Explore the art of empathy in storytelling and how it can deepen connections with prospects. Discover unique story types like ‘I know your pain’ and ‘I feel your pain’ that resonate beyond the traditional hero's journey. Learn how to create narratives that address your audience's emotional experiences and pain points, making your copy more relatable. Understand the importance of pacing in storytelling, ensuring your message is engaging before revealing solutions. Uncover five essential story types that can boost your marketing effectiveness.
Empathy stories in copywriting forge connections by addressing the audience's pain points, establishing trust in today's low-confidence market.
Crafting relatable narratives with vivid details aids in evoking sensory experiences, capturing reader interest, and prompting personal reflection.
Deep dives
The Power of Empathy Stories
Empathy stories serve as a powerful tool in copywriting by enabling the writer to connect with the prospect's experiences. These narratives focus on understanding the pain points of the audience rather than showcasing the writer's achievements or expertise. By illustrating the feelings and thoughts of the prospect, copywriters can establish trust and rapport, especially in an era of low consumer confidence. For example, an 'I know your pain' story details the struggles a prospect faces, such as the stress of commuting, thereby creating an emotional connection that encourages the reader to engage further with the content.
Relatable Characters and Universal Experiences
Crafting compelling narratives involves using relatable characters and universal feelings to resonate with the audience effectively. Instead of relying on statistics, which may lack emotional impact, stories that highlight everyday experiences can draw readers in. For instance, discussing the anxiety of grocery shopping during inflation taps into common feelings of concern and frustration. To enhance this connection, it's crucial to provide vivid details that evoke sensory experiences, making the story memorable and relatable while prompting readers to reflect on their own situations.
Engaging with Vicarious Pain
Introducing a character experiencing pain, without directly involving the writer or the reader, can create a strong emotional response in the audience. This technique, often found in storytelling, allows readers to empathize with the character’s struggles, making it easier for them to relate to their own challenges. For example, describing a character's discomfort with hair loss can evoke sympathy and self-reflection among readers. By leaving the narrative open-ended and avoiding immediate closure, copywriters can build anticipation and maintain the reader's interest, ultimately setting the stage for presenting a solution.
Today we’re going to do another episode of “Just because it’s a story, it’s not a hero’s journey story.”
What I mean by that is, many people have been misleading copywriters and salespeople for a while now. Saying, if you’re going to tell a story, it’s got to be a hero’s journey story.
As you may know, in my book The Persuasion Story Code, I show 25 types of stories that are decidedly NOT hero’s journeys. That actually come from successful sales letters and other direct response copy.
That you can adapt and use in your own copy.
Today I want to focus in on stories where you walk a mile in your prospect’s shoes. These are from Chapter 4 and the shorthand name for these stories is “empathy stories.”
They’re tremendously useful in gaining trust and connection with your prospects. Which is very important in these extremely low-trust times.
Not only that. I’ve added a fifth kind of story which is not even in the book! So we’ve got a lot to cover today.
Here’s what we cover in some useful detail:
STORY TYPE 1: I KNOW YOUR PAIN This is an empathy story that describes your prospect’s pain or problem.
STORY TYPE 2: I CAN SEE WHAT YOU SEE This is when you tell a story about a top of mind topic and how it affects your prospect.
STORY TYPE 3: I FEEL YOUR PAIN What you’re doing here is revealing an experience of your own that will ring a bell with your prospect and their experience.
STORY TYPE 4: THEY’RE INFLICTING PAIN ON YOU This is the opposite of a personal story involving you. It’s a social story where you are not personally involved.
STORY TYPE 5: LOOK! SOMEONE ELSE IS IN PAIN! In this kind of story, the writer and the reader are actually distanced, as observers.
The Persuasion Story Code: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ Download.
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