How To Use Stories In Your Affiliate Business

“Stories are the single most powerful way to communicate, which makes them an indispensable tool in your sales process.”

Put simply, if you want to sell more effectively, then you need to cultivate the skill of crafting compelling stories.

Don’t worry if you’re not the “creative” type…

In this post I’m going to share a three-part formula, which can easily turn even everyday observations into riveting sales messages.

But first, let’s discuss why we care about stories to begin with.

Stories are in our DNA

Now, somewhat obviously, stories are entertaining.

This is why we’re hardwired to pay attention to them.

An that’s also why we happily watch movies, television, and plays, and read books.

In fact, Hollywood producer Eric Edson, in his book, The Story Solution, shares an eye-opening fact…

He says that the reason people go to movies is to FEEL emotion.

And well-told stories evoke strong emotions in people.

That’s why people cry at movies even though they know they’re watching actors; it’s part of our DNA to feel connected in this way.

We get emotionally invested in stories.

Think about this…

When you go see a movie with an interesting opening, you become curious about what happens next, so you pay attention to the story and kind of forget the world around you, right?

Hollywood knows this, so that’s how they judge whether a movie is good or bad…

• Was there an emotional impact?
• Were the people moved?

And that’s how Hollywood makes billions of dollars: evoking feelings and emotions through stories.

Your two choices when it comes to selling…

Choice #1: You can present people with dry facts, and all the logical reasons why something works and they should get involved, or…

Choice #2: You can tell them a story.

And as you probably guessed…

Stories are far more powerful!

Where to use stories in your business

Stories are very, very powerful, even when they aren’t as dramatic as this one.

You use stories in…

• Ads,
• Blog posts,
• E-mails, &
• Sales presentations

…to powerfully get your point across.

I do it all the time with e-mails.

Of course not all stories end up as sales stories, but you can turn any story into a sales story to be good at network marketing.

Give your stories life with “C.P.R.”

I have a three-part formula for making stories work effectively, and to remember it, you can remember the acronym CPR.

I choose “CPR” because this formula can breathe life into your message.

C stands for Context.

The first thing you want to do in a story is set it up.

In my case with the life insurance story…

I began by telling them I had a friend who’s an agent, and he sat down with this family; the husband, and the wife, and the two kids.

The husband was the breadwinner, and his wife didn’t work or speak English.

Always start with the context, which is not to be confused with the setting.

The setting is the time and place—those are just details.

The context is the situation and circumstances—these elements provide characters with motivations.

Now, you’ve got to give just enough context to paint a picture for people and to set up the most important part of the story…

Which is the problem, the drama, the challenge, the conflict.

That’s what evokes emotions.

P stands for Problem.

Without drama or conflict, no story is interesting.

Now this is very, very important: conflict is what gives ‘the juice’ to your stories.

Think about your favorite movie.

I don’t care what movie or genre, there’s always some kind of conflict.

Let’s look at Rocky, an all-time favorite for a lot of people.

Now, if it was a story about a boxer who one day woke up and decided that he wanted to take on Apollo Creed, and so he trained in the gym, then he went into the ring and beat Apollo Creed, and won the championship, it wouldn’t be an interesting story, right?

What made the movie interesting is all the struggle and drama that Rocky went through before he got to the ring and to the fight itself.

Think about the movie Rudy.

He wanted to play for Notre Dame, and his family said, “You can’t do it!” and “Why are you doing this?”

His brother was making fun of him.

He wasn’t getting picked and then finally at the end of the movie, they carried him out on the field and made him play.

He achieved that dream, but the drama of overcoming challenges to reach it was what made the movie.

Even cartoons have conflict.

Think about Shrek.

This story structure is a perfect example you can use to construct any story you want.

There is this creature that lives in the swamp, and he has a problem: he’s about to lose his home in the swamp.

Fairy tale creatures took over his house, so to keep from losing it, he’s got to go rescue a princess from a tower that’s protected by a fire-breathing dragon.

Others have tried and died, but he has to find a way.

Even a children’s story is interesting because of the drama, the conflict, and the challenge that he has to overcome.

R stands for Resolution.

The resolution, the final part, is basically how your product or service helps to solve the problem.

Importantly, the benefits of your product must overcome the problems your prospects face.

So, you need to ask yourself…

What kind of problems does your market have?

First you have to know who you are offering your products to or if you have a business opportunity, who you are targeting. 

Read: How To Create Your Avatar

That’s where you’ve got to start in order to construct a good story.

You have to study your market and know what’s going to be interesting for your prospects to read or to watch.

If you’re dealing with the Internet marketing crowd, it’s the struggle of getting traffic and generating leads.

If you’re dealing with affiliate marketers it’s basically how to…

• Prospect for customers
• Find and recruit the ideal people for affiliate marketing
• Build a business without rejection and without dealing with the daily grind of prospecting

I know this all too well because I did it for so many years.

So solve the problems that people in your market are struggling with.

When you tell stories that address these problems and then provide the solution, the resolution, with a product that has the benefits to overcome those problems, that’s what makes people buy.

But remember…

It’s the story itself that conveys the message.

How to craft your own sales story

Okay, let’s construct a simple story you could use.

So, you’re dealing with affiliate marketers, and you know their problem is trying to grow their business or start a new business. They are also struggling to fine a niche product to promote.  They have tried several programs with little or no success.

Also, they’re spending so much time that frustration is beginning to take over.

Here is a simple story you can tell, and it doesn’t even have to be real; it could be a fictitious story.

Let’s say it’s a story about two marketers.

Here’s how to start…

“Let me tell you a quick story about Jerry and Mike.

 

They’re both in affiliate marketing, both are in the same company, both have been in it for a couple of years, but one is struggling every single day.

 

He goes out there, he prospects every day, and he finally finds a few recruits after a ton of rejection.

 

That’s Jerry.

 

Then there is Mike.

 

Mike also struggled for some time, but then he found this website that talked about being able to recruit using the Internet.

 

He put up a simple website and he offers his opportunity there, so he doesn’t have to go out and prospect all the time.

 

His website does the selling, so Mike gets no rejection.

See how you’re painting the picture for the prospect who’s reading the story of an ideal situation, which Mike has?

He has a website that does all the marketing, all the prospecting for him and offering products that expands Mike’s income.

To close this message (Story) you ask, ‘How can you have a website like this?”

Then you point to a product.

This is a very simple story that’s adapted from a famous ad by the Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal ad told the story of two men who grew up in the same town, with the same background, same upbringing, same education, and they started off at the same job.

The first guy struggled financially after leaving college, working the 9:00 to 5:00, stuck in the grind.

His counterpart, who started off in the exact same way, ended up wealthy and had a great life.

One was a middle manager and the other became president

What was the difference?

The guy that was a president read The Wall Street Journal.

That simple story sold tons of subscriptions to the The Wall Street Journal and the ad ran for something like 25 years.

And as I just demonstrated with my two affiliate’s Jerry and Mike.

You can easily adapt successful stories like this for your own purposes to make a compelling point and give your prospect or customers all the information they need to move forward.

After all, would you rather give people bullet points as to why they should purchases your product or become a partner—or tell a story that’s going to have a much greater impact?

Hint: they’re going to remember the story.

Because you’re hitting them emotionally instead of logic.

When you tell stories, you’re painting a picture, and people can’t help but identify with that.

The bottom line is that stories are the most powerful tool in your selling toolbox.

So be sure to employ them effectively with the CPR format:

1. Context,
2. Problem, &
3. Resolution.

Finally, let’s talk about the essential element of the success of any story…

How to build an audience for your stories

As you’ve learned, any piece of marketing content is an opportunity to tell a story.

• Ads you want to click, tell a story
• Blog posts you want to read, tell a story
• Emails you want to open, tell a story
• Offers you want to buy, tell a really compelling story

And like a tree falling in the woods…

Stories need an audience to be heard.

So how do you grow your audience, and ensure that a steady flow of new prospects are exposed to the stories in your ads, blog posts, emails, and sales presentations?

Simple!

You must have traffic to grow you affiliate marketing business

But not just any ol’ traffic (as there’s lots of worthless, junk traffic out there).

Instead, you need a traffic “ecosystem” that gets you high quality leads that are preconditioned to buy from you.

And to help you do exactly that, I highly recommend you…

Click here to get instant access to our flagship affiliate marketing program.  This is a complete, no B.S. roadmap to create your own online affiliate marketing business.

You’ll learn about the specific tools and techniques you can use to effortlessly connect with prospects, find niche products, social media, SEO, keywords and so much more.

By clicking on the Click Here button, you can try affiliate marketing with a Free 7 Day No Obligation membership.  Like the program after 7 Days, as a member you can gain access to the Affiliate Bootcamp Training, Training HQ, Classroom Training, Latest Marketing with live Webinars and much, much more.

Trust me, this type of qualifying process automatically positions you as the authority.

Not only that, but these training programs methods allow you to build your affiliate business automatically—where people reach out to you (instead of you having to reach out to them).

And if you learn these online ‘marketing skills…your affiliate business will grow and expand beyond a simple work at home business.

So if you’re ready to get started…

Simply click here to get instant access to the FREE 7-Day Affiliate Marketing Success Program

Thanks, Ferny for a this marketing strategy.