Are you telling compelling stories about yourself in your marketing?

Matthew Ferrara leads a group of 1900 participants at the Mirage in Las Vegas in an hour of creative writing for personal marketing and professional promotions. Attendees wrote, read aloud, and completely revised their marketing biographies, presentation materials and product marketing descriptions. One of the largest groups to participate in a creative writing class in Matthew's career.

Go beyond mere "facts and stats" and create new relationships by leveraging the stories that make you unique and interesting. Here's a little clip from an event I did a year ago with more than 1900 real estate professionals in Las Vegas re-writing their personal bios, telling better stories on listings and marketing, and leveraging creative writing to attract and inspire clients in new ways.

"Hey, Matthew! I still remember the time you got Hilton to upgrade your room because you tweeted them from your garden-level room. That definitely taught me about the power of social customer service."

"Oh, I still remember that story about getting sick on stage in front of all those people, then going on to teach all day. It was a great lesson in why clients hire you (for reliability), rather than your gadgets and slides."

"Matthew, I was so inspired by that story you told on Facebook about the United flight attendant who found some extra cookies for the retired military veteran. It brought a tear to my eye, but it also made me think of the little things I can do to make people's day, too."

That's what people tell me they remember from my seminars, from my marketing, or from my social media presence, when we meet in person. They hardly remember a stat or a fact or a chart. But they always remember the story, how it made them feel, and what they took away (forever) from the message. Stories, when done well, make an impact. They stick. And they create lasting moments with you or your brand that marketers spend millions of dollars trying to recreate every day.

And all you really need is a few good words to make stories happen.

Storytelling isn't new, but it's definitely a tool that marketers need to leverage better, especially in a world awash in ads and noise. The old tricks - absurd headlines and sexy photos - aren't enough to get people to interrupt their personal media consumption and engage your marketing; yet a good story, focused on an emotional moment and a compelling message can capture attention. Better still, it can create action, whether it's encouraging a potential client to call, or inspiring an existing client to share your message with their friends and family across the social sphere. For too long, salespeople and marketers have been stuck on the 'facts' as if charts, graphs and arrows are enough to create action. Yet it's the heart, not the head, that often drives the consumer to act - to inquire, to purchase, to refer, to purchase again.

The key is to weave the two together: The right story can make the right information come alive, by personifying it, making it real, giving it a time, place, space and most of all: emotion. It's the heart, not the head, that often drives the consumer to act. Of course, it's all about words. Choice words, not just as many adjectives and adverbs we can fit into a fixed marketing space. Words that bring alive the product - especially when that product is often us. So think about the stories you tell, when you meet a new client, or when they meet you on your website or social media site.

Then think about how you can bring those stories alive, on purpose, in your presentations, communications, and especially, your videos. You won't get it right immediately - you might have to do something else storytellers do a lot of: write some drafts. Yet a few revisions is a small price to pay for developing a story that becomes the anchor-message for your growth. So get out that pen, and get writing!