There’s more to communication than just speaking eloquently. It’s discerning who your target audience is, how you tell a compelling story, and how you have credibility in the field you’re talking about.
When thinking about communicating to make a point, perhaps it’s about getting buy-in to your idea at work, or maybe you’re trying to sell a product, or even nail a job interview, you need to understand who you’re speaking to and what they care about most. Tell them a story that resonates with them and why you have the background to be telling that story. It boils down to building leverage and credibility on a particular subject, knowing who your target audience is and what problems they need solving, and using your leverage to tell a good story to that audience you’ve homed in on.
Build Leverage and Credibility.
Very rarely can someone get a Senior Executive job with no experience, nor does a product sell like wildfire if it has shotty quality and reliability. To deliver an amazing experience, credibility and leverage must be built. This is the foundation for the next two points, as you cannot tailor your background or product to an audience if you don’t have any marketable attributes, nor can you tell a good story if you don’t have the experience to back it up.
When thinking about applying for new jobs, you must create a resume that shares all your achievements, accomplished tasks, and leverage you’ve built within your niche. In your previous jobs, you’ve built skill sets and gained experience that demonstrate your credibility on a particular subject.
Going a step further, I like to think about what specifically you do at your job and how it may appear on your resume. What specific skill did you learn at that job, and what is an achievement using that skill? It demonstrates articulation and the leverage you’ve built in action. Bonus points for including figures and numbers in the accomplishment.
The same is true for selling a product or providing a service. Even if your product is new, what strengths and capabilities does it have that you can leverage as your competitive advantage? What is the key differentiator that separates it from similar products in its class?
For example, a product that needs to build a lot of leverage to convince a buyer is a car. How well does the car perform in critical areas like reliability, fuel economy, speed and acceleration, and safety? Sharing numbers for these figures entices the buyer because it substantiates and builds value in the purchase.
The leverage you build is unique, but it takes some time to figure out why that is. And how do you showcase your unique credibility and leverage to tell a good story?
Know your Audience.
I pursued Marketing for my undergraduate degree. Concepts such as buyer behavior, market research, and professional sales were crucial to build a strong foundation. Paired with my minor in communications, I knew how to research different segments and then develop messaging that spoke to a target audience.
This combination benefited me greatly and still does today. When interviewing for jobs, I research who my interviewer is, the company, and what the products and services they offer are. I can then tailor my background, positioning myself in line with what resonates most with the interviewer. Most obviously, I started my career in sales and then pivoted to agency recruitment. In these interviews, I knew the products and services the company offered, and then shared points about my background that would be interesting to them. When learning this information, I could position myself and my experiences while promoting certain attributes over others that align with the mission and values of that company.
When a company is bringing a new product or service to market, there is a ton of market research that goes into the development of said product or service. They are researching areas like demographics, transactional behavior, and psychographic trends in populations. Who does this product benefit and why? What groups is that person a part of and associates with? What does their typical level of spending look like? Identifying this key information helps companies build an ideal buyer persona, a person who represents their target audience.
Once you understand what your leverage is and who you want to speak to, this is where strategic storytelling comes in.
Tell a good story.
So many products on the market have failed because they have failed to raise awareness and tell a good story. This also happens to brands that provide a run-of-the-mill service and don’t showcase their unique differentiator.
Companies that fail at this aren’t telling a good story that aligns with their target audience. But how does a company become a good storyteller?
Since we’ve already covered Leverage and Audiences, we can tie it all together. It’s now about truly positioning your competitive advantage, the leverage you’ve built, in front of the right target audience, those who have a propensity to buy your product or service.
Telling a good story has two parts: 1) What is it about your company, brand, or even yourself, that sets you apart from the competition and 2) How does this benefit you’re intended consumer?
Highlight your brand story, your mission, your values, and where the core strengths lie. This is meant to appeal to your target customers and address any concerns or questions they may have.
Then provide the benefit that your target customer gets from going with your product or service. What is the value that you provide that others don’t?
Crafting this story is difficult. Think about your or your company’s track record, and what points are most important to address, then share a story that highlights these points and how they apply to the target consumer. In business, case studies are immeasurably important, but when interviewing for new jobs, this may look like a situation-task-action-result analysis of your past experiences.
Telling a compelling story is difficult, but break it down into: What value do I provide? how do I uniquely provide that value? And how does it benefit my customers?
Home in on the impact of telling a story using your leverage and tailoring it to the right audience.Every day we build leverage, we can research our target audience, and we can tailor stories that are impactful and timely to resonate with our chosen customer.
Andrew O'Connell 