Many of the gurus suggest you stock your swipefile with a different kind of copywriter. It may be Joe Sugarman or Drew Kaplan. New economy marketing guru seth Godin is a fan of storytelling copy. I recall it was copywriting guru Dan Kenedy who turned me onto the catalog copywriting of J. Peterman. You quickly notice these examples are different from the normal formula: They’re stories.

The difference is using storytelling as copywriting. If you still aren’t familiar with the style, here’s an example.
People do want to make their life the way they wish it were. And those people often use your products and services to change the story they tell themselves about their lives. J. Peterman customers aren’t just buying a shirt or a frock, they’re buying something to make their own story less ordinary. People want to solve a problem or achieve a benefit in a certain way.

How To Tell Your Own Story
Many companies tell the details they hope will win the customer's business the way a prisoner gives up a “name, rank and serial number” routine. Others drone on about things their customers could care less about. Clearly, it’s easy to go wrong with storytelling.

• Tell your story from the customer’s perspective. Whether you’re doing an About Us page or writing catalog copy, think about the problem the customer is trying to solve. Message to market match is crucial, your copy must demonstrate your knowledge of the customer’s world view.
• Drama, action, romance, challenges overcome. All those elements which make for the storylines you enjoy work to hold the reader’s interest long enough to tell your full story. An experiment also showed people remember details in story form much longer than other forms.
• People tell the stories they like. Story-based copywriting is especially effective on the web, where people link to things they like and shun blatantly self-serving hucksterism. People will link, refer, and repeat a good story.

After all, everybody knows the Kebler Elves, Marlboro “Man” and the Snapple Lady are fictional. Well, there really is a Sandy, the Snapple lady. What could have been a sterile bureaucratic communication was given the authenticity of personal communication. And whether fictional or not, authenticity is crucial for telling your story. The persona of a J. Peterman can outlive the person with that name.

Excedrin Headache #214 isn't a medical condition, it's a story. But the scenario or situation is something which explains the customer's pain in a way they can identify with, find credible and authentic.

Do You Have An Interesting Story Buried In Your Business?
Almost every business has a great story. Often it gets buried in policy, procedure, features, and buzzwords. Or the company is so into the storyline they tell themselves, the customer gets a little lost.

The first place to start is with your Unique Selling Proposition. The USP isn’t a story, but it can be the differentiator your stories should center on telling. And building a USP requires building some competitive advantage, the very thing you’ll want to tell customers about in your story.

Imagine your company as a superhero, with your service or product as your "super power." The basic storyline starts with you swooping in to save the customer from the status quo of your industry. With a starter like that, what are the cliffhangers the tension, the happy ending?

Do you also see how J. Peterman creates a desire out of thin air...

I didn't think I needed a classic horseman's duster until I read his story...

Awesome!

Now where can I find one of these "much desired" classic horseman's dusters? ...

Gotta have it! Gotta have it!

Ah yes, the horseman's duster, also known as the J. Peterman Coat.

Notice J. Peterman doesn't use photos of products -- they use illustrations. Illustrations further the idea that this isn't a commodity product, it's a vision they're selling. Like long copy, I remember they called Peterman crazy for not using photos when he started the catalog.

By the way, Peterman sparked my interest in developing a retro illustration style. The basic idea is to counter the trend of futuristic, glass clad buildings (which are not where the company offices are anyway) staffed by stock photography fashion models masquerading as employees.

The thing people seem to forget is you can sell the story as an information product by itself. Check out how the rock band Alida created a backstory, turning it into a game they could sell. Pretty important new source of income where the basic music business model is being disrupted.

The thing is, most ecommerce sites today are a logo and a shopping cart. These examples show you how to differentiate by improving the customer experience of shopping. And many people enjoy and desire that experience offline. Stores online can do a lot more to develop the shopping experience -- the visual merchandising and online catalog copywriting -- not just the transaction at the end.

John

That was fantastic. Great post. I'm like Stephen. I just HAD to see what was so great about that duster.

You gave a really good explanation of story-selling. Thanks.