Hey,
Last time, I gave you a hint about what we’re going to be doing with Micro $tories in this short email course.
You know, powerful little narratives specifically tailored for our time-starved digital world.
Ready for the first part?
Strap in. We’re about to reveal the alchemy of crafting one-minute social pressure Micro $tories—that not only captivate but drive action.
1. Identify The Social Pressures Your Target Audience Is Facing—Or Might Face—In The Future
In every product, every service, there’s a hidden pulse: the steady beat of social pressure.
It’s affecting all of us, all the time. Even though we don’t usually realize it. The fact is, we are tremendously concerned with what other people think of us—or what they will think of us in the future.
Your first step when crafting social pressure Micro $tories is to identify those social pressures in your prospect.
Take entrepreneurs, for example.
For most of them, the biggest social pressure they have to grapple with is…
‘The Fear of Public Failure’.
It’s clear that entrepreneurship comes with a lot of risk. And many entrepreneurs feel the potential public humiliation hanging over their heads all the time.
Alright. That’s the social pressure we’ll be working with in this lesson.
2. List Out Situations Where The Social Pressure May Manifest Itself
Okay. Let’s say you’ve identified the social pressure you’re going to turn into a Micro $tory. Next, list out different situations where this fear tends to surface.
Here’s what I mean:
Let’s get back to the entrepreneur’s social pressure—fear of public humiliation.
You can come up with hundreds of ways that the fear of public failure can manifest itself.
And all of them may be typical…
School Reunions:
That moment when you’re surrounded by peers with “stable” corporate jobs, flaunting bonuses and vacations. And there you stand wondering whether you should give up on your dream of running a successful business and find a normal job too.
Casual Coffee Meets:
Old friends in polished suits talk about promotions and 401(k)s, while your mind races about how to make payroll next month.
Neighborhood Parties:
Neighbors chat about the perks of their 9-to-5, health benefits, and company parties, as you ponder your next marketing move and long hours ahead.
You can literally come up with dozens of scenarios where someone may feel intimidated by social pressure. So list out as many as you can.
3. Describe the situation you can relate to the most
Go through all the scenarios you’ve listed out in the previous step. Pick the one that resonates with you the most. This way, you can describe the situation more accurately and capture the emotion behind it.
Ideally, it will be a situation that has happened to you. But most of the time, it’s going to be a scenario that you can simply relate to. It might be easier for you to imagine each of the scenarios you’ve written down and see which one evokes the strongest emotional response.
For example, maybe, you have an Uncle Bob who never misses a chance to drop an uncomfortable question or throw around snarky remarks.
In that case, it will be much easier for you to describe the following situation:
…and voila! Just like that, you have created a social pressure Micro $tory.
You can use it at the very beginning of an Instagram reel—
To capture your viewer’s attention before delivering a short tip about your area of expertise…
You can use it at the end of a TikTok video to get people to try your product or service by including a short CTA at the end of your $tory.
The options here are endless.
And the best news?
In the second step of this process, you’ve probably listed out more than one social pressure scenario you can relate to. Each of the situations that resonates with you can be turned into a Micro $tory in the same way as I laid out here.
So the more situations you can come up with in step #2—the more options you’ll have for authentic, impactful Micro $tories.
Then, of course, most products have more than one social pressure tied to them.
For example, on top of the fear of public failure, most entrepreneurs are also afraid of getting rejections. There are tons of $tories you can weave from that social pressure too.
All in all, with this simple framework you are unlikely to ever run out of social pressure Micro $tories to share with your audience.
You can learn more about Social Pressure $tories along with 26 other types of persuasion $tories, in my new book, The Persuasion $tory Code.
If you haven’t already, you can grab it on Amazon by clicking here.
In my next email, I’m going to share with you how to create brief, powerful track-record Micro $tories that position you as an authority in your field… even if nobody knows you from Adam!
Make sure you don’t miss my next email. It’s going to be hot.
Cheers,
David Garfinkel