Reflection – Storytelling 

 Cachet Prescott 

 Challenge + Selection   I work with small business owners to help them get unstuck in their businesses . From business   and strategic planning to supercharging their creativity , I provide them space to think and create   ( with the goal of effectively getting things done in their businesses ) . Storytelling is one of the   techniques that I ’ve used on occasion during client strategy sessions to help them better connect   with their customers / clients .      In my experience , business owners are often too close to their own products and services and   sometimes ca n’t see the forest for the trees . When marketing their services , they might not ( 1 )   have a firm understanding of who their ideal client is and/or ( 2 ) what the pain ( or pleasure ) point   is that would drive the customer to buy their product or service ( which , in turn , can negatively   affect marketing and ultimately , sales ) .      For this assignment , my challenge is to help a business coach who ’s struggling to get more   customers . Business has been slow with an inconsistent flow of clients , and she ’d like to   understand how to connect with ( and land ) the “ right ” clients more consistently .     Storytelling is a great choice in this particular situation because it will force my client to ask :   What ’s your client ’s story , and what circumstances that would lead her / him to you and your   service ? By using storytelling , the client will need to : 

 1 . Know their audience ( Who ’s your target audience ? ) ;   2 . Provide a good sequence of events ( What pain , pleasure or passion would lead them to 

 needing your product or service ? ) ; and 

 3 . Produce a compelling , inspiring message [ Why would they buy from you ( over everyone 

 else selling what you ’re selling ) ? ] . 

 Application   In the “ What Is ” part of this dilemma , there was a definite lack of consistency in the client ’s   marketing efforts . Part of the problem is that she was n’t clear about her target audience . Her   lack of clarity about who she ’s talking to ( when marketing ) ultimately left her feeling confused   and resulted in little to no effort being put into marketing .      In order to tell her client ’s story , we needed to know exactly who her client was / is . We created a   user persona to determine that . As a business coach , she knew that her ideal client is a fellow   entrepreneur . This , however , is still too broad because there are many types of entrepreneurs   with different needs and concerns . After doing a deeper dive , I discovered that her ideal clients   are actually infopreneurs ( entrepreneurs who sell their own knowledge , education and expertise )   which can include : bloggers , YouTubers , podcasters , coaches , consultants and more . Narrowing   down her audience to inforpreneurs was crucial because it helped her to better understand their 

 specific needs versus another type of entrepreneur ( who might have different needs , concerns ,   pain points , etc ) .   Fleshing out the user persona came next , discussing the demographics and psychographics   ( lifestyle habits ) of her story ’s main character ( i.e. the ideal client ) and identifying and nailing   down the details of the character ’s Big Wicked Problem ( i.e. the pain , pleasure or passion that   the client has ) .      Finally , with this information in hand , we talked about the business coach ’s messaging . Now that   she knew who her audience is and what they need from her , she needed to create compelling   and inspiring messaging in her marketing to successfully connect with them AND show how she   can help . She also had the information she needed to determine the most effective marketing   platforms to get in front of her audience ( i.e. traditional marketing vs. content marketing vs.   direct marketing ; which social media platforms ; podcasting , etc . ) .     Insight + Approach   The business coach found this exercise to be extremely helpful because she did n’t realize how   the broad use of “ entrepreneurs ” was really hindering her efforts to connect with the right   clients . Being able to nail down “ her people ” to infopreneurs was enlightening and provided the   clarity she needed to better speak to their specific needs in her messaging .     Though I ’d used this technique to some degree with past clients , I did n’t realize what we were   doing was storytelling and I really did n’t have a firm understanding of the power of storytelling   as a design thinking technique . This class was extremely helpful in sharpening my skills in this   area and has empowered me to be even more effective in working with my clients .     While I found a great deal of value using storytelling , I believe that journey mapping could be a   powerful tool in this scenario as well . By mapping the customer journey with my client of how   potential and existing customers experience her brand , I think she would have had some definite   “ light bulb ” moments about the ineffectiveness of her marketing ( and customer retention )   efforts . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Reflection – Storytelling 

 Cachet Prescott 

 Challenge + Selection   I work with small business owners to help them get unstuck in their businesses . From business   and strategic planning to supercharging their creativity , I provide them space to think and create   ( with the goal of effectively getting things done in their businesses ) . Storytelling is one of the   techniques that I ’ve used on occasion during client strategy sessions to help them better connect   with their customers / clients .      In my experience , business owners are often too close to their own products and services and   sometimes ca n’t see the forest for the trees . When marketing their services , they might not ( 1 )   have a firm understanding of who their ideal client is and/or ( 2 ) what the pain ( or pleasure ) point   is that would drive the customer to buy their product or service ( which , in turn , can negatively   affect marketing and ultimately , sales ) .      For this assignment , my challenge is to help a business coach who ’s struggling to get more   customers . Business has been slow with an inconsistent flow of clients , and she ’d like to   understand how to connect with ( and land ) the “ right ” clients more consistently .     Storytelling is a great choice in this particular situation because it will force my client to ask :   What ’s your client ’s story , and what circumstances that would lead her / him to you and your   service ? By using storytelling , the client will need to : 

 1 . Know their audience ( Who ’s your target audience ? ) ;   2 . Provide a good sequence of events ( What pain , pleasure or passion would lead them to 

 needing your product or service ? ) ; and 

 3 . Produce a compelling , inspiring message [ Why would they buy from you ( over everyone 

 else selling what you ’re selling ) ? ] . 

 Application   In the “ What Is ” part of this dilemma , there was a definite lack of consistency in the client ’s   marketing efforts . Part of the problem is that she was n’t clear about her target audience . Her   lack of clarity about who she ’s talking to ( when marketing ) ultimately left her feeling confused   and resulted in little to no effort being put into marketing .      In order to tell her client ’s story , we needed to know exactly who her client was / is . We created a   user persona to determine that . As a business coach , she knew that her ideal client is a fellow   entrepreneur . This , however , is still too broad because there are many types of entrepreneurs   with different needs and concerns . After doing a deeper dive , I discovered that her ideal clients   are actually infopreneurs ( entrepreneurs who sell their own knowledge , education and expertise )   which can include : bloggers , YouTubers , podcasters , coaches , consultants and more . Narrowing   down her audience to inforpreneurs was crucial because it helped her to better understand their 

 specific needs versus another type of entrepreneur ( who might have different needs , concerns ,   pain points , etc ) .   Fleshing out the user persona came next , discussing the demographics and psychographics   ( lifestyle habits ) of her story ’s main character ( i.e. the ideal client ) and identifying and nailing   down the details of the character ’s Big Wicked Problem ( i.e. the pain , pleasure or passion that   the client has ) .      Finally , with this information in hand , we talked about the business coach ’s messaging . Now that   she knew who her audience is and what they need from her , she needed to create compelling   and inspiring messaging in her marketing to successfully connect with them AND show how she   can help . She also had the information she needed to determine the most effective marketing   platforms to get in front of her audience ( i.e. traditional marketing vs. content marketing vs.   direct marketing ; which social media platforms ; podcasting , etc . ) .     Insight + Approach   The business coach found this exercise to be extremely helpful because she did n’t realize how   the broad use of “ entrepreneurs ” was really hindering her efforts to connect with the right   clients . Being able to nail down “ her people ” to infopreneurs was enlightening and provided the   clarity she needed to better speak to their specific needs in her messaging .     Though I ’d used this technique to some degree with past clients , I did n’t realize what we were   doing was storytelling and I really did n’t have a firm understanding of the power of storytelling   as a design thinking technique . This class was extremely helpful in sharpening my skills in this   area and has empowered me to be even more effective in working with my clients .     While I found a great deal of value using storytelling , I believe that journey mapping could be a   powerful tool in this scenario as well . By mapping the customer journey with my client of how   potential and existing customers experience her brand , I think she would have had some definite   “ light bulb ” moments about the ineffectiveness of her marketing ( and customer retention )   efforts .
### Output: 