Gift biz unwrapped episode 352.
You don't have to do it by yourself.
If it feels hard,
get some support,
just like our podcast today.
We're going to talk you through how to create your brand
story. Attention.
Gifters bakers,
crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Now you are in the right place.
This is give to biz unwrapped,
helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Join us for an episode,
packed full of invaluable guidance,
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Your gift biz.
Here is your host gift biz gal Sue moon Heights.
The year is starting off strong here at gift biz on
rapt. We're busy getting word out about national bakers,
crafters and makers day a day,
dedicated to all the handmade makers of the world,
hobbyists and business owners alike.
You'll hear more about this in today's mid roll of the
show, and I'm talking about it in detail in the tips
and talk Wednesday episodes too.
You can also fast track to all the information over@handmadehealstheworld.com.
Today is a very important topic that can truly change how
you think about your business and how others perceive you in
relation to your business.
To start off with answer me honestly here,
do you currently hesitate when asked about your business,
do you stumble over what to say or answer timidly with
very little confidence?
Why don't we do that?
I mean,
you're around your products every single day,
you should be standing proud and speaking confidently about what you
offer and its value.
If you're not,
it's probably because you've never formulated your brand story.
Well, guess what,
that's what we're going to do right now.
My guest Meredith takes direction from the brand story,
master himself,
Donald Miller,
to walk you through the steps on how to formulate your
story and then where to apply it in your business.
What a relief,
never again,
do you need to be hesitant or timid about sharing the
pride and joy you have in the products you create and
the value that they provide to those lucky enough to have
them Today?
It is my pleasure to introduce you to Meredith Callahan.
Meredith works with new and seasoned business owners to find the
right people who are a perfect fit for their products and
services. She does this by helping her clients effectively communicate the
value of what they offer through brand story.
Once that's in,
it can be used on their website and social media,
and even in face-to-face conversations,
Meredith believes that all good copy starts with a story,
and we're going to work on creating yours today.
Meredith, welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.
So I'm so happy to be here.
Thank you for having me.
I Am really looking forward to getting into this conversation,
but before we do,
I'd love for you to share with our listeners a little
bit more about you in a creative way,
and that's through a motivational candle.
So if you were to envision a candle by color and
quote, that would really resonate with you,
what does your candle?
So my candle is hot pink just as saturated pink as
the candle maker could make it.
And it would smell which you didn't ask me,
but it would smell like rose,
but not that rose smell,
that smells kind of bad,
but that beautiful high-end perfumers can make that beautiful rose smell.
And the quote would be,
we can do hard things.
We can do hard things.
Absolutely. And here we are in the very first week of
the new year and we have the whole year ahead of
us to be doing things differently,
doing things new Meredith,
you don't know this,
but the podcast that we did on new year's day,
this topic falls right in line with what we were talking
about last week in terms of setting yourself up as your
whole lifestyle,
to be ready for the new year,
in terms of self care and efficiency in your business and
brand story is so important and fits right in.
So this worked out perfectly today.
I'm so glad.
Yeah. And I think we can do hard things if we
don't have that mindset that they're so hard,
we just get into doing them and take it step by
step. We can do hard things.
That's right.
And I liked the phrase.
I can do hard things,
which is true.
But at Mike,
you know,
would say we,
because it just a reminder that you don't have to do
it by yourself.
If it feels hard,
get some support,
just like our podcast today.
We're going to talk you through how to create your brand
story. Beautiful.
Yes. I love that you aren't in this all by yourself.
And I think we're giving everybody permission to reach out and
get help because you know,
as a business owner,
I think often we have this idea that we should know
everything already and we should be able to do it by
ourselves. Because if we're a business owner,
we're a leader kind of falls hand in hand and that's
not the case.
We can all lean on each other.
We all have different strengths.
We all have different knowledge bases,
et cetera.
So Meredith,
where did brand story light the spark for you?
Tell us how you've gotten into this.
Honestly, from a book,
this gentlemen,
Donald Miller wrote that I read his book.
I usually have it sitting right by me on my desk
because I love it so much.
It's called building a StoryBrand.
I think it came out about three years ago.
He certainly didn't invent.
I'm looking at it.
It's actually across the room by my nightstand.
I work out of my bedroom,
but anyway,
he didn't invent the form of using storytelling to connect with
people. It's actually ancient and philosophers and psychologists talk about it
all the time.
But his book really made it clear for me how I
could use that in my business and connect with customers as
well as friends and family,
that support my business.
And so I studied his book and his theory a lot
and have implemented it,
my business,
and then turned around and helped my clients implement it in
theirs. I love how concise and zeroed in you are on
specifically what you're working with your clients about because you could
be working on so many things together,
but this one single thing,
brand story can really change the game for people.
I think in terms of confidence about how they speak about
their business and then clearly attracting the right people and making
them love you because your brand story is going to be
very unique to you.
And so how did you decide that you were going to
build a business around this?
Were you doing something before?
Talk a little bit about that.
So I have done lots of things.
I'm 47 years old.
I started an accounting.
That's what I studied in school and worked for Pricewaterhouse for
six years,
but really did not love doing that.
And so about the time I had my first child,
I started my entrepreneurial pursuit,
which led me most recently to about seven years ago,
I bought a franchise and it's called you might be familiar
with it,
or maybe some of your listeners,
this scout guide,
the scout guide is a magazine in 60 cities.
And each franchise owner promotes local businesses,
creators and makers within their city.
So I owned the scout guide Miami,
and I really told the story,
which is what the scout guide asked us to do of
local businesses.
That was the only common thread I had chocolate makers and
a realtor.
I tried to actually only have one type of business in
each category.
And they bought advertising from me and we told their story
first with a picture in the scout guide,
which is required by my franchise org.
And then throughout the year through social media marketing,
that's not why I got into this guy.
I got into the scout guy cause I liked advertising and
I liked local businesses,
but I really learned how to tell their stories during that
process. And when I was ready to sort of leave the
franchise model is ready to move on and start my own
business. And that's what I love the best,
like telling businesses stories.
So I studied up on StoryBrand and I actually got certified
in digital advertising and I offer ad services that we tell
the stories through Facebook and Instagram ads,
but also through copywriting.
And we always start with crafting their business story,
their brand story.
And then we use that story to create website copy or
ad copy.
And yeah,
my clients love it because they can use it,
you know,
at networking events when they're telling people what they do.
Perfect. So you've laid the groundwork about the value of what
we're going to work through today,
which is wonderful.
And it sounds to me that your work with scout also
identified the fact that most people don't have a brand story
or at least don't know how to communicate it properly.
That's right.
You know why?
Because it just kept busy like making the product and then
the time to sell it.
And it's hard to step back.
I think that's why this is actually a great time to
broadcast this.
You know,
at the beginning of the year,
it doesn't take long.
You're going to see to craft your story and it's so
valuable. So I'm excited to share those steps with your listeners
that might not have done it before.
I love it.
Okay. Well,
let's start with a definition of the brand story.
What does that even mean?
Well, a simple definition of the brand story is the story
of the value that you deliver to your customer.
But from Donald Miller's perspective is we write the brand story,
making the customer the hero of their own story.
And the business owner is like,
I tell him the Morgan Freeman of the story he is,
or she is the guide to the customer.
So our brand story is the customer's journey.
Okay. And that just aligns so nicely with our listeners because
as makers,
we are directing everything with the product,
we're not buying other people's product to sell.
We're making our own products.
So this aligns beautifully.
All right.
So what would be the first steps to creating a brand
story and actually Meredith,
I don't know if you'll play along with me,
tell me if you will,
but I think it would be fun to create a fictitious
business and work through what a brand story would look like
for them.
What do you think of that versus talking in generalities?
Actually making an example.
I think that's perfect.
Do you have something?
I mean,
nothing like putting you on the spot Meredith,
but do you have an idea It's based on some real
people in my life,
but you couldn't find this online right now.
So if it is fictitious,
but I have a friend named grey and she spells it
G R E Y,
and she's a graphic designer and she's played with the idea
of creating thank you notes to like beautiful,
thank you.
Notes that she could call the business grateful designs,
but spelled with her name.
G R E Y T F U L grateful designs.
Oh, okay.
So this is somebody that you're working with right now.
It sounds like She's my friend.
Yes. And she has the businesses it started yet,
but it'd be easy for me to talk about if we
use a real person.
All right,
well, she's going to need to be listening to my podcast
because that's all we do is help people start and grow
a product business.
All right.
Let's work with her and just kind of figure out how
she would potentially poke grass through to the brand story.
There are a lot of people who are listening,
who listened because they are considering getting into a business.
You know,
they have a hobby or a craft that they've loved all
their life.
And now maybe they're retiring.
Maybe they're home with children right now.
Maybe given the last couple of years,
we've had they're rethinking.
Do they want to work outside the house?
You know,
all different reasons.
And so they're considering starting a business.
So just like we're gray is same type of thing.
They're thinking about it.
So let's work with someone in that zone.
And then people who are established business owners probably have more
information. So they'll be able to create their brand story off
of the example that we use here too first steps.
What are we going to do with,
Okay, there's seven steps that Donald Miller defines in his book.
So we're going to use all of those steps.
And the first one is defining your character and saying what
they want.
And your character is your ideal customer.
And just like re probably a lot of your listeners think,
well, there's lots of people that could buy my product.
There's lots of people that could buy thank-you notes.
Right? But we're going to talk about her ideal client because
often when you speak to her,
if the product would sell to others,
they will come along too.
I think that'll make sense as we go through the story.
But let's say that Gray's ideal customer is a mom of
teenagers. Okay?
Because that is who grey is.
And a lot of moms of teenagers want to make sure
that their kids,
but have the skill of writing.
Thank you,
notes, handwritten notes,
because it was important to them when they were growing up
these mothers.
So they want to make sure that their kids write thank
you notes as well.
And they're going to have to,
as they start applying to colleges,
if they apply to college.
So our character Gray's decided that she wants to sell to
mothers who are around 50 years old.
And what they want is to be an example of good
manners. That's what these women want.
Perfect. Let me jump in here for half a second,
because I want everybody to be able to track along here
with us.
If you'd have no idea who your potential customer is because
you haven't tested it yet,
you haven't been out there selling yet.
This is exactly where you start.
You pick one,
work with that and see if it resonates.
Okay. So if you're at a point where you're like,
I don't have any idea who my customer is.
I want it to be everybody.
No, no,
no. Listen to what Meredith just said,
pick a group of people because you're going to be able
to talk with them better.
And I'm thinking as Meredith proceeds you in a form,
the story better,
but just pick one.
Yeah. And you knew what?
So it's so hard.
I get it.
I'm like miss indecisive,
but you set a timer.
You guys tell yourself.
And in the next two minutes,
I'm going to decide and promise yourself.
You'll decide in two minutes.
And when that timer goes off,
pick the person that's at the top of your brain.
You can change it later,
you know,
if you really want to.
Yeah. And the other thing is,
it doesn't mean that you're not going to attract other people,
besides that at all,
there will be people on the perimeters who will buy from
you just because they don't fit.
What you've now defined as your ideal customer doesn't mean that
you're going to lose those sales.
If they like what you have,
they're still going to buy from you,
you know?
Okay. So we've got our character,
mom of teens,
somewhere in the 50 ish range.
Yeah. 45 to 55,
maybe. So the second step in Donner,
Miller's building the StoryBrand is you define her problem.
Now with products,
don't get this part.
I mean,
sometimes Sue and I,
we were talking before sometimes maybe it feels like too much
information, so you can write your copy better.
You want to go ahead and fill this out.
Like really think through what her problem might be.
And Donald Miller even defines that there's three different types of
problems. We have external problems,
internal pylons and philosophical problems.
And when I go through Grey's characters problems,
I think you'll see.
So this 45 year old woman has an external problem.
Her teenagers have bad handwriting because they don't write very much
for her teenagers,
do everything on social media or on their phone.
They don't write very often.
Those are external type problems.
The internal problem could be,
as she thinks her teenagers don't value,
gratitude. Hopefully that's not true.
Or she,
the, an internal problem is,
you know what?
This is me.
I'm in mom as a teenager,
he's about to go to college.
I worry.
I haven't taught him the value of gratitude.
Right? That's an internal struggle that I have.
And then a philosophical problem might be my teenagers don't believe
in the value of handwritten notes.
Is that a philosophical problem or?
Yeah. Can you think of a philosophical problems you might have,
or, Or maybe using this as an example of recognizing and
appreciating others is great groundwork for their whole life.
Moving forward,
something like that,
maybe. And I'm thinking too,
because they're teenagers,
you only have a little bit more time to make an
impression on them before they're off in the world.
So that's just another thing that comes to mind with me
as you're presenting this,
I love how we're doing this on the fly.
This is fun.
If you are having a great brainstorm and you can think
of a lot of problems,
go ahead and write them all down.
I will give you a hint.
This is great for social media content later addressing these problems.
So I would go with as many as possible,
put them down.
Yeah. So I'm going to brainstorm a couple of other ideas
just to keep people thinking here.
If you make pottery,
it could be spicy and up and adding some additional interest
to a kitchen.
You know,
like just one statement piece can change the feeling of a
room. So it could be something like that.
If you knit shawls or like throw blankets or something like
that, have something comfy to snuggle up with during this winter
season. So like cocooning at home,
that type of thing,
And something that came to my mind.
When you mentioned the pottery,
a lot of people are maybe going to welcome family and
do their homes this holiday when they didn't last year,
because of COVID it could be you pottery makers,
your customer,
maybe like her home isn't ready for guests.
So she needs a piece of pottery to spruce up the,
the decor.
Perfect. Yeah.
For the year moving forward,
we're welcoming more people back here Exactly.
This year,
2022, the new year of entertaining again.
Or I'm just going to think of one more,
just because I already had it.
Like, if it's jewelry,
even if you make casual jewelry,
there's nothing like the feeling of putting on some earrings that
you absolutely love to brighten your mood for the day.
I love that.
Just things like that,
because I think so often we get stuck with products.
It's like,
do people really need to buy what we have to like
live there?
No, but there's so much happiness that our products do provide.
And so it might not seem really like a problem,
but it is something beautiful that your product is providing.
And I'm almost thinking emotion,
you know,
it's emotion,
it's the atmosphere of the room.
It's the idea that you're going to be bringing people back
into your house and you want it to look beautiful.
It's snuggling up under a warm blanket and watching a fun
movie. It's putting on some earrings and just having a little
bit more step in your day.
Cause it just makes you happy.
You know,
things like that.
So it doesn't have to be a problem.
No, he's going to say,
when you define that character,
like we said,
she's a teenage mom that she's about 45 to 50 years
old. When you can picture that person,
it will help you with that brainstorming of the problems.
Don't you agree?
Yeah, for sure.
Sure. Well,
and that's part of the reason why you would do that
too, because someone who's at that stage in life is going
to be different than someone who's like off at college.
Or maybe even someone who's retired.
It's a different situation.
It's different problem too.
Okay. Point number three,
Three point number three is and meets a guide.
So this is you.
So you want to describe the guide,
but what you want to focus on as Donald Miller tells
us is how you empathize with this customer and what gives
you authority.
So the guide is you.
Yeah. And so gray,
for instance of grateful design.
She is a mom of teenagers.
So that's easy for her.
She can write that gray.
I am a mom of teenagers,
so I can completely relate to the mom of teenager.
Who's trying to get her child,
right. I'm thinking of right.
That's easy,
but just the sentence of why you relate to your customer.
Oh, that's What the meat is,
why you relate.
Okay. That's the first part.
That's how you empathize with the customer.
And the second part is what gives you authority?
And I mean,
it could be like for Greg,
her authority is that she studied graphic design in college.
And she worked at as a graphic designer for 15 years
before she took some time off.
And now she does all the graphic design for the PTA
or whatever that gives her the authority.
But yours could be,
you know,
you've always loved making jewelry or you held a master's degree
in art,
whatever reason you feel confident creating a craft Yeah.
I'm also thinking it could be focused also on the product,
right? Like,
you know,
the sensitivities that people have with certain chemicals that are in
lotions, which is why you've created this pampering line,
you have the authority.
Cause you saw the rashes that your teenage person used to
have, like your teenage son used to have when they were
little and you made this to overcome that situation.
So you had to do a lot of research and now
you're the authority,
right? Something like that.
All right.
So under the meet the guide,
there is the,
how do you relate and empathize with the problem that you
defined in 0.2?
And then what gives you the authority?
Like why should people listen to you?
I guess would be a way to say it.
And there is a reason do not get hung up on
the word authority.
I've seen it happen before.
Well, you know,
why are you in business?
Why did you decide to make,
to provide this for the world?
That's your authority,
right? Part of your authority is also just your experience and
time in if you're already well,
not even if you're a business owner,
if you've been making candles,
okay, for years for yourself,
you've perfected the way they're poured the Wix,
you're using the container that you're putting it in,
you know,
all of that.
So you do have authority also.
Exactly. And then the fourth step in building your story is
so they meet a guide,
they get a plan.
What is the plan for buying from you?
I mean,
it can be as simple as go to grateful designs.com
and hit purchase on the thank you notes.
You like best,
like you really want to write out in detail.
I know that sometimes that seems silly for our product,
but write out how they do it.
And also as part of this plan,
right? The agreement,
the promise that you make to your customers.
So first off I use care to pick the best designs
I thought you would love.
And if you have a money back guarantee,
I'm not sure that gray wood,
but just whatever promise that you're making them,
you would put it in your plan to the process.
And the,
Okay. So I'm thinking the process is really the solution to
the problem.
And the solution is to acquire your product.
Right? And then I think the promise versus returns or guarantees
like that,
I'd rather have the promise be something uplifting.
Like I know when you wear those earrings for the first
time, you're going to feel that spark of joy or something
like that,
because all those like the returns and all that can be
on your website somewhere else.
Like we don't want to be talking to people about returning
yet, but you're showing personality.
The solution is in the sale for sure.
But you know,
it has to be with product based businesses.
But then I really like the idea of linking that promise
in that's great.
I love that we'll return with the rest of the steps
for creating your brand story right after this short break,
mark, your calendar January 21st has been officially declared national bakers
crafters maker's day actually highlight the entire month because we're celebrating
all month long,
focusing on the good that handmade products and you as a
maker provide us whether you create as a hobby or have
started a business around your craft this day celebrates you.
There's lots of ways to join in the festivities,
share a special handmade memory with us.
Download my free gift,
which is an affirmation poster that you can print and display
or use as a background on your phone,
reminding you every day about the joy that you put out
into the world.
I also see the giving heart you have as a maker,
maybe you donate handmade items to local shelters or hospitals,
or you put on workshop fundraisers or commit a portion of
product sales to a special cause here's your chance to highlight
your activities and get ideas of what others are doing too.
Plus you can get some eyeballs on a charity that is
near and dear to your heart.
Come at January 21st,
we have special 20 minute lifestyle classes.
You can attend over on the gift biz,
unwrapped Facebook page.
And if you're aspiring or are already a business owner,
there are other festivities planned inside gift biz breeze,
which is the free Facebook group.
Come join us.
There. There is even more,
too much to cover here,
but you can see it all for yourself right now over@handmadehealstheworld.com
handmade heals.
The world is our theme this year because your efforts do
make a difference and our world needs the healing right now.
Go check it out.
Handmade, heals the world.com
a celebration of you.
Yeah, so that's a fourth step.
And then the fifth step is and cause them to action.
So they meet a guide who gives them a plan and
then cause them to action.
So this would be,
and then Donald Miller says,
there's a direct call to action and there's a transitional.
So that might mean for gray.
You know,
it's like her call to action could be when someone does
something special for you,
send them a thank you note,
you know,
or just when do you think that people would want to
use your services?
And so tell them the situation and when they should come
buy from you,
that's the call to action.
Does that make sense to Yeah.
Or I'm also thinking the direct call to action will be
jumped over to my Etsy shop.
Now I have brand new earrings ready and waiting,
or a transitional could also be,
Hey, if you want to see these in person before you
purchase, I'm going to be at the local craft market this
weekend. If you live X and X community,
come on over.
I'm the second booth on the right when you walk in
the shell,
Something like that.
I think that's great.
I think that when you sit down to write your brand
story, you guys just like Susan said,
think of the different ways you will be calling people to
come buy from you.
You might be inviting them to the craft market this weekend.
You might be on Instagram telling them to jump over to
your Shopify account or to buy right here on Instagram.
If that's what you want them to do.
Yeah. Or DM or on the shops,
wherever it is.
Yeah. Yeah.
So just sit down and think about how you're going to
invite them to work with you at this point in the
story-building process.
And then the last two,
six and seven,
the six one is what is the success that you end
in? And what's the failure that you avoid.
So for her,
you know,
the success is showing your appreciation to a loved one making
someone's day with a handwritten note,
being an example to your teenager,
that handwritten notes are awesome.
And then per clients would avoid sending a teenager out in
the world with bad manners or yeah.
Avoid forgetting to thank a hostess because you always have thank
you notes on your desk.
I agree you avoid the inactivity of doing it because if
you don't have a thank you note easily at hand,
the whole idea gets lost.
So have them stopped,
ready to go.
Now, beautiful custom created notes designed by me that will leave
such a beautiful impression.
There'll be ready and waiting when the situation happens and your
teen will get the feeling and the satisfaction of knowing that
giving forward with thank yous and all of that actually comes
back to them too,
because seriously,
thank you as these days,
how many people are doing something like that?
Like writing a note.
I bet if a teen did that to somebody else,
they're going to call and say,
oh my gosh,
that note was so thoughtful.
Nobody does that.
I am so impressed.
And then that just validates the whole thing and then keeps
it rolling.
Hopefully. So that's the success part and then failure you avoid.
Well, the first thing I think of is you don't have
what I sell.
So that's a sad thing for you.
That's the sad thing for you.
Well, and if we go back to the earrings that make
you feel good,
you avoid not having something on that makes you feel good
that day.
Right? Cause it does kind of stink.
I look at my jewelry jewelry and I don't have a
pair of earrings.
I want to put on.
That does make me sad.
So I avoid that feeling Or the failure to avoid is
just wearing the same ones every single day,
you know,
and not taking this opportunity to add a little spark to
your mood in such a simple way.
You know,
you have an opportunity to get them new earrings are available,
ready and waiting for you in my shop.
Jump over there now,
because first off they're limited.
So if they're gone,
when you decide you want them,
you're going to be out of luck.
I'd hate that.
And then you're going to be left wearing the same ones
you already were.
I think they're pretty,
but don't you want some new ones to spice up your
life? Something like that.
Would that work?
Yes. I love that.
I'm So freewheeling adhere.
I don't know,
but No,
I think it's perfect.
Yeah, we're Doing this all on the fly.
Okay. So I'm going to review the seven steps and you're
going to give me a grade.
Okay. So here are the seven steps.
The first two are really you thinking through the situation.
So define who your ideal customer is and then determine what
the problem she has that your product can solve.
So those are thinking things and under the problem,
think of external,
internal and philosophical.
So you write all those things down on a piece of
paper. You have that ready.
Then three is meet the guide.
That's you meet the maker.
And so answer these questions.
You are going to write these down to then how do
I relate to this problem?
And what gives me the authority to be the one providing
the solution.
Number four is what's the plan to get to the solution.
So in everyone's case,
it's to buy your product everyone's case for our listeners is
to buy the product along with the promise of what the
product will deliver.
Number five is here's how you actually do it,
the call to action director,
transitional. And then I'm going to say six and seven is
kind of like a conclusion statement.
What you'll realize in the end,
by having done the call to action and what will happen
if you don't.
So that's the whole thing.
All seven steps.
How I do what's my grade.
That's Perfect.
You got an a plus.
All right.
And so now this is probably going to be too much
to ask you don't have a story statement yet for gray.
I'm sure.
Cause we just created this now.
That's Right.
But you know,
what's cool.
And maybe I can do it on the fly.
So what we can do is we can use the whole
story that you write and we create a character transformation statement
and you can get it down to one sentence.
I try it with grateful designs that can really be your
32nd elevator pitch at a networking event too.
You could decide that you want to use your character transformation
statement. So if I'm gray and you asked me,
Hey, great,
what do you do?
My tears are interesting.
It could be.
I help moms of teenagers set good examples for manners by
delivering thank you notes that are beautiful,
that they can use in their everyday life.
So that was rough.
But I'm going to try again.
No, I get what you're saying.
So I focused on providing a solution to mothers of teenagers
to help reinforce the value of showing gratitude through.
Thank you notes.
I create beautiful custom thank you notes that then you can
have at the ready.
When the situation presents itself.
I don't know We can work on it.
Do you see how,
if I am at a networking event that really could help
me sell what I do before I create custom,
thank you notes.
I helped mothers of teenagers instill gratitude in their kids by
creating custom thank you notes that everybody wants because they're gorgeous
That are at the ready.
When a situation presents itself to show that you've appreciated something,
an actor like whatever.
So as we're talking here and just spending a little bit
more time,
we're defining this and narrowing it into the perfect words.
And so this is the type of exercise that you would
then do is take these seven steps,
tweak it a little bit.
And then once you've got your wording down,
and this is what I always say for introduction messages or
the elevator speech,
I hate that I've redefined it as introduction messages.
Cause I think it's just not so stressful.
Plus that's more of what it is anyway.
And then you just practice it a little bit.
And the thing I love this so much Meredith,
because truly,
and you guys who are listening are going to nod in
agreement with me.
I know that so often,
even if we're at a cocktail party or we're just out
with someone and they say,
oh, you have your own business.
What do you do?
So many of us stumble over our words.
And it's the silliest thing because we're looking at our business,
we're working in our business all the time.
But when we're asked,
just very simply what we do,
it's like,
they don't know what to say when really this is the
opportunity to speak with power and confidence because you're representing your
business. So I see this brand story.
Once we put it together in a sentence or two,
you know,
a nice,
concise statement being so valuable for so many things.
That's why I was saying face-to-face conversations in the beginning.
It's just,
you'll never be caught off guard again.
You know exactly what you'd say.
You know what you want to hear mine.
I've got mine down.
I don't have grades,
but I say I help small business owners expand their reach
and explode their sale with copywriting and Facebook and Instagram ads.
Beautiful people usually go,
wow. I want to expand my reach and explain to my
business owners.
Yeah. What's really important in what you said too.
None of that was super fancy,
hard to understand words because the whole goal is not to
show how well you can wordsmith anything.
The goal is to communicate the idea to somebody else.
So that right away,
two seconds later,
if someone asks,
oh, I just saw you talking to Meredith,
what does she do?
They could say it.
Right? So mine is really simple.
Also it's I help women turn a hobby or a craft
into a business.
And then I expand on that if necessary,
you know,
through the podcast,
online training,
but whatever.
But the whole idea is not to tell everybody everything it's
to peak interest because they can ask you back later,
if they're interested,
they'll follow up with a question.
If they're not interested,
they won't.
And then,
you know,
not to keep going,
right. I have a two for your listeners.
It's not mine.
It's not for sale,
but Donald Miller has a free tool@mystorybrand.com.
You do have to create an account just with your name
and email.
So he's got a fill in the blank.
You Guys to create this brand story,
just the seven steps.
And then it helps you create that character transformation.
So you can use your pen and paper in your notebook,
or you can use this fill in the blank tool@mystorybrand.com.
Wonderful. And I wholly endorsed Donald Miller too.
I think I first heard from him when he was,
I think I want to say he was first making a
name for himself back at social media marketing world.
I'm going to say it might even be as long as
10 years ago.
And they did a couple of sessions right before the big
conference kicked off.
And I had come in early because I wanted,
and those were paid extra sessions.
And so I was in a room with,
I think there were only like 30 of us and he
was talking brand story.
And that's the first time I really heard it described in
that manner.
Not with these steps.
I don't remember him having these steps yet.
Maybe he did.
I don't remember,
but I totally endorse what you're saying Meredith,
in terms of your example,
referencing him and using his model for sure.
It's a great business model for you to,
to be following.
I just love it.
It's absolutely fabulous.
So circling back just for a second.
Once we've got this all written down,
how do we use this on our website?
Okay. Well,
the way I like to use it is to think about
your ideal customer.
So think about for grey.
She would think about this 45 year old Mike and our
younger now 45 year old lady coming to your website.
You want to appeal to every aspect of her.
So if above the fold on your website,
you want to talk directly to her.
That means when somebody puts in your URL,
if it's gray,
grateful design.com
and the URL populates,
they want to see if you want custom,
thank you notes,
to be a good example for your teenager.
If that's what you decided,
the customer transformation hit this button here to buy,
okay? So you want to use the brand story to unfold.
But what you do is you start with the character transformation
at the top,
and then you give a little bit more information.
Maybe there were a few people that were ready to buy,
but there were some people that weren't and what Donald Miller
actually is.
Then as they scroll down on your homepage,
you can talk about some of the problems.
Maybe your teenager,
if we're talking to her has bad handwriting because they only
use their iPhone or whatever problems you might think are.
You want to write a thank you note,
but you never have them at the ready next to your
desk. Click here to buy the cutest,
thanking those that,
you know,
my custom thinking is have a button for her to click,
and then you just sorta keep populating the story.
The next place is you might offer some of your authority,
like maybe with testimonials,
from some of your buyers that would go on the next
part of the homepage with a button to buy.
So that's how I use it on my website and then
my clients.
Yeah. I mean,
I think definitely product based businesses.
I would have some products right on that first page.
But maybe even like in your banner,
you have that wording of the promise statement and the products,
like why should I be coming to you for my thank
you cards?
Why shouldn't I be going to other people who also make
cards? They may even be more in terms of image wise,
something that a teen would be more interested in sending.
So you're dialing in on that.
And then the other thing I would put on the home
page, because usually what we'll see Meredith is when someone has
a website,
the very first page is automatically all the products.
And so then the problem with that is you have not
built a relationship at all with anybody or any type of
atmosphere or experience around your brand and working with you.
And so if you're lucky enough to get someone to buy,
they probably or might not come back because you've not engaged
them in any personal way for them to be devoted to
you. So that's what I see as the brand story helping
with. And then for sure,
because of product based businesses,
even if you have just a section on your page that
says best sellers or here's,
what's hot this season or something like that.
So some product representation on your page,
and then of course,
clear navigation to where they can go and look at all
your products And like that,
like starting with what you think the best sellers are.
As soon as they land on their website,
they can buy it.
And then whatever other information you think they need to make
the sale happen as they scroll down the website.
Yeah. Yeah.
Just start building a relationship and a personality.
So that's important.
What would you say real quickly?
We won't spend very much time on this,
but what would you say about the maker page?
Okay. So when you go to make your about page,
don't just write the history of creating your business,
which can be interesting.
But what I want you to do is look at your
brand story and really it's all about the customer,
even though,
I mean,
it is about you.
They want to know about you to buy,
but from their perspective.
So remember to talk about why you empathize with the customer
or the product that you're making,
what gives you authority and then like why that they should
feel comfortable buying from you.
That's really the point of the,
about page with a brand story,
right? Circling it back to them,
maybe a little bit about you and how you got into
it and all that.
Cause that's building your authority.
You know,
it depends,
everyone's, story's a little bit different,
but a little bit about you,
but not certainly not a whole resume and certainly not a
million words cause who sits and reads a million words anymore.
Yes. Just use the filter.
I think that that's just sort of revolutionary.
Sometimes if you hadn't thought of it,
do you use the filter of,
would this piece of information?
Well, what my customer want to buy from me,
for instance,
I sure,
because you know,
your grandfather and your dad did the same business that would
make me want to buy from you that if you went
to the university of Florida,
instead that you didn't go to Florida state,
I don't care as a buyer.
Right. I mean,
you might care that,
you know,
you care about your college that maybe I don't care.
The only reason I would care is if my product was
all Florida.
Yeah. Right.
You know,
like if it was branded with all only Florida things,
then you're showing your commitment to that area and your loyalty
to that area,
which could be a reason.
But I like what you're saying.
Why does the person who's reading it care,
absolutely love this.
This has been amazing.
How long do you think it would take for someone to
do this?
To walk through these seven steps?
I think you don't even need an hour.
I've Thomas.
Some people think,
oh, I need to schedule a whole day.
But if you make yourself pick an ideal customer,
you are going to be surprised at how fast you can
pop this story out.
And as you were saying earlier,
if you have to pick a couple and see which one
feels better for you and then go from there.
All right.
So mark,
some time in your calendar,
pour some coffee,
pour some tea,
maybe a glass of wine,
depending on when in the day it is and set aside
an hour and do this.
It's going to be so worth it.
Meredith. Where can people go to find out more about,
Well, on my,
about page,
my website,
Meredith callahan.com.
And if you want to book a call with me just
to talk,
I have free discovery calls.
And I love to talk about your business.
If you have questions about StoryBrand or Facebook and Instagram ads,
I'm there.
And I also love Instagram and my Instagram handles Meredith calender.
You can find me there.
Perfect. Wonderful Meredith.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate you coming on today,
giving us these seven steps that we can follow.
Thanks for playing along with me in creating a fictitious business
that we could work this through with that was fun and
challenging and interesting to do.
So I love that we did that and I appreciate you
so much and all the value that you've brought to our
listeners today.
See, Thank you for everything that you do.
I really love being here and brainstorming with you.
And I know that your listeners appreciate all the guidance that
you give them on this podcast.
That's very sweet.
Thank you.
Wow. Short of writing your brand story for you,
Meredith has provided all that's needed to change the way you
respond. When someone asks about your business to speak confidently about
your products and their value.
When in the past,
you may have stumbled a bit when asked that question,
I'm on my knees begging you right now to set an
hour aside in your calendar to create your brand story.
This can be the single most important game changer for you
in 2022.
Also remember to check out all the celebratory events happening around
national bakers,
crafters maker's day.
You can find that over@handmadehealstheworld.com
up next week,
we'll be diving into being successful at markets,
whether it's a local craft show or a wholesale show,
you'll hear from two experts on in-person visibility and selling at
shows and now be safe and well.
And I'll see you again.
Next time on the gift biz unwrapped podcasts.
I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
group called gift is breeze.
It's a place where we all gather and our community to
support each other.
Got a really fun post in there.
That's my favorite of the week.
I have to say where I invite all of you to
share what you're doing to show pictures of your product,
to show what you're working on for the week to get
reaction from other people and just for fun,
because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
in the community is making my favorite post every single week,
without doubt.
Wait, what aren't you part of the group already,
if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search
for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.
Come join us in gift biz breeze today.