As you know, your story is an essential part of your sales page and other marketing materials.

When putting together a sales page, the story ranks right up there with the marketing research information in importance.

Sometimes it’s difficult to uncover your story because it’s so easy to overlook the details in your life that make for a good story. If you write copy for clients it can also be a challenge to pry a story out of your client.

This is why it’s helpful to ask questions and play story detective. I start out by scouring the client’s blog, Twitter page and other materials, looking for any details I can use for a story.

Here are 5 questions I sometimes ask clients if they don’t already have a story for me to write about:

1. Here was where I was at before I discovered my magic solution:

2. Here are all the bad things that happened to me before I found the magic solution:

3. My desperate attempt to find a solution led me down this path:

4. Here’s how I finally found the solution:

5. And here is the reason I am now going to share that solution with you:

If you still don’t get a good story even after asking questions, as a last resort you can write a fictitious one or show a story example from another website. Sometimes this will help remind the client of a story of their own. It’s worth the extra effort it takes to find the selling story beneath the product.

Remember the rock & roll 45?

Singles used to be a big deal back in the day. Unfortunately it’s a format that seems to have been abandoned by a lot of rock & roll artists.

According to Bono of U2, the rock & roll 45 “is the evolutionary peak of the species…it is by far the most difficult thing to pull off and it is the very life force of rock & roll: vitality, succinctness and catchiness.”

Vitality. Succinctness. Catchiness.

These are attributes email copy should have as well. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that email is the life force of marketing.

Bono again:

When rock music forgets about the 45, it tends toward progressive rock, which is like a mold that grows on old, burned out artists who’ve run out of ideas…it’s an infuriating thing for me to see indie rock & roll give up the single to R&B and hip-hop.

We see the progressive rock effect in marketing too, where marketers forget about email and their relationship with their list and have run out of ideas.

What Bono says about writing singles for other musicians reminds me of what it’s like writing copy for clients:

Writing songs for other people can be so easy. You’re out of your own head and into someone else’s. It comes quickly and you write it down.

If the mold has started to grow on your own marketing…if you still haven’t found what you’re looking for… maybe it’s time to let someone else come into your head and write some email for you.

Here’s what a recent client said about what I wrote for her:

“Anita, you’re not gifted, you’re a genius! People will really feel like it is me speaking to them personally, even fans who know me well. From a psychological perspective you hit all the right buttons. I could never have written those emails – I am just too close to the trees.”

Aristotle said “A whole is beginning, middle and end.”

This applies to stories, emails, sales pages and blog posts too.

You have to have all three elements – not just one or two.

While leaving a medical appointment at a clinic a couple of months ago, I walked alongside a janitor on my way to the elevator.

He sang the entire time while carrying his supplies and putting things in order. He’s an older guy so his songs were from a different era and far more pleasant than the usual Top 40 hits piped through speakers.

We entered the same elevator and he paused to chat with a woman who was exiting the elevator.

During our elevator ride he spent the entire time telling me what a wonderful woman she is and how he wished he could chat with her in Spanish, her native language. He was generous with his praise even though I didn’t know the woman.

As we left the elevator he immediately started singing again as he set about his cleaning tasks.

I was only with him for about 30 seconds so there was no chance to ask him how long he’s worked there or get any details about his life.

Even though he didn’t say a word about himself,  those 30 seconds in his presence told me volumes about him.

Normally when passing people in a hallway at a medical clinic you usually don’t give them more than a moment’s attention and you certainly don’t remember them two months later. The same is true of most websites.

When people drop by your website you probably have no longer than 30 seconds to make an impression before they move in.

Are you like the singing janitor and stand out from the crowd by being different and by NOT blabbing endlessly about yourself or your product?

Do you leave them with the desire to learn more about you and your story?