Why Your Brand Story Belongs on Every Funnel Page, featuring Michelle Knight

This is going to be a good episode for you . One , because right across the screen from us . If you can't see , please go to the show notes below on whatever audio platform you're on right now and click over to YouTube . But Michelle Knight is here and she's going to share about this , of course , and who is she ?

She's the founder and CEO of Brand Mary , a brand strategy and marketing company that helps small business owners build a brand that is authentic , intentional and profitable . I love the P word . Michelle's dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and small business owners create a brand that reflects their unique personality , values and mission .

And today , along with my wife Jamie , thanks for being here too . Today , along with my wife Jamie , Hi , Thanks for being here too , Michelle , thanks for being here , and thanks for helping us figure out how to work digital storytelling into our funnels so we can be more relatable .

Storytelling in and of itself relies on two pillars , and these are pillars that Donald Miller , who is an amazing business storyteller and educator , teaches as well . It's empathy and authority . Okay , and storytelling is a way for us to tie in empathy and tie in authority .

And so when my clients are coming to me and they're like I need to tell more stories , they instantly brain goes their brand story Right . And I think when we think about business storytelling , we always think about our brand story . It's one of the first things we write , it's our about me page .

We feel like we got to have a clear brand story in order to move forward with our business . And while that is true and I'm a huge advocate for your brand story being established in the branding process a lot of people stop there and they're not focused on integrating storytelling or digital storytelling into their content .

And so a lot of people will you know again clients coming to me and they're like , okay , well , I have this brand story now , but how do . I use it and I say , all right , these are kind of our foundational places . We're going to pop one in the funnel , right . We're going to let people know who we are . We're going to put it on our about me page .

We can cherry pick some pieces out , but like that's only going to get you so far .

And the demand for empathy , authority through storytelling is at an all time high , this year specifically , and we'll just continue to grow because of what we're seeing with short form video and because of what we're seeing with an increase of people in the coaching , consulting and course industry .

It's a fantastic way for you to articulate your mission , for you to articulate the kind of work that you do and why you do the work that you do . This is huge and fundamental .

And then we also know , when we start tying into marketing and things , your about me page is one of the most important pages on your website and so if someone's on , it's your second most visited page on your website .

And so if someone is on that page , they're not I say this and this is so controversial but they're not on that page to learn about themselves .

They're on that page to learn about you , the brand , why the brand exists , and I have signed so many clients from my About Me page , clients who have said I read your About Me page and I too did this , or I have felt this , or I want to do this , and it goes back to that empathy , that relatability that really helps drive the purchase decision , which we

know is emotional , right . 90% of purchase decisions are made on an emotional basis . They're not made because of logistics .

So , to go back to kind of what you were saying , your brand story really is the beautiful way to tie those things in there , so someone kind of gets an idea of who you are and why they should ultimately trust you with whatever it is you're selling them .

You can do that with just the brand story , and there's a lot of different frameworks that I teach with brand storytelling . I would say one of my most popular is definitely the hero's journey , which I did not come up with , joseph Campbell did .

I didn't make that up , it's in every movie , but helping my clients kind of break that down in terms of their business .

And then something else that I have become known for and have talked about in many podcasts is called the three transition story , and that's something that I developed with and it's on my website now , but it essentially is what are three pivotal moments in your life that you learned something you changed course , you were forced to or you did it on your own that

kind of changed the trajectory of your life , and then how does that ultimately lead you to where you are today and a lot of my clients really love that , especially in the coaching industry , course creation industry . If they share a lot of similarities with their ideal customer , that can be a really great framework to follow .

And then , if you can cherry pick each of those transitions out to better create more digital stories or social media stories for your business as well .

Right , there's a way to tell your story that , even though you might not share the exact moment in time , I tell people when you're sharing your story and you're speaking about the experience , it's I'm getting nerdy now it triggers neuro coupling in the brain .

It releases dopamine and that's a feel good hormone , and that's why we know that when storytelling is integrated into our content , it's more memorable , it makes our content more memorable , and so I think that all goes back to like . People just really want to know that you get them at the end of the day , and that's what's going to build trust .

So having that condensed story section on your landing page is fantastic for those individuals who aren't sold with the headline , they're not sold with the bullets , and they're asking themselves wait , who is this person ? Why should I trust them ?

And you're in the business of advertising and so we know we want those landing page conversions to be above 30% , and so we talked about that and this added piece of storytelling . I think positioning it near the bottom is for that individual . If they haven't clicked the button yet , what's probably keeping them from doing so ?

It's probably because there's a little bit of trust that hasn't been built . And if you can show up and share , this is who I am . This is the kind of business that I run . This is the type of person that I serve . This is why I do what I do . I'm happy that you're here Now . Click this button .

. A sales page or opt-in page without a bio or brand story is fill in the blank .

You know people want to know that you're actually speaking to them and you're going to support them . So who are you , who do you serve ? And then I love to add in a lot of the personal aspects in there . I'm a mom , so I always say that on my landing pages . I share , because I'm in the business of consulting and coaching .

I share what I've been able to do with my business . I don't focus a great deal on money , although I do say I make money , but I talk about how I lived in an RV and how I travel and how I homeschool , because I know that these are things that are very important to my ideal customer . They want time and freedom .

So , again going back to the ideal customer work , and then I like to add in that authority piece at the very end . You know I've been featured in entrepreneur and fast company right .

I've been in business for eight years I've served X amount of clients , because now you've blended together in just three paragraphs empathy and authority , you've positioned yourself as the person that can ultimately help your ideal customer . And I think with storytelling too , it piques interest right .

And so you don't want to give it all away , because throughout the funnel as I'm sure we'll talk about there are opportunities for you to expand on your story , on your process , on the work that you do , and if you can pique interest and create what is called open looping in storytelling , you can keep somebody engaged throughout the funnel .

My biggest takeaway from this page is that I don't actually know who you two are . Oh , okay , I know how you can help me , which is great . I probably already knew that from the homepage . I probably already knew that from a landing page . So if I am on this page , why am I here ?

You know , like , why did you get into ads ? I know your story , cause I made you share it on my podcast . That would be what I would really kind of tap into here , because you know , at the end of the day and I know I've said this about storytelling there are a lot of people teaching branding . There are a lot of people who can help you run your ads .

Why would they choose your company over another one when , at the end of the day quote , unquote the results or the outcome is the same ?

Social stories those are a big one as well , and this demand for micro storytelling , or digital storytelling as I call it , I believe , really came about with social media . That's where we really saw the uptick , because social media isn't older than me .

However , I remember when Instagram and Facebook were really taking off for small business owners and online entrepreneurs , and so we started to see this uptick with , like , creating micro content . You only had so many characters , you only have so many seconds to share a story , and that's really where this idea came from .

But people don't want to hear the same story all the time , like that , your content is just going to . You can't say the brand story five days a week , every single week for a year , so what kind of stories do you share ?

And this is where , like , the digital stories , come into play , and so one of the things that I teach my clients is to create a story bank , which essentially is I love ClickUp for this , or Trello or something where you have boards right and you have boards that are one could be personal experiences , so things that have happened in your life that you know

would connect with your ideal customer . We talked about relatability . We talked about empathy . Also , client stories . Right Like gone are the days , in my opinion , of sharing like a one line testimonial with a name and a picture . We can make that with AI , okay . So you know like we need to be able to tell the story of our ideal customer .

Call it a case study , call it whatever you want . I call these client stories , before and after turning points , how a specific product influenced or made their life easier working with you , what it life easier working with you , what it's like to work with you , what your client said about that experience .

And then to kind of there's a lot of categories , but to kind of keep it short , we also have specific product categories as well , and so this is where I think the brand story comes into play , and I think where we're going to also talk about funnels is you might have a brand story for your brand as a whole , but your product or your service probably has

its own story as well , like why I ? created my membership . I shared that in the last episode . There's a reason why I created my membership . I was seeing a need online and those are the types of stories that work so beautifully in funnels and in sales pages and you can integrate , you know , all of these different things into into a funnel .

I knew you were going to ask me this question , so I came up with a little cheat sheet . Hey , so and and I know , in terms of funnels , obviously these are the kinds of things . That is an example of a storytelling funnel , if you will , the very first piece being what is your brand story , that bio blurb that we talked about ?

Why are you in business , really thinking about your ideal customer ? What do they want at the end of the day ? I often say it doesn't matter what you sell .

You could be selling a frying pan and you want to tell the story about why you designed the perfect frying pan , where your egg sticking to your pan every single morning and it was driving you nuts and your husband was like I'm going to lose it . The pan always smelled like it was burning . Tell the story of why you created the frying pan .

So I say that because sometimes people will say well , I sell a product , it doesn't work . It does work . And so the first one really is the why . What is the why behind your business and what you're selling ? Then a client journey , before and after . Before my client came to work with me , they felt this way .

Before my client bought this product , they felt this way . Then we helped them feel this way right , and this is how we ultimately help them , which is a great segue into your product .

And then a personal story , and I love personal storytelling because it allows you to just go a little bit deeper into a specific moment in time where you had a realization about something that you were doing and you did it differently , and maybe now you teach it .

Going back to your business , maybe you worked with a client and there was something that you discovered when it came to messaging and advertising , and now you're obsessed with it and everyone has to use it .

This is a really great opportunity for you to highlight a very specific moment in time , rather than a larger journey like your brand story might ultimately do , rather than a larger journey like your brand story might ultimately do , and so I like to interchange those three types of stories in my funnel in various spots .

They haven't had crazy successes , they haven't maybe even worked with a client yet , or maybe they're pivoting into a new direction and they have all this background and history but not testimonials for this specific direction .

You really can start with sharing and building trust via your story , via your experiences , via why you're doing what you're doing , your mission , your values . These are things that connect people . Authenticity is , in my opinion , a fundamental for all businesses online .

We know that around 77% of people will make a business decision based on how authentic the brand feels to them , and we also know that millennials and Gen Z say that 85% of their purchase decisions are based on how well they feel connected to their audience or how they feel connected to a brand .

And there's a lot of fun stats about values and all of those different things , but it really just goes to show that there are a lot of people out there doing what you do , like it's naive to think you're the only one that ever created something or run that type of business . Even I know that . So what makes you different ? What differentiates you ?

It really is your story , and so , number one , you have a story to tell . And number two , tell the story , don't just share it in one spot .

Make sure you're using storytelling tactics on social media , on your blogs , in your YouTube videos , on your podcasts , in your emails and your funnels , because it really is a powerful business tool that I don't think enough people are utilizing .

I think it's good what you said , that that your story does matter , because I think a lot of times people get really focused on you know , whatever it is that they're selling , what they have to offer , and it's just you know , get this offer , get this course , get this product , and , yeah , people I guess forget that that people do want to know about them ,

and especially in the online space , because you're not actually walking into a store , you're not meeting the person you know live , you can't shake their hand or smile at them or whatever . So you're right , I think in the online space , it's incredibly important .

Bye , bye .