how to sell your great american business story

How to Sell Your Great American

Business Storyusing these

Five Editing Tips

A Daybreak Lit mini-presentationCoffee House Café Business Series

Nov. 13, 2012

“Story is about originality, not duplication.”

Robert McKee, author of Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting

Always remember:You are a publisher.

Do this…

1. Know your story2. Share your story3. Connect stories to sales4. Anticipate story problems5. Build community

1. Know your story

Your story on social media must add value, context anda personal touch…

…because all business is social.

Learn from your UPS driver.

And remember what happened to Progressive Insurance.

From Mashable.com

2. Share your story

According to Venturebeat.com:• 90% of small businesses are on Facebook• 70% are on Twitter• 55% have blogs• 43% spend six hours (or more) a week blogging

However, small businesses are leaving potential sales

on the table.

Think LinkedIn. Think

Pinterest.

1. Tell stories on platforms in tantalizing bits

Photo courtesy of Hersheys.com

2. Sprinkle bits of one story on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest pages. Photo courtesy Hersheys.com

3. Tell stories visually

FlPckr photo by gnuckx

Post what you saw during the morning commute

Flickr Photo courtesy of Jan Tik

• Instagram• YouTube• Vimeo•Ustream• Flickr• Facebook• SlideShare

If you can’t, get help.

4. Write Well. Write Clean.

3. Connect your story to sales

Insights

• Business objectives• Likes• Followers• Comments• Social mentions• Timed posts• Email subscribers

• Competitors• Market trends• Customer service

complaints• Re-tweets• Social shares• Promotions

Essentials• Social

media calendar

• Google Analytics

• Landing pages

• Calls to Action

Content=ROI….

…if you monitor and sustain the effort

4. Anticipate story problems

• Business objectives• Social media policy• Crisis management• Plagiarism• Copyright

5. Build community

• Surveys and polls• Facebook questions• Monitor interactions• Prompt customer

service

You CANcreate, share, measure and

sellYour Great American

Business Story

Don’t forget.You are a publisher.

Thank you!Judy Howard Ellis

Daybreak Litjhowardellis@daybreaklit.com

Follow me on Twitter @JudyHowardEllis