An unexpected marketing superpower: connection & belonging

There are lots of reasons to write - to communicate, to share your ideas, to get known for your specific area of expertise. 

But there’s a powerful reason that you might be overlooking. If your writing reaches someone in this way, you will have a fan for life.

What kind of writing am I talking about? 

It’s storytelling that creates connection and a sense of belonging. 

Janet Mock puts it beautifully here:

"And this is what stories do: They let us know that no matter how different and unique we are and how isolated we may feel, someone else has been there, someone else has survived, and someone else has made it out.”

Even when you’re writing non-fiction, storytelling is crucial. It’s what hooks readers in and makes them interested, intrigued and ready to find out more. Even if you’re writing a tactical ‘how to’ guide, or an experiential workbook, there still needs to be an element of storytelling in there.

Sometimes this will involve sharing your own story, other times it will make more sense to include case studies, interviews and other examples of how the concepts you’re describing have worked out in the real world. Stories are how we make sense of new ideas - and they’re also infinitely more engaging and memorable than facts alone.

If you can do as Janet Mock suggests in your writing, and create that sense that ‘someone else has been there,’ your readers will never forget it. This feeling of not being alone, of seeing exactly how someone else has successfully surmounted the same issues you’re currently struggling with yourself is what makes someone buy multiple copies of a book, so they can give it to everyone who is important to them. It‘s not easy to do, but it’s important.

This is one of the main things I work on with clients in my Book Spark programme - finding the heart of the story that only you can tell, so that your book can become a trusted companion to someone in their hour of need.