40] If you know 10% more than the average Jill, you are qualified to teach about what you know. And then in the caption, I told stories about conversations I'd been having with ladies that week that inspired sharing that takeaway. So these are the questions again. How do you know that? How did you learn that? What did you go through that helped you see that truth more clearly?
[15:59] Tell the story of that and then connect it to a message the reader can apply to their own life or to their own business. Something else that I think that's interesting or might be helpful to point out here is that very often the story requires an obstacle or a challenge. And so if you're having a hard time thinking of stories to tell, just think of obstacles and challenges that you've run into along the way and tell the stories of either how you've overcome them, or maybe you're in the process of overcoming them and what you're doing in the process, right? So basically we want the beauty of this storytelling content is that it helps us care.
[16:35] It answers the question, who cares? We care because a story is so much more interesting than just generic, stale words on a page. I also think this is a super important marketing skill for women because I've done this. So I'm the first to admit fault on this, but I used to be someone who would talk at people a lot in my content, kind of like lecture people. And I have a lot of things to say. I have a lot of things, principles to teach and insights that I've gained that I love to share. And so it makes sense why that's been happening. But I have noticed and it feels so much better to create and share content that first of all, it feels like I'm having a conversation with someone. And it also happens to be the result that people engage so much more deeply. One of my lowest performing posts from this month was just a solid graphic that said, your content problem is actually a launching problem, which is true. And I feel very passionately about that. But if I told a story about how I learned that, it would have been way more interesting. It would have been easier for people to understand. It would have gotten people's attention more and it would have been more meaningful.
[17:43] So let me leave you with a couple of ideas and prompts to help get your wheels turning about stories that you can tell in your content. So first, number one, most important is your authority story. And if you didn't listen to the compelling content challenge episode, go back and listen to that one. But quick high level view, you should have an authority story for every single one of your offers. A story that connects with the person who that offer is for and the result that they want to create that shows how you have done that so that they can trust that you're the right person for them to hire to help them to also do that. Other questions. What have you struggled with?
[18:24] What are challenges that you have overcome? What are things that your clients have struggled with? What are things that your clients have overcome? And a quick asterisk here, because my clients ask me this a lot, like, how do you tell a client's story without completely divulging all their information? One, I would never share a client's name in a story without their express permission. I wouldn't, you know, make it specifically about them with their words without asking their direct permission. send them the actual post so they can see it and approve it. But I think there are ways that you can remove a lot of the details so that all the specifics have been removed. So it would be very challenging to identify who this person is. But I still think it's important for you to tell stories about real human beings in your content and for people to be able to see how what you're doing is working with other people, again, to increase their trust that when they pay you, that you can help them get the results that they want. What do you wish you could go back and tell yourself?
[19:20] What's an aha moment that you had recently or that you had a long time ago? What did you used to believe that you found out wasn't quite right?
[19:30] Or what myths did you used to believe in? What mistakes have you made and how have they been useful to get you where you are now? What weaknesses did you used to have that you've turned into strengths? What did you used to be skeptical of that you've changed your mind on now? And one of my favorites, what does life look like behind the scenes for you right now? Now, quick word about day in the life content. One of my favorite, something that's really important to me is when I create day in the life content. Again, I don't want it to just be like, here's my life. I want it to be either have some kind of an important message that it connects back to, or again, that makes it something that would be useful or meaningful for the people in my audience to know or understand or begin to believe. I hope this episode was so helpful for you. And my biggest, most important thing is that your content creation feels simple, that it feels easy, that it feels peaceful. It might feel new and that's okay.
[20:28] It might feel hard, but that to me just means that it feels new. And so I think because this is such an important skill, if you want to have a successful business in the year almost 2025 and beyond, these are just important skills for you to have and to practice.
[20:45] And I've been really thinking about this lately, and you probably heard me say this before, that these marketing skills, I believe, are things that God is trying to teach us, not just as a way to make money from our businesses, but because these are also the same skills that you need in order to create impact in the world. He wants us to learn how to hold up a megaphone and say something inside of it that people listen to, because that's important, again, not just for your business and to make money, but that's important for a lot of reasons. It's important for the way that you raise and lead your family. It's important for the way that you serve in your community, in your church. It's important for causes that are important to you that you really believe in to be able to speak compellingly and clearly and with conviction about a certain topic, whatever it is that you're currently working on in your business or otherwise. And so I think these marketing skills are not just good things to learn and practice. I really think they are things that God's trying to help us learn. And I think he's going to help you too. So if you're struggling to come up with stories, say a prayer and ask him for a story you can tell in your content and see what comes up.
[21:49] Have an amazing week. I'll be back here next week with part four of the compelling content challenge, and I'll see you then. Have an amazing week.
[21:58] Hey, I hope you loved this week's episode. If you did, I know you would love to be a member of my community, The Greenhouse. It's where I teach you how to build an amazing, fruitful life while you build an amazing, fruitful business. It is a movement for women who want to unsubscribe from the traditional success path that says that life has to be a struggle and instead learn how good making more money can get, how fun marketing can be, and how much joy and presence you're capable of feeling as a woman and as a mother. Find out more and join at kaylynpriest.com greenhouse and I'll see you there.
[22:38] Music.
