Uncovering the Story That Is Uniquely Yours

By Michael Drew - May 27 , 2009

What is your story?

What makes your book, publishing house, PR firm, marketing agency or other business endeavor—special?

Is there anything unique about it, or do you look, feel, and sound like your competitors?

If you find it hard to answer these questions (most do), it would be wise for you to sit down with someone you trust and conduct an Uncovery—a systematic, purposeful examination and exploration of your product, your service, and yourself, designed to uncover the story that is uniquely yours to tell.

We just spent a week in New York ‘uncovering’ the evolution of my business, Promote A Book. I am going to give you a glimpse of that process in hopes it helps you get started on an Uncovery of your own. Please note–There are many more questions in a good Uncovery than the ones included here. The purpose of this article is to simply give you a foundation to build upon.

Uncovering an Uncovery

We started with a general examination of the new Promote A Book—

• What are we trying to make happen?
  
• What is the first step in making that happen?
  
• What distractions have been holding us back?

After finishing the general inspection, we hopped into the shoes of prospective clients and continued with some more specific inquiries—

1. What do I need you for?
2. What makes you the best choice?
3. What does it cost?

4. Why are you qualified to help me, specifically?
5. Why do you have so many services to choose from? Can you help me narrow them down?
6. Why does it take as long as it does?

7. Who are you?
8. Who do you look up to?
9. Who currently uses your products and services?

10. How do you do it?
11. How will I benefit from what you have to offer?
12. How do we get started?

Did you notice I organized the twelve ‘prospective client’ questions into four groups of three? I did this to demonstrate consideration of the four basic human temperaments that exist in your target audience. The Competitives out there will consider your book or business in terms of what it is and what makes it so good; the Spontaneous-minded will be looking for reasons why you are the right choice for them; the Humanistics in the crowd will be wondering who you are; and the Methodicals will want to know how everything works.

Is It Your Story or Theirs?

The answer is both. First, you must uncover the story that is uniquely yours to tell. But then you must tell it in a way that makes it a story about them. What you can do for them better than anyone else? Why you can meet their needs quickly and effectively? Who can you be trusted to be when they are not looking? And how do you do it all?

SpenceDiamonds.com does this incredibly well. Spend fifteen minutes on their site and see if you can tell who their story is about.

Other Insights Gained Through an Uncovery

Once you determine what you are trying to make happen, you know how to end your story. You want your business to act like a gravity well, pulling prospective clients deeper into your world until they have enough confidence in you to do the thing you most want them to do. Lead them gently to this place, one step at a time. In determining that first step, you are also finding out where to begin your story. And by looking at the distractions that have been holding you back, you are figuring out what to leave out of your story. Do not waste your time on things that do not contribute to your ultimate goal.

So what is it that makes your book, publishing house, PR firm, marketing agency, or other business endeavor special? Are the benefits obvious to prospective clients, or might a professional investigation help uncover and tell your untold story?

Questions about how to uncover the story that is uniquely yours may be directed to Michael R. Drew at the Austin, Texas, headquarters of Promote A Book: 512-858-0040. You can also contact Michael via email at michael@promoteabook.com.