One of the major assets you need in your marketing arsenal is a great personal story. Stories are important because they help others understand who you are and why you do what you do.

When someone knows and loves your story, they are more likely to respect and trust you. You can use this story in your "About the Author" page in your book, the back cover, and anywhere you market your book.

There are several parts to developing your personal story to help position yourself as an expert in your industry.

Personal Narrative

The first step is to develop your personal narrative. This is how they will begin to know, like, and trust you. The idea is to create an emotional connection that instantly differentiates you from other authors in your field. The ultimate outcome of designing your narrative is to help your audience identify with you and understand what you stand for.

Ask Yourself "Why?"

Understanding why you do what you do is the key factor that will help you position yourself. At the end of the day, the "what" only matters to the few, but the real reason "why" you do what you do is a powerful narrative to your audience.

What's Your "Hook"?

A "hook" is a specific piece of your story designed to get attention. For example, one of our authors got cancer at the age of one, and was given a 1% chance of survival. Doesn’t this make you want to find out more?

Who’s Your Ideal Customer?

The goal of having a personal story is to attract your ideal target market and repel anyone who is not. Now, a lot of people struggle with the notion that you’d want to repel anyone from doing business with you. Yet, in reality, you’ll have much better, faster results if you target only your ideal customers and set yourself up to work with just the exact, right people.

Summary

Your story needs to be consistent, entertaining, and easy for someone else to retell. Decide on a message or theme, and use this as your primary blueprint for the signature story and then practice delivering your story as if you’re talking to that one perfect customer.

As author, speaker, and story consultant Robert McKee explained it:

Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.

If you want to find out more, visit EvolveGlobalPublishing.com.