167 Marketing as an Educator with Guest Robert Middleon
Release Date: 01/09/2025
190 Win more clients with empathy (even if you haven't walked in their shoes)
Strategic Storytelling
Most business advice says: “Show empathy. Tell clients you’ve been there too.” But here’s the truth: clients don’t care if you’ve walked in their shoes. What they care about is whether you understand their challenges—and whether you’ll treat them without judgment. In this episode of Strategic Storytelling, you’ll discover: Why oversharing personal stories can backfire with clients. The #1 rule of empathy that keeps clients from walking away. Three practical ways to show clients you “get” them—through words, processes, and stories. How to tell stories that build...
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189 How To Sell A Service No One’s Heard Of: Storytelling Strategies For Innovative Offers
Strategic Storytelling
How To Sell A Service No One’s Heard Of: Storytelling Strategies For Innovative Offers When you’re offering something that's new to your audience—whether it’s brand new to the world or simply unfamiliar to your audience—you face two major challenges: they're confused about what you offer and they don’t see the value of the service. In this episode of the Strategic Storytelling podcast, I will show you how to use story—not fluff, not oversharing personal problems—to create clarity, establish relevance, and communicate the impact of your offer. You’ll learn: The three reasons...
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188 The ROI of Storytelling
Strategic Storytelling
What is the most important question to ask about storytelling? It's not "How much did this story express your feelings?" or "How much do you want to tell this story?" or even "What is the impact of this story?" It's "What is the business purpose of this story?" Why am I telling this story? Whats the ROI of this story? After all, when you tell a story in a business environment, you are investing time and/or money. Your story becomes a business tool. Is it worth what you invested? In this episode, I give you 3 questions to assess the ROI of your story. I explain: ...What we mean by...
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187 - The Ultimate Story Template - Based on a Cheesy Christmas Song
Strategic Storytelling
Storytelling can become more productive when you start with a template. And it’s not easy to find templates for business stories. In this episode, we explore a surprising (and fun) story structure for service-based solopreneurs, adapted from a holiday classic and inspired by Ann Handley’s Everybody Writes. This story template covers a lot of bases. It’s a variation of a success story. It focuses on the client, not the guide. It makes you think of your service as a problem-solving mechanism: What need do you fulfill? You will learn… …what makes this such a good...
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186 Don’t Waste Your Origin Story: Turn It Into a Client Attraction Tool
Strategic Storytelling
If you’ve ever been asked, “How did you get started?” you know how often this question comes up in podcasts, interviews, networking events, and client meetings. But instead of giving a throwaway answer to satisfy their curiosity, what if you could use that moment to attract your next best client? In this episode, we explore how you can transform the most common origin story question into a powerful marketing tool. You'll learn how to frame your response to show your passion, uniqueness, and credibility—without sounding scripted or obnioxious. You will discover: Why most people...
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185 Turning Client Experience Stories Into Marketing Gold
Strategic Storytelling
We usually talk about the stories we tell about ourselves. We use stories to showcase our marketable qualities. We explain and promote our offers. In this episode, we flip the script. We focus on getting other people to tell their stories. Often their stories will be essential for our own marketing. For example, when you interview a podcast guest, you want that guest to tell an exciting story that will be memorable to your audience. When you ask for a testimonial, you want a story about how you helped the client. When you conduct client research or an intake interview,...
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184 Do Stories Make You Money? How Strategic Storytelling Drives Revenue
Strategic Storytelling
We all hear that stories are powerful—but do they actually bring in sales? In this episode of Strategic Storytelling, I break down how stories make money for your business, both indirectly (as a smart marketing tool) and directly (by increasing conversions). You'll learn what makes a story profitable, how to align your storytelling with strategy, and what to avoid if you don’t want your content to fall flat. Whether you're writing a landing page, planning a campaign, or building your brand, this episode will show you how to use stories not just to entertain, but to earn. What...
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183 Looking for a business mentor? Don't listen to their story!
Strategic Storytelling
A Guide to Solopreneur Branding This book contains a detailed discussion of the archetypes discuss here. Free with Kindle Unlimited. FREE: What is your archetype? ...and then learn more about your archetype from my book. . I wrote this quite a while ago and it's still good. (an Educator). (a Role Model). (also a Role Model)
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182 Use These 3 Storytelling Superpowers To Connect and Convert
Strategic Storytelling
What do invisibility, time travel, and telepathy have in common? It's not just a party game or a job intervew question, "Choose your superpower." These 3 storytelling superpowers that can transform your marketing. In this episode of Strategic Storytelling, we’ll explore how to: Make your writing “invisible” so your message becomes the star (not your clever wordplay) Use time travel to guide your audience from frustration to solution Tap into the power of telepathy to respond directly to your client’s unspoken desires Whether you're writing sales pages, emails, or social...
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181 Why Your Own Story Is The Best Content: Ignore the gurus and "do you!"
Strategic Storytelling
IN this episode of Strategic Storytelling, we explore why your real, everyday stories—not dramatic or overly polished ones—are often the most powerful for your content. As an example, I talk about ]how comedian Loni Love stayed true to her voice despite pressure to "play a character," and how that lesson applies directly to your brand storytelling. If you've ever been told your story isn’t “exciting” enough, or you're not being "vulnerable" enough, this episode is for you. You will learn... Why “authentic storytelling” doesn’t mean airing all your struggles The...
info_outlineWhen you're a small, service-based business, you are selling yourself and your ideas. I call this marketing when the brand is YOU.
Most service businesses brand with what we call the story archetypes. You can read more about story archetypes here at this link.
I've interviewed several Role Model archetypes. On this episode we get a rare look at an Educator archetype. Role Models have the message, "This is what I did. If I can do it, you can too. I'm just like you." They share a lot of personal information.
On the other hand, Educators share the message, "I have knowledge of what works. I want to share that knowledge with you. If you use my knowledge, you will be successful."
Robert Middleton has been a business coach for many years, working with small businesses and solopreneurs. He is the quintessential Educator archetype.
On this episode, you will learn...
...how Robert built his business as an Educator
...how Educators use stories (and the kinds of stories Robert tells in his business)
...why an Educator is also an experimenter and a learner
...how good Educators have in-depth understanding of processes
...the importance of learning one-on-one from a coach as compared to a book or video
...how Educators study the process of training (and what kind he feels will work best)
...how Educators study what doesn't work as well as what works
...the importance of making an idea a business reality ("making it happen") instead of overthinking,
delaying and seeking perfection...how Robert is still an Educator in his new role as a podcaster
...the most important component of success in business (and it's not book learning)
Stay to the end and you'll get Robert's analogy with cooking!
You can learn more about Robert and his new venture at his website actionplan.club. Go to his site and get his guide to ChatGPT--free. You'll be added to his list (but he's no longer selling!).
If you'd like to learn even more about the story archetypes, and using then to brand your small business, be sure to read my next book, coming out soon on Amazon. Sign up here to be notified when the book is ready.
Are you looking for ways to brand your business with stories? Sign up for a Strategic Intensive and fine-tune your brand and messaging. This can be especially important if you are changing direction. You'll need a new story as well as a new brand.