How To Tell Stories That Sell (Without Sounding Salesy)
Want your message to land? Make it a journey
This is the 318th consecutive post on MrEmogical Notes. If you’ve been following this series and are finding value from this blog/ newsletter, please consider sharing this post with one person who you feel needs to read this for their betterment.
Introduction
Creating content is easy.
Creating content that connects? That’s a whole different game.
Here’s a simple storytelling format that can instantly upgrade the quality of your videos, posts, podcasts, or even long-form blogs. It’s not about complexity. It’s about structure.
Let’s break it down:
The 6 steps to create a story that connects
01 - Hook
Start with a number, place, or question. Something that grabs attention. Something that makes the viewer pause.
Examples:
“The most important lesson I learned at 27…”
“What if you’re not the problem, but the pattern is?”
“This is what happened when I lost ₹5 lakh in 3 days…”
Your goal here is to create curiosity in one line.
02 - Struggle
Now show the mess. What wasn’t working? What problem or challenge were you facing?
Don’t skip this. This is where the audience relates to you the most.
The struggle needs to feel real. Be honest. Show the vulnerability. This is what makes you human.
03 - Shift
What changed?
There’s always a turning point in every story. A conversation, a thought, an incident, a book, a coach, a breakdown, and so on.
Capture that moment. This is the hinge of your story – where pain starts to transform into possibility.
04 - Lessons
What did this shift teach you?
Give 2-3 learnings that the reader/viewer can apply in their life. Make it simple. Actionable. Easy to understand. People love stories, but they remember lessons.
05 - Relatability
Now come full circle. Find a way to relate the story back to the hook and bring the audience into the story. If your hook started with a question, answer it now.
If your story started with a challenge, show how your learnings can help others in the same boat.
This is what makes content shareable and deeply personal.
06 - CTA (Call to Action)
You’ve earned their attention. Now guide them to what comes next.
Your CTA can be:
- Follow me for more tips like this
- Share this with someone who needs to hear it
- Drop a “💡” in the comments if this made you think
- Subscribe to my Substack/YouTube/Podcast
- DM me if you want help with this in your own journey
Every story should leave the audience with a reason to stay connected.
Food for thought
If you feel stuck creating content, just start telling real stories.
Use this framework, keep it simple, be honest, make it valuable, and do it consistently.
Your audience doesn’t want perfection. They want real stories with real impact.
Follow me on Instagram for more business content
If you enjoy my content here on Substack, I suggest you extend your support by following me on Instagram.
While most of the content on that platform is all about entertainment; I post a lot of educational content about marketing, sales, and business/ professional growth on my Instagram profile.
Not to forget, all the stories that I post give you a glimpse behind the scenes, a sneak peek of what's cooking or what you can expect a few weeks/ months down the road, access to freebies, and a lot more.
Follow me on Instagram and drop me a DM telling me you came to my Insta profile through Substack. I promise you, that will make my day.
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Prompt used to create the image for the note
P.S.: Image made on Meta AI using the prompt, “Imagine a successful content creator who has tons of followers. They're facing the camera and creating content and their biggest advantage/ strength is storytelling”