how to grow your business by telling compelling stories

Hey — Eric here.

If you’re new — each week I send a breakdown, a strategy, or a tip to help you grow your audience and business using short form content.

This week note is about how to tell stories that grow your audience and business.

Let’s get into it 👇

Most people overcomplicate storytelling.

They think they need to be creative, clever, or cinematic.

But the truth is — great stories often follow simple rules.

Let’s look at three examples of stories that work, break down why they work… and explain how you can use them to grow your business.

1. 3rd party storytelling

Use this to tell the story of notable people, brands, or historical moments that are relevant to your target audience and help articulate what you stand for.

Heritage Ring does a great job of this:

Why this works:

• They hook people with relatability [using a notable person]. This works great becausetThe format is simple and repeatable. They’ve replicated this format with David Beckham, Tom Holland, and others

• They start the script with a question hook. They then provide context and explain why it matters before closing by positioning themselves as the solution.

• This works because the story supports their larger narrative of “who you are and where you come from”

How you can use this:

• Get clear on your larger narrative — what to do you stand for?

• Find famous people, brands or cultural moments can be used to support your narrative.

• Take the script outline of this video, find images to support your story, and do a similar green screen video.

2. Transformation Storytelling

This is great for any business that sells some sort of transformation. You make your client the hero of the story and walk people through the before and after.

The Style Turner does a great job of this in his video:

Why this works:

• He speaks to the pains and aspirations of his target demo [32 year old living in New York] This allows his target audience to see themselves in the story.

• He shows his expertise by talking through his exact process, giving context on why each step exists.

• He visually shows the before & after (and explains how the “dream outcome” is achieved)

How you can use this:

• Get clear on the transformation you’re selling.

• You can use this for either a transformation you’ve gone through or have taken others through.

• Visually show the before and after. Pair the visual with a script that speaks to the pains + aspirations at the beginning and articulates the process for achieving the desired outcome

3. Enemy Marketing Storytelling

Enemy marketing is planting your flag against something or someone else.

Think about this as creating a larger narrative by taking on the “big bad enemy” and tapping into humans’ subconscious desire to root for the underdog.

o3 (a “third space” in Australia does this well)

Why this works:

• The hook is a banger. “I f*cking hate Starbucks”

• He clearly paints the picture of everything that is wrong about “the big bad enemy”. Tapping into specific senses and visually showing the problem (smell, hearing, & touch)

• Then positions his journey and what he’s building as the “solution”

How you can use this:

• Who is the big bad enemy you’re battling against?

• This can be larger competitors, trends, or any person or symbol that is against what you stand for

• Script out what is wrong with the “enemy” and what you are doing to “solve it”

Bonus examples:

• a musician calling out what is wrong with big ticket companies

• a hospitality business sharing their personal journey of building their business
  

These are all proven formats to tell compelling stories to grow your audience and business.

So, if you’ve been posting consistently and not growing…. 

Try one of these and let me know how it goes.

P.S Next week the doors open for the next cohort of Story30.

This is my 30-day cohort built for founders, brands, and creators who want to turn their content into a growth engine.

If you want to learn how to:

• Tell stories that make strangers care

• Package your ideas into compelling & repeatable formats

• Grow your audience and your business with short-form video

Reply to this email with “VIP” and I’ll add you to the list.

Rooting for ya,

—Dodds