About Janet Wentworth
My years as a corporate marketer taught me all about promoting features and benefits, emphasizing our unique value proposition, writing press releases and crafting brochures. I also learned that features and benefits are not enough and the slickest brochure will not get customers to care about you. Discouraged that I was promoting our products to everyone, whether I could see they were a good fit or not, I quit. I was determined to find a career with more integrity.
I started my own boutique marketing business serving local small business, manufacturers, consultants, wineries and the like. Diverse industries but they all had one thing in common. These were people not just in the 9-to-5 grind. These were people who loved what were doing. Full of passion and optimism. It was energizing to work with them. Despite their great ideas and products, their businesses needed help. So they came to me for marketing advice.
In my work with hundreds of small business business owners I have seen common threads in the challenges they face, but five stand out:
- Lack of confidence in their ability to market their business
- Lack of focus so their marketing changes on a whim and ends up inconsistent and confusing to prospects (read more about “Bumper Car Marketing here)
- Belief that if they only had enough money marketing would be easy
- Failure to distinguish between tactics and strategy
- Belief that everyone is a potential customer
Whether it is they don’t know what to do or they have trouble with self-promotion, marketing is the tough part of starting a business.
But I also saw the fire in their eyes. An idea they believe in. An audience who needs what they offer.
The missing link is making the connection with that audience.
And that is where stories are the secret sauce that makes it happen!
Unstoppable Brand is based on the science behind the human brain’s attraction to stories. We are not talking about creative writing (although being a great writer is a skill to develop) . . . but stories based on what our brains are looking for and respond to. There is a reason humans have been telling each other stories for 100,000 years and once you learn the secrets you will become a storytelling powerhouse.
Trust me. I have seen too many reluctant marketers blossom once they could tell their own story.
We are also talking about using stories to develop a sticky brand that results in not just repeat customers but raving fans. People who care about the success of your business.. It won’t happen all at once, but it will happen step-by-step.
Unstoppable Brand is a scalable system. One that grows with you as your business expands and your revenues grow.
It is especially useful for the encorepreneurs. With their work history and life experiences, these encore start-ups are full of stories. Many don’t even realize what a storehouse of story ideas they have. Maybe you are like them. But once you start to appreciate the value of your life experiences and their story potential, you will never look back.
Come along for an exciting ride into stories and branding and business success!
By the way, if you would like to read more about My Road to Storytelling, click here.
What are you waiting for?
Here are three easy ways to get started.
Unsure what a brand is or how to create a sticky brand on minimal budget? Don’t think you have time for this branding stuff when you need to generate some customers? You need to rethink branding. You need to understand the ingredients needed for a sticky brand and how to do it with the budget and time you have. Enroll in my free Branding Sparks class to get 21 email lessons on how you can do it!
Enroll me in Branding Sparks
Or maybe you want to start with learning more about using story in your marketing? Story Sparks my free 30-day email series that will get you thinking like a storyteller. Every day you get a new topic, like finding your stories, getting started writing stories, stories in product descriptions and more. Enjoyable and useful ideas to start your day.
Enroll Me in Story Sparks!
You may also want to join Story Alchemy, my free semi-monthly newsletter for all small business storytellers, and get started today putting the magic of stories into your marketing. It comes often enough to keep you engaged but not so much you get overwhelmed.
I Want to Join Story Alchemy
Don’t worry. I promise not to sell, rent or share your email address. I hate spam, too!