How Do People Build Billion Dollar Companies?

They Bring People into Their World.

Questions.

Have you ever been sucked into another world?

Feeling it was so real, you escape the confines of this reality to feel like you were there?

Breathing it? Living it?

Escapism.

Statements.

This process and how you feel is what I like to call “Going to the Circus”.

Because whenever I went to the circus as a child. I would feel like I had wandered into an entire other world. The sights, the sounds, the smells. The five senses flayed alive to let me leave my old world behind. And grasp this new one wholeheartedly, even for just the day.

And the man who would help transport me there was the Ringleader.

The rhythmic rhyme of his voice and the way he caricatured the world I was entering, brought me full circle into the circus.

The Point

Now why is this important in your business?

Because albeit the circus is a bit off the cuff, it is still a business. And a successful one if the Ringleader can bring people into his world. As I would visit the circus again and again to get that feeling of escapism back. The feeling of “Going to the Circus”.

And if you think it isn’t that important, ENTIRE BUSINESSES are built upon this process of “Taking People to the Circus”, the oldest example would be the oral tradition of telling stories, having plays, or going to the opera. It has evolved since then into electronic forms such as movies, video games, and coming up virtual reality. As well as physical favorites such as concerts, live shows, and more. If anything these are limiting the true nature of “Going to the Circus” as any time people leave the thoughts of their reality and see themselves in another world can suffice.

People buy into these examples because they want "The EXPERIENCE". The experience of "going to the circus". Which is one of the 3 basic principles of why people buy.

The 3 Principals of Why People Buy

Needs – People need food, oil, water, and shelter. (Smartphones are currently debatable.)
Wants – People want to stylish clothes, nice cars, and big houses (All things to emphasize who they are.)
Experiences – People don’t want things. People want the experience those things bring. They want to have experiences so they can tell stories and when they die, have no regrets about who they were.

Point of Reflection.

Now you have to ask yourself.

Are you only appealing to people’s needs?

Needs that anyone can fulfill?

Or are you doing a bit better and going for their wants?

Their fickle wants that can change at a moment’s notice and leave you out of business?

Or are you creating an unforgettable experience that SURPASSES WANTS AND NEEDS and makes people want to be a part of your world?

Which is it?

The How-To.

But how do you take people there? How do you bring people into your world as a business?

Storytelling.

The most important part of captivating an audience.
Is telling them a story that inspires them. Arousing their interest and never letting go.
Ever wonder why scientific journals and technical manuals are so hard to read?

It’s because there are no stories to speak of. It’s written in the most opaque language with the most
monotonous voice with no beginning or end. Just information for information's sake.
Which has its own positives, but more often is plagued by negatives that make it only withstood by the
most astute.

Telling your audience a story is what the best movies, music, and copy do. Written to entertain, but also to persuade and inform. This is true even to the standards of marketing and copy. Only the best storytellers have the best marketing.

People buy some products on price and need. But more often they buy the story that the company tells. The history of what they do, of who they are, and what they stand for.

Weaving stories into marketing allows people to connect with your message and makes them want to be a part of what you do. And even though technology changes, we very much stay the same. Everyone loves stories. Everyone loves to have a hero to root for, a villain’ to hate, and be able to follow their fates.

But how do you incorporate a story into your message that people want to hear?

First you think of your holistic notion. What story you’re trying to tell. Who, what, where, why, and how are you trying to incorporate your message. In a way that puts your target audience into the shoes of your character and follow their story. This holistic notion directs the rest of the steps and structures them to your goals and outcomes keeping them from being haphazard.
Next you create a character to follow and can be first or third person depending on your copy. If you want your audience to look through the eyes of your hero and do actions they do and experience their success first-hand then use 1st person. If you want your audience to be outside looking upon your character to set the stage that they want to be just like them and experience the happiness from the success they had using your product or services. Then use a 3rd person view.

Next, present the trouble or problem that your character has to deal with that is relatable to problems that your target audience have themselves. This should be a challenge that your specific product or services solves. Here you tap into your target audiences fears and frustrations.

Next you present the motivations that lie behind your characters actions. These motivations should mirror or be parallel to your target audience’s motivations. This way, the audience relates to your character and inclined to follow his actions and be more flexible to new introduced information.

Next you propose the setting for the character. This can range from fantasy to real, but should be directly relatable to your target audiences’ real life. This way they can seep deeper into the story and feel at home. Drawing real emotions, habit cues, and situations from the audience.

Once the setting is in place, you solidify the challenges with the obstacles associated to it, identifying the root causes, introducing the villain, and painting a picture of damnation for the audience to want to solved and be saved from. Here you can foreshadow the solutions to the challenge and how it overcomes the obstacles painting a picture of hope, but should be effectually introduced in the next step, The Climax.

In the Climax, you have your hero, your product, face the villain, your audience’s frustrations and fears. Having it hit a feverish pitch and an almighty crescendo. Explaining in great detail how your hero, your products and services will save their day. Making the success and triumph of you’re hero, the success
and triumph of your prospective clients. This will inevitable make your audience want to experience it themselves and excited to know how they can.

In the closing, you bring closure. You bring your call to action. You give your audience the takeaways of what they need to know. Of what you would like them to take away. Or give them the call to action, where you give them the next step. A place to unleash their motivation upon. Be it a transaction page, a site to check out, and free Infoproduct to download, or someone to contact. It’s the precarious part where you win or lose your audience.
Incorporating stories into your media will boost your response rates heavily. Making you more money. As people will care about your product, they will retell your stories to others, and success will be yours.

Outline Steps for your Story Driven Copy.
Step 0: Holistic Notion
Step 1. Character
Step 2. Challenges
Step 3. Motivation
Step 4. Setting
Step 5. Obstacles
Step 6. Climax
Step 7: The Closing

Do you have a story to tell?