Do you know your audience’s tragedy to triumph story?

As I’ve been watching the Rio Olympics, fast forwarding through the commercials to get to the action (sorry, NBC), I found myself rewinding to pause and watch the profiles of key athletes, like swimmers Katie Ledecky and Dana Vollmer and gymnasts Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas.

Why?

Because it makes the Olympics so much more interesting to watch when I know enough of the athlete’s story to want to root for them.

Otherwise, the swimmers in the pool and the gymnasts in the arena are like commodities – easily interchangeable with nothing in particular that draws me to them.

So you know who my least favorite Olympian is? The one whose story I don’t know.

NBC realizes this too which is why they invest time and resources in creating these profiles.

You’ll notice that the stories usually have a theme or arc to them:

• Tragedy to triumph
• Overcoming obstacles
• Rivalries
• The comeback
• Child prodigy

These are genres we’re intimately familiar with and instinctively respond to (hello, Joseph Campbell and fairy tales).

Does your audience know your tragedy to triumph story? Do they know enough about you to want to learn more from you and root for you?

Just as importantly, do you know your audience’s tragedy to triumph story?

You should, because that’s how you’ll get them to pay attention and see themselves in your message.

Think about: Where is your audience starting from? What does their current situation look like? What obstacles do they need to overcome to get to where they want to be?

To help, I’ve put together a free worksheet you can use to map out your audience’s story arc (I use the word audience here broadly – it’s the people you’re presenting to as well as your clients and prospects).

Simply enter your name and email below to get the free PDF.

Don’t be afraid to share your own story too. We all have one, and I’ll be sharing mine with you in a future post.

Worth Watching

As a recovering perfectionist, I could relate to the important message in this TED talk by Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code: “We’re raising our girls to be perfect, and we’re raising our boys to be brave.”

Worth Reading

A recent headline in the Washington Post that left me smh: “New study finds that men are often their own favorite experts on any given subject”.

As women, we do tend to downplay our own experience and work, to the detriment of advancing in our careers and growing our businesses.

What can you share with your colleagues or audience this week that you’re proud of accomplishing? Comment below and let me know.

I’ll share mine: a good friend and I decided a week ago to put together a joint workshop called “The Soul and Voice of Your Brand.” In this past week, we’ve created the curriculum, sales page and marketing materials, sent out proposals to potential partners, and we’ll be doing the first workshop in Orlando soon. (Stay tuned for details.) Yay, us!

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