The first layer of the Storytelling Funnel is where you “Introduce” yourself to your audience (customers, guests, event attendees, new markets).

Click here for the second part of this series on the “Storytelling Funnel”

The largest group of people in the world will always be those that have never heard of you and what you do. That’s why it’s critical to make a big noise about introducing yourself or your brand. Your prospective audience (read: customers) cannot learn to love you if they don’t know what you’re all about.

Now, don’t get too eager here. No one wants to be the dude who pitched their MLM at a cocktail party. This is where you should be saying hello and talking about the topics you are passionate about. These can be what you produce, perform, sell, or provide, of course, but they should also be tangential subjects that you’re into. People want to know all of you, not just what you can do for them — and finding the way to do that is the only path to creating fans.

With this opening phase, you can Begin Your Story. And the beginning is critical. It must be catchy and intriguing.

People want to know all of you and finding the way to tell that story is the only path to creating fans.

Catch their attention.

Ladies, Fellas, gentlethems! Children of all ages!

We are all familiar with the Ringmaster’s booming voice (or Hugh Jackman’s from The Greatest Showman, maybe) cresting over a roaring crowd and ensnaring their attention. This is the goal of your introduction to a new audience, too.

Think of how Lucifer introduces himself in the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil — as “a man of wealth and taste.” That little phase tells the listener so much about how he wants to be perceived, and how he thinks of himself. It draws the audience in and makes them want to know more.

Give them a taste.

The first one is free.

An introduction has to do more than pull attention, though. it has to keep their interest long enough for you to get into the meat of the story (later in the funnel).

You do that by leaving hooks and teasers in your early introduction. What does he mean by “wealth and taste” and how can I find out? What are the intriguing things you can drop as teasers? How will you make a big noise to grab your audience and hold their gaze?

Come back next week for the next part of the funnel in which I teach you how to Teach.